HI Ellen

Already, your husband is ahead of the game because he wants to eat. Alex still struggles with motivation and only over the past 3 months or so has he genuinely expressed desire to eat. He has chewing and swallowing issues as well as continuing taste disturbances and we are 12 months out from treatment.

Alex is very sensitive to temperature and avoids both hot and cold. He also cannot tolerate spicy. I nearly killed him the other week with a Thai Curry - completely forgetting his issues. Like David, he has a better chance of tasting and enjoying sweet things. He has also developed aversions to certain flavours (most notably, vanilla) which remind him of when he was sick.

I think Alex's has taken longer than most in this part of recovery for numerous reasons including time he was on treatment which was longer than many, the size and position of his tumour which has caused permanent nerve damage and mobility problems with throat and tongue as well as the fact that he was a skinny bugger before and not too interested in eating anyway.

Also, I don't feel guilty for eating in front of him, as I feel it might motivate him to try a little bit for himself if he is jealous of me.