The loss of a sense is a significant event in your life. for this writer it was the sense of taste. for those who like to eat, you may find this hard to swallow. Speaking of swallowing, without tasting the food you place into your mouth, you don’t even get to the swallowing stage. Often times, you place the food in your mouth because it smells excellent but it quickly comes out due to the disappointment of not being able to taste it and only feeling its texture. The texture of some luscious foods is often quite unpleasant.
It all started with developing cancer in a tonsil. after two surgeries to remove the cancerous tumor and adjacent tissue it was time for radiation. being a researcher, there was plenty of information on radiation and what it can do to a person. Also, there are people out there who had the same type of cancer that were willing to discuss their story. due to the stories about radiation and the burning and loss of energy, setting up a support group was vital. having friends willing to drive to and from the appointments was all set and everyone was ready for their days at the hospital.
There are plenty of excellent hospitals that can be checked out for the services they offer. Many Chicagoland hospitals including Manteno Healthcare and Momence Illinois Healthcare offer significant services and should be researched but the hospital chosen for radiation happened to be in another state. The reason for choosing this particular hospital was it had the latest in radiation equipment available. The radiation beam could be bent around areas that didn’t require radiation. This is significant when radiating the head and neck area. for one, throat cancer patients who get radiation often lose a excellent bit of their salivary glands. That was one area that the beam was bent around in this case. The other areas to avoid if possible are the carotid artery, the brain stem and various nerves and blood vessels, all of which were avoided as much as possible.
Without having these vital parts of anatomy blasted, the wear and tear didn’t happen except to the taste buds. There was a bit of a sore throat but since eating wasn’t vital, that didn’t matter much. As a matter of fact, after losing fourteen pounds from a one hundred and fifty pound five foot eight structure, the doctor said to either force food down or he would feed me via a feeding tube. This form of weight loss is not recommended and being fed through a tube was not a recommendation that afforded high marks either.
The worst day was probably when the smell of Kentucky Fried Chicken filled the nasal cavity with such appetizing pleasure, only to be completely let down by taking a huge bite and realizing I had a mouth full of a greasy cardboard type substance with absolutely no taste that compared to the smell still wafting around my head. The excellent news is, the taste buds came back within six months and so did the weight.