Side Effects - What Happened to my Palate?

Two weeks in and my taste-buds are still a little scrambled.  That's the biggest daily-affecting side effect so far.  Pre-chemo I was a big Diet Coke drinker.  Post-chemo I noticed that some of my sweet receptors have turned off or send a different signal.  Diet Coke doesn't have a sweet sensation anymore, and what's left of the potpourri of chemically concocted tastes isn't a good combination.  My youngest daughter will be happy with this turn of events, since she would really like to see me stop drinking the stuff.  

Some people treat carbonated beverages like poison.  You'd have thought then, that carbonated drinks and actual poison, i.e. chemotherapy drugs, would have conspired as allies, but instead I guess the chemo drugs don't appreciate the competition.

Last night we had pasta and broccoli for dinner.  The pasta tasted pretty good.  The broccoli on the other hand....let's just say that I eat it as a healthy vegetable, I usually don't eat broccoli and think "This really tastes great! - (unless it's smothered in cheese sauce and butter.  But, last night, my chemo-affected taste buds reported that the broccoli tasted worse than broccoli!  I ate one stalk, or tree or whatever one calls a chunk of broccoli, and discarded the rest.  It made me feel presidential:

"I do not like broccoli.  And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it.  And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli." - Pres. George H.W. Bush

Don't get me wrong.  I am eating good foods.  Some don't taste very good, and some don't have much taste at all.  

Ritz Crackers and the occasional Snickers are the winners so far.  They have not abandoned my receptors in their time of need.

Include me in your carbonated beverage toast tonight.  I won't be joining you.