When Food Tastes Like Dirt: My Diet During and After Chemo

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Heather McCollum is a 10-year survivor of ovarian cancer. She's recalling when she lost her taste while going through chemo, plus she shares tips that helped her during that time.

If you had to lose one of your senses, which would you choose? For me, sight and hearing are highest on the must-keep list. Touch too. Dealing with neuropathy can make everyday tasks, like typing and tying shoelaces, very difficult. So that leaves smell and taste. Smell can save me from things like fires, and I’d rather smell sour milk than taste it. Therefore, my choice is taste -- I’d give that up.I woke up in a hospital bed to hear the words that changed my life forever: “It’s ovarian cancer.

I’m the baker in my family, and over the holidays I still made lots of cookies . But when I bit into one of my famous Oreo balls, I started to cry. It tasted like dirt. If you must take a liquid medicine that tastes terrible , drink it quickly and then run water over your tongue or swish your mouth with water. I’m such a wimp when it comes to yucky tastes, and the altered tastebuds did not help.

Remember that you can ask to talk with a nutritionist at any time, during treatment or after treatment. A good nutritionist can help you find foods that might work better for you.Cancer is a thief. One of the things it steals is your sense of self-control. Suddenly, with those three little words , my life began spiraling out of control. I was getting poked and examined and scanned. Doctors were giving me medicines that made my body turn into something I didn’t recognize.

 

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