Mike,

My issue has been chewing and manuevering food to swallow, as I have been lucky so far with not having to undergo radiation, but it is also a definite chore to eat.

I was a total foodie, and loved to cook and eat - the whole pureed food thing was just abhorrent to me.

I often need to use my finger to get food to a place where I can chew/swallow, and usually only avoid this by taking very small bites and drinking a lot of room temperature water, which means it (a) takes forever to eat; and (b) makes me full much faster. I eat far less (about a third) of what I ate before.

When I cook at home, I try and make something that can be frozen, so I don't completely waste it if I can't eat it, or can only eat a little bit. I have found it very satisfying to at least manage a part of it. I try new things when I have friends over for dinner as a test run.

While I still have half my taste buds, they are now out of proportion so food tastes differently, plus I bite my new tongue without realizing it, which is totally creepy when I figure it out.

I would, however, kill for a bacon cheeseburger to just bite into, sigh.

We should start a food competition for OC patients, like a special olympics eating decathalon - chugging boost, mixing smoothies, pureeing meat, etc. We could convince some famous chef to judge us. I can see it now....