I JUST FOUND THIS CHAT ROOM AND ENDED UP READING SOME OF THE "EXPERIENCES" THAT PEOPLE HAVE POSTED. I FOUND MUCH OF OUR EXPERIENCES TO BE THE SAME AND THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A GREAT WAY TO FIND OUT AND UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO. OF COURSE, I TEND TO BE LIVING FOR THE MOMENT AND WRAPPED UP IN FINDING OUT WHEN I WILL BE ABLE TO TASTE FOOD AGAIN. IM REALLY WORRIED THAT I CAN'T TASTE ANYTHING. I KNOW THAT ITS ONLY TWO WEEKS, BUT ALL THIS WAITING HAS MADE ME IMPATIENT (I WISH I WASN'T SO FOCUSED ON THIS!).

I HAD MY CANCER REMOVED ON THE 8TH OF APRIL THIS YEAR AND STARTED MY CHEMO AND RADIATION. IT HAD NOT SPREAD TO MY LYMPH SYSTEM AND ATTRIBUTE THAT TO ALOT OF PRAYING AND ALL THE SUPPORT FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS! MY TREATMENTS ENDED ON THE FIRST OF JULY AND THEN THE WAITING BEGAN AND HOPEFULLY THE FAST HEALING! I WOULD LOVE TO CHAT AND GET TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE EXPERIENCES OF OTHERS. COULDN'T BELIEVE THAT CANCER HAPPENS TO 33 YEAR OLDS BUT I BELIEVE THAT EVERTHING HAS IT PURPOSE. IT'S JUST WHAT I DO WITH THIS EXPERIENCE THAT MATTERS. THANKS FOR LISTENING TO MY RAMBLING!

TAKE CARE AND GOD BLESS!

Hi drbabyboy

WELCOME

Hope all goes well. I am sure you will find lots of good fellowship here.

Best wishes
Vinod :coffee:
p.s where did you get this name

Hello and glad to hear you are now done with your treatment and keen to survive - as a fellow foodie I sense your impatience to taste again. But be warned it takes ages beofre you will be eating gourmet meals out.

Everyone is different. But at a rough guess allow 1 to 2 years for taste recovery. Sorry to make that sound so long. My hospital said 6 to 9 months and I think now that was to encourage me as I was very despondent about it. It hit me hard as cooking was major hobby.

18 months is more realistic , but that's not to say you won't be able to taste things - just some will taste better than others. You just probably won't taste all foods well for ages, then suddenly something like tomatoes suddenly loses that starnge tang and is ok again.

Expect it to be long and slow job to recover taste. Fortnightly rather than daily. My first really significant difference to taste was month 6 or 7 although the metallic taste was much more subdued by month 3. As time passes things taste less disgusting.

The next truly significant change was month 15 when texture and swallowing suddenly improved when I tried some Christmas pudding. I could taste it and kept eating it and also added a few pounds! I actually noticed my swallow enlarge. The importance of texture and swallow improvemnet helps make a great improvement in qulity of eating.

For me the most major taste changes have been after 18 months. In the past few months 20 to 22 I have had a return of some real tastes again. Even then nothing is quite as before, but loads better than just after treatment. I often want seconds now which I never did for 18 months.

I suggest you eat lots of what you can eat rather than worrying about what you can't eat. This will help maintain the weight. Don't get too uptight if it is not the perfect healthy diet. The main thing is to eat something, almost anything. Be liberal with cream and milk.

Just wondering how many radiotherapy treatments you had as the destruction of taste buds must be related to the exposure days.

Just realised that might make you despondent.

You will be able to taste a near taste of things after a month or so. But probaly at most half a dozen foods only and often items with a definite single taste like aparagus or lemon.
You will have up and down recovery with two days when taste is better and three days when the foods that tasted ok then suddenly taste grim again.

Someone who has had longer recovery like Ishbel or Vicki who has had chemo might be better able to comment on the length of time overall it takes for taste recovery.

I have read on another board of individuals sensing new tastes 6 years later. The main thing is you are moving on to the next stage. The taste is still poor right now beacuse the radiotherapy is still working. Hope this helps and others may have far faster recovery taste experiences to tell you.

Hello DrBB (I share Dr J's interest in your choice of unusual name!. But that is by the way. Welcome anyway, and a good recovery. But the eating thing really does depend so much on the person.
I was horrified after finishing a full 32-session of radiotherapy, to find that really great smoked salmon sent down by a friend from Scotland tasted just like petrol mizxed with rust fillings. It tastes a bit better now after 5 years but some things are never the same.
(I am in remission from laryngeal cancer by the way)
After about three months I could get the real taste of things but couldn't eat most of them because they were the wrong texture for digestion which is still a problem.

The great thing for you is that you are lucky to be through the worst part hopefully. Now you have all the good things to look forward to. But as I said, you can't gereralise.
Pauline talkied about eating Christmas pudding. That is out for me forver because of the currants.
The fact that enjoying food again is your main concern is really encouraging as it shows you are in good mental recovery health.
I couldn't have cared less if I never ate again. I do now though. It is a sort of Pilgrim's Progress. Looking back through my old diaries I am surprised to find that the first thing I gave four stars to was corned beef hash.
All do9ne in the blende but very tasty with the slightly charred oniony taste.
Let's know how you go. Best wishes Ishbel