Husband’s Taste After Radiation/Cisplatin 10/23

I recently posted about a scare we got from my husband’s new dental hygienist who thought he had another swollen lymph node on the opposite side of his neck from where he was diagnosed with left base of tongue and 2 nodes on the left last July 2023 with 7 weeks of radiation and 7 weekly Cisplatin chemos. Saw his Oncologist PA the next day who was 99% sure it was not a lymph node and he had an US of both sides of his neck this Tuesday and EVERYTHING was normal, so relief.
I didn’t want to add this to that post as perhaps people are interested when someone posts about their sense of taste after this treatment which he finished in Oct 2023.

At first it took until mid-Nov to start getting some “decent” taste back. We went out to breakfast a lot to help him regain some weight, which I think helped a lot. He also takes 50 mg of zinc daily which someone on this board said could help (cleared by his dr). So up until recently I’d say he was plateaued at about 70% taste overall. Some things tasted good/normal and others he’d have a bite or two, would taste it, then it faded away. He said it was hard to describe and I could tell he was frustrated so I stopped asking. BTW, he’s a “foodie” and loves to cook for us so maybe that was part of his frustration. Yesterday we went out for a late breakfast at this diner that re-opened by us. On the drive home he mentioned for the second time this week how he’s had a significant return of normal taste. Chocolate was one of those fleeting tastes for him and I made brownies last night that he said he now could totally taste and were very good.

So with that being said it took nearly one year for him to have most of his normal taste return, which is also what his doctors told him. He goes back for his 3 month check/up with his Oncologist in mid-November but we don’t expect any surprises.

So for anyone going through this, hang in there. It took time but we are so blessed to be here together.

Swoosh13