May 4, 2010
Everything seems beautiful this spring – the colors are vivid, the temperature is perfect, and we know we must enjoy everything while it is in place. In a week’s time, a hot and dusty ambiance could easily arrive and stay on for many days. Meanwhile, we plant the garden, consigning the seeds to the earth with the promise that this year, we really will weed, water, and protect that which comes up. Gardens are just naturally hopeful.
The latest challenge that has arisen because of the disease is a curious and unpleasant change in taste. For example, one eats a strawberry. It tastes bitter with not even a molecule of the unique and lovely flavor present. At first, you don’t believe what has just happened, so you try to eat another, and the same thing happens again. Then you try bland, or sweet, sour, or salty foods. Most are bitter and do not even indicate what food they are. The meds given to encourage the appetite have helped a little, because some foods taste like nothing at all, and I can tolerate eating them. It is a nasty loss because food has always called to me, and cooking has been a true pleasure. As we have begun to research this development, the Internet indicates that this is a common thing for people with cancer or AIDS. There are lots of ideas about how to deal, or at least how to keep from losing weight because eating is no longer a happy event. I am able to drink Ensure and that in turn gives me energy. I continue to make meals for Charles though that has become less of a delight because my usual approach of seasoning by tasting is no longer functioning.
So life goes on – this week, instead of thinking “Cinco de Mayo” or “Mother’s Day” perhaps I would encourage a “Taste Bud Appreciation Day” to encourage one and all to be thankful for this small bit of anatomy that can bring so much delight into the consumption of our daily bread.