((With NaNo2021 Complete, I return! And now for a side effect that I wasn't prepared for.))
Phase Seven: Unexpected Side Effects
Jim was getting quite proficient in making creative meals for his mom depending on what phase of her treatment cycle she was on. With this being the week after her third treatment she was mostly on the 'eat whatever you feel like' phase, as opposed to the week-of-treatment 'stuck with applesauce, toast, bananas, crackers, and rice' phase. So tonight's offering was breaded chicken with a layer of Swiss cheese, salad, and breadsticks; chicken parm sans the pasta and sauce, since tomato anything was a bit too acidic on her right now. It was honestly a favorite.
Barbara had just started eating when she realized, however, that something was...off.
That's odd, this doesn't taste the same. It certainly smelled like it always did, and looked like it always did. She tried a few more bites.
"Jim, did you try a new breading?" Jim looked up from his own dinner.
"No, just the same crumbs and seasoning. Why? Are you feeling sick?"
"I'm fine. Something just tastes different tonight." Jim frowned, looking at his plate thoughtfully before taking an experimental bite.
"I can't taste anything different." Getting up Jim went into the kitchen where Barbara saw him through the currently-open partition checking his spices and retracing his steps in dinner preparation before he looked back. "No, I don't think I missed anything and I didn't do anything to yours that didn't do to mine." Barbara tipped her head thoughtfully, then tried a little of the Swiss by itself, then the breading that she pulled away from the chicken. Both tasted normal.
The chicken, however, was all texture, no flavor, not even its own natural mild one. It was actually a little hard to swallow because of that, not at all pleasant and she had to take a drink to get it down.
"Mom?"
"It's the chicken - it has no flavor, at all."
"Huh?" As Jim came back to his seat Barbara's eyes widened, a question she was asked each treatment and a tiny paragraph she'd read in the book they'd given her on breast cancer coming to mind.
"Oh...I think I know what's going on." Barbara gave her son a wry grin. "I think your job of making my meals just got more difficult, honey."
"What do you mean?"
"Chemo affects the entire digestive system, including the mouth. Your cooking is fine, but I can't taste all of it."
"You can't?" Barbara shook her head.
"About half of all patients have some kind of problem with taste, though the exact way it's affected varies. I hardly thought about why they always ask if I was having problems with eating or taste since I hadn't noticed anything. But now it makes sense." Jim was nodding in understanding.
"Balance of flavors is everything in cooking," he agreed. "Throw that off and nothing tastes right. I can make you something else if you want."
"No, this still tastes fine because I can taste the breading and cheese. It just caught me off-guard." She grinned. "Well have to do some experimenting before our next grocery trip."
Experimenting proved that Barbara's taste was indeed muted, as opposed to overly-salty or sweet, and that the closer to natural something was the better she could taste it save for meat; only chicken was affected. Pure sugar could be tasted if selectively, which saved her preferred evening ritual of ginger tea after treatments, but her favored hard candies were as tasteless as marbles.
During her third treatment she brought it up to Dr. Coraline who added he reassurance that it was normal, and that if Barbara wanted they had a dietician on staff top talk with her and help with arranging a diet.
"I think we'll be alright," she replied. "Jim and I are testing things, but if we can't find enough that I can eat I'll let you know."
"I'm very happy to see you're handing the challenges so well," the oncologist complimented. "They accessed your port? Good, then you're ready for the infusion. Call me if you need anything." Barbara nodded, then headed across for this next treatment.
Healer, become the patient. I can do this, no matter how hard it gets.
((My first off-meal was grilled cheese. Could taste the bread, not the cheese. Hot mushy bread. Definitely not delicious.))
