Odd title for a blog post huh? I can't believe it's been so long since I wrote anything on the blog too. But here I am.
So where'd the idea for this blog come from? Well eating of course. My Mama is a fabulous cook. We joke with her that we could all be scarfing down something she made loving it all, but she will often find something not quite right about it. She is her own worst critic as far a food goes. It needs to be just right or she's not satisfied. Better for us because that means good just gets better. Many of my favorite foods are my Mama's cooking. She makes the best dressing in the universe. Her red velvet cake is just yummy. I could go on and on. Are you hungry yet :-)?
Well when cancer unwelcomely enters your life so typically does chemotherapy. With most chemotherapy a change in your taste buds occurs. It can be severe change or milder changes. Some days the thought of eating just does not compute, but you have to in order to stay strong. With my first chemotherapy medications the change was more severe. For one thing during and up to five days after I could not have anything cold or even touch anything cold without it feeling as if a thousand needles were sticking into you. Imagine a hot Alabama summer and you cannot have anything really cold or ice. It also impacted the way things tasted. Most days only certain things tasted normal. Those were fruits, vegetables, and usually cereal. Even water tasted like metal. The good thing is there were some things that tasted okay. I may have shared with you how on my first week or so of treatment the nutritionist came by. Her advice was nothing diet or low in fat, eat real butter, make milk shakes and just make yourself eat. Keeping up your strength and not dropping weight is really important particularly early in treatment. It was and still is funny to think of a nutritionist actually telling you to make milk shakes but she did.
With my new treatment medication I have no limits on ice cold things that I can have. Even ice cream is okay and it tastes pretty good though I limit it usually to days I don't feel like eating very much. I have several days particularly during and right after treatment when things do not taste good at all. That is except fruits and veggies. So my sweet Mama who has graciously taken on the job of keeping me fed (you don't want to cook for yourself when nothing looks or tastes good) always has some veggies and fruit on hand. Sometimes it is really tough like when Mama makes poppy seed chicken and it doesn't taste good. Knowing what it's supposed to taste like just makes me want it but then it doesn't taste right. I know that for everyone else eating it tastes great but for me often it doesn't. I couldn't enjoy my brother's Memorial Day BBQ because things tasted like metal.
So that led me to think about how grateful I would be if food all tasted normal again. How I long to have regular taste buds that enjoy what I eat no matter what it is. However, that is not the case so you do what you have to do. Oddly some things will taste fine and other things taste nothing like they are supposed to. Have you ever considered being thankful for your taste buds? I hope you take time at your next meal to truly stop and enjoy what you are eating in all its glorious taste but also to be thankful that you can taste it. Be thankful it tastes like it is supposed to. Just one more thing I've learned to be grateful for during all this.
