Hello There. Haven't posted in a while. Joe completed radiation 8/23/07, (5+ weeks daily treatment, no chemo). Had completed surgery for adenocarcinoma removal with part of parotid gland. He has some taste now, but worries that it will not get any better. He was a great cook and now finds this very disturbing. May sound trite to many of you, as his condition otherwise is so much better than I read here of many of you. I just feel for him and wonder exactly what some of the long term survivors are experiencing in this area. Would you say 50%, 80%, or ???% return of taste. Is he too anxious?

I am 16 months post Tx and I am still noticing slight improvements in my saliva and taste. Tell him to accept a slow and long recovery and don't look for daily, weekly or even monthly improvements, you know the old don't watch a pot till it boils saying. It will get better but it will take time. Sometimes it takes me weeks just to recognize that something has improved.

David, you always seem to have an understandable answer for most questions. Like most on here, I admire you for being able to express yourself so well.. Have a great day and enjoy. This from the guy that was around when they invented dirt LOL

I finished treatment about 6 weeks earlier. Right now, I would say taste is 80 -85% back. Chocolate still tastes a little off, as do most other sweets. Taste and saliva appear to march in step, in that my taste is better when my saliva is best, and taste diminishes as mouth dries out.

I am 18 mos. 3 days post Tx and full taste is still not back. I have concluded that it is probably as good as it will ever be. Saliva is maybe 80% pre Tx and is also most likely as good as it will get. When last seen by my ENT in Oct. she said at that point that most likely the saliva activity was most likely as good as it will ever be. She wasn't as certain about the taste buds.

I would say that taste is maybe 75 to 80% returned and it is quite odd. Some things taste real close to the old days and others are still way off. Alcohol in any form, wine, beer, etc. is one of the worst tasting things of all as well as chocolate. In fact, most sweets taste terrible and the biggest problem seems to be lack of sweet sensation. One of the few candies I can even tolerate is Skittles. On the upside, I seem to have full return of taste of coffee and never totally lost it. I can do without the alcohol but thank the Lord my coffee taste is here.

Bill D.

Just to show another side...as I said I am 16 months and 18 days post Tx and I can taste everything although most subtleties are not there like before. I fancied myself as a "good cook" before and could add a pinch of this or that to affect the overall taste. I don't ever see myself ever being able to do that anymore.

I do taste chocolate and all sweets perfectly and alcohol tastes the same as well.

I am not saying my taste is 100% but if it doesn't get any better, I'll be pleased with where it ended up. My dry mouth is also not 100% and I definitely believe they go hand n hand.

I also just recently (2 weeks or so) noticed a slight improvement to my taste and dry mouth and I hope it's not done recovering but we'll see.

What I'm trying to reinforce is that even though we may all get 30 something IMRT treatments, we don't all get them in the exact same location and we all, therefore, can and do respond and recover differently.

Jim,

I used to tell a very good friend of mine that he was older than dirt.

David - I always appreciate your updates since my son's progress seems to follow yours quite a bit. He is almost 13 months post Tx and describes his taste as being like the difference between a water color and an oil painting. He tastes everything but not quite to the same intensity. He still has dry mouth but it was so encouraging to hear of the recent improvement that you noticed in your progress, and makes me feel that there is hope for his taste and dry mouth to improve as well.

My 1 grand daughter calls me the old guy and my nephew calls me old man. LOL I wonder why. 72 pretty soon and that isn't years old it's years young. LIke the song says.. " I can dream can't I " LOL

Anne-Marie,

Do you really put that hyphen in your name. I have a daughter with the same name but never considered a hyphen?

Your son had tongue surgery which I didn't and I have no idea how that may affect future taste even without rad but I'm sure he's not finished his recovery so lets hope he moves up from the water cooler level. I will say that I used to be at that level so I know what he means.