GIVING THANKS DAY 22 - SENSES

In the right margin of my blog is a list of things I miss. If you don't know me well, you may wonder why I miss things that are readily available. The explanation is simple. I have lost one of my senses.

About five years ago I lost my sense of smell. This loss has been both frustrating and interesting. I have even cried when I realized I might never smell the ocean again or smell a baby after his bath.

This loss has been a blessing at times. Such as when a non-bathed alcoholic would show up for court and every one was complaining about the odor. I just smiled. It has been a problem when a person high on marijuana arrived at court and during my interview with them I didn't detect the odor of drugs. This could have been very serious when it involved sending a child home with this type of parent. Also, I cannot smell smoke or gas if there is a leak. Actually how I discovered the loss was burning bread in the oven. I did not realize it was burning until I saw the smoke. One day I went with my daughter to taste wedding cake samples and by the time the wedding day arrived I could not taste the cake I had been looking forward to enjoying.

The most life changing issue is that if you cannot smell, then your taste is distorted. The flavour from food comes from the smell of food. Hold your nose and eat a bite of something and you will see how it diminishes the flavour. I have not had a carbonated drink in almost five years. An ice cold Pepsi is something I will always miss, I believe. Some things are inedible, like carbonated drinks, dairy and most fruit. They taste awful. Other things taste like the smell of sulfur or hot tar as I remember it. I can detect sweetness although I cannot detect the flavor. I can taste salt so processed foods that are high in sodium simply taste like salt to me. Not very appetizing, believe me. And adding Texas Pete to every thing in order to taste at least a spiciness has caused blisters in my mouth.

The doctor warned me that I would gain weight because I would want to eat sweets because those would taste good. I was so determined to prove him wrong that I lost weight during the first year and was very careful about not eating sweets. But after a couple of years of bland tasteless food you really crave something delicious. The only thing I have found that is truly satisfying is good ole southern ice tea and coffee. I don't know what it is about coffee but anything with coffee flavor tastes pleasant to me. Can you say Starbucks Coffee Almond Fudge Ice Cream?

You just do not know how important something is until you lose it. I would give up Coffee ice cream AND Sweet Tea if I could smell my husbands cologne or eat a slice of watermelon. When ever I am on the verge of a pity party, I just think of those with cancer. Cancer patients go through this all the time when undergoing chemo. The drugs can cause a temporary distorted taste. I do not have a life threatening illness. I cannot complain.

And today I am thankful that this week after 5 years I had a piece of buttered toast and it wasn't bad!