My taste bud has gone through many changes ever since I started chemo and radiotherapy. Every day is full of surprises when I eat as the same food can have different taste. The worst is at the later part of the radiotherapy because I have lost the taste bud completely and have problem to swallow the food as my salivary glands is damaged by the radiation. Eating became a chore and it required imaginations and defocus from the food to finish a meal. I am proud that I overcome the difficulties in eating and did not lost too much weight which is important because I need to to have enough energy to go through the treatment.  Subsequently, my mouth became very sensitive. Anything with mint, including tooth paste is burning hot. It is weird that even banana also tastes hot.

We have 5 primary taste sensations which are salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami (鲜味, a brothy or savory taste produced by compounds such as glutamate). I always hope that I can gain back either the taste sensation of salty or sweet first then I can indulge in my favorite food and dessert Unfortunately, it was “sour” that came back first after my second chemo. I found that if I leave hot food to cool, it will taste sour. Whenever I chew the food for too long, there will be a sour after taste. Most of the fruits including red apples also taste very sour.

On the good side is that the food are not totally blend and tasteless now. They have very mild taste and therefore I think my taste buds is slowly recovering. My salivary glands are now generating more saliva and I feel great to be able to swallow fried “bee hoon” (vermicelli) again. I am trying different food everyday and it is a joy to be able to taste again. I can’t wait to have my Satay, Chicken rice, Sashimi, Sushi, KFC chicken, Ice kachang, brownies…….