The answer to your question isn’t anywhere near a one size fits all. Given where your primary tumor is, the map of radiation targeting it, all being things that the radiation oncologist and the physicist that helped map the field determined and are unique to you the answer can only be stated as a generality. How many tastebuds were in your field? Unknown….

Most patients between week four and a few weeks after treatment ends deal with this. It’s terrible. But clearly you recognize how lucky you are to still be eating anything by mouth, and swallowing somewhat normally. Far too many, myself included, no longer have that simple pleasure. I’d kill right now to eat even something as banal as a hamburger and actually taste and swallow it.

The good news is this will mostly pass. I could eat for a few years after treatments. But I no longer tasted things the same way. Strawberries tasted pretty good, but not like strawberries. The main tastes, sweet, sour, salty, bitter etc. get jumbled some. I loved chocolate before cancer. Especially chocolate ice creme. After cancer it just tasted like cold fat. I quit eating it all together. But most things came back to normal. In the meantime at only two weeks, get ready for many things to get way worse before you come out the other side of treatment. When they do, for some of those there are workarounds, or at least good meds that will lessen the impact of them on you. We will be here to help you cope. B