When my son's sense of taste were gone, he could still smell and once when I asked him why he seemed to hover over his soup bowl so long, he said being able to smell and breathing in the vapors deeply was almost like tasting. As he began taking in more and more nutrition, he would spend several moments just breathing in the food smell sort of like virtual tasting until the real taste came back.

We have 5 senses--all related and closely linked in every experience--sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
Probably why some who can't eat, enjoy cooking for others--sight and touch.
Nausea--sight and smell can be serious triggers.
Kneading dough for bread or pizza bases--touch, sound
A pan bubbling/simmering in the next room combined with smell--yummy or off-putting depending on circumstances.
From my reading here, it's not so much cravings as enjoying 'what feels okay/good' at the time, which might be totally out of the norm.
From my own point of view, didn't have radiation, so can't contribute on that-induced issues, but when I could hardly open my jaw and had a lot of pain in it, I discovered ice-cream gave me some nutrition (Had never bothered much about it before), ditto savoury rice, rice pudding, any drink with ice in, soggy cereal and cookies dunked in tea/coffee.

Brenda

Actually much of what we experience as taste is really smell. We're only have taste bud receptors for sweet-savory-sour-salty and bitter but we experience much more to taste than that and that's because of smelling the food in our mouth. I had serious swallowing problems and for a year after rad couldn't swallow much of anything--but I LOVED to smell stuff. My husband complained sometimes that I'd practically put my nose in his plate. If I was hungry it would make me more hungry though so I had to be either full of Jevity or about to have some.

I agree my sense of smell never went away. Everything tasteed bad in the 3rd week and by the 4th week I was getting most of my calories through the tube.

Nelie

I am not sure if I agree with you Nelie.
To me everything still smells ok. That has not changed. Take a good steak, It smells like it always did but if I eat it it tastes like crap.....


M

Hi Jean

My smell has gotten much more acute. When I was not able to eat during and after treatments, I would always go *sniff* the real supper before dumping the liquid down my tube.... man that was good

Just one of the games I played to keep my sanity

I hope that the Thanksgiving turkey smells or tastes good to him!

I have the taste and saliva problem too, but when I see the lady in charge of the Cancer reasearch that I am in,, she gets me to smell graham crackers. I don't know why but it does get the juices flowing. I have to give her saliva samples as well as scrappings from my mouth amd of course the good old urine thing.. LOL

Hey Jim !
do you think the reason could be something other than the cracker

M

Boys will be boys--lol!
Brenda