Nice description Jim. Now I can't get the picture of Chip or Dale lying in the middle of the road.

Thanks a lot for all of your answers. Strangely the taste has changed. Now things are acidic, except chocolate mousse. So every day i make sure there is some in the fridge. Martin says it tastes like it should. But the disappoiting thing is that after a few mouth fulls it becomes tasteless again. Apparently it is quite common. I heard a phone-in programme on French radio (I am half French, Half american and get very good radio reception for French radio), and it seemed to be a common complaint. There is a recipe book to re-introduce the pleasure of eating to radiotherapy and chemotherapy survivors. It was created by 10 chefs and cancer dieticians. I am slowly translating it, but once it is translated i will poste it. It is as much about the look of food as the taste.

Hi my partner is 11 weeks post treatment and has been managing to eat and taste well, however he still suffers from a sore throat after eating (some things), which is concerning me as it is on the left side of his throat and his primary was the right tonsil so most of the radiotherapy was targeted at that side of his neck and mouth. He also seems to be clearing his throat alot at the moment, which he attributed to a dry mouth. I was just wondering whether other patients were still suffering a sore throat after eating this long after treatment and whether I should be concerned about him clearing his throat so much.

Thanks

Cathy

Cathy,

It is very normal to stay on the alert for symptoms, but I can tell you that Bill still has a somewhat sore throat after eating and also clears his throat a lot and his treatments ended 16 months ago.

Some of this stuff is the new normal...the gift of radiation txs.

Deb

Thanks so much Deb, just hearing about others sharing symptoms is of great comfort. I hope Bill continues to do well.

Cathy

Hi Cathy,
Martin clears his throat a lot when he eats too and coughs after a big gulp of water. he also has a strange triple gulp, one sip of water requires 3 big gulps to go down, food however seems to need only one gulp. It's a bit strange, but it seems to work for him when he does decide to eat.
C

Hello...I haven't been here in a while...I take long breaks and find myself coming back to see if I'm normal, so here I am again

I enjoyed reading this thread because I thought I was going nutty with my taste one minute and not the next. Tasting the first few bites and that's it is what I mean.

I got to the point where the things my mind remembers and my nose can smell I make small portions of. For instance....

I LOVE steak, potatoes, veggies. I'll take about 3 bites of each. The fatty part of the steak is all I can taste and it has to be cooked well. After the 3rd bite of each, it pretty much goes down hill

This way, I can taste what I'm eating. This has managed to make me eat better actually, because I'm normally a Junk food junky LOL I went from 225lbs to 160lbs. So I'm doing good. It's a GREAT weight reduction plan LOL

I want to thank you all for sharing your stories as I can always check back on my sanity

I do have a tip for dry mouth tho I always carried extra buttered popcorn around with me and it always kept my mouth moist. Also My doctor recommended me eating "Sour Patch" candy. LOL..can you imagine that? It does work too!

What happens is our saliva glands can get plugged up, so the sour causes it to release. I guess lemons would work too, but the sour patch is the route I took.

Hope some of this put a smile on your face and might help you out. I know I'm going to try the Zinc that someone mentioned. See if that helps as I go into my 2 year cancer free this June.

Cathy

Be careful about the coughing after a big gulp of water. That could actually mean that some of the liquid is going down his airway and he might not want to gulp like that. The coughing is to clear the airway.

Patty

My Dr got me to try lemon drop candy. No way. It made my mouth worse. My thoughts are that each one of us will have and do have our own normal and probably no 2 will be just alike. Good luck to each of us as we go thru this.

Those 2 pesky squirrels win too many times with the old Mercury on the Ins. commercial. I hopped my car up so they would lose this time David. LOL SPLAT and over.