Last Sunday I woke with a terrible headache, someone was squeezing my brain like a sponge. For some reason, it led me to test for covid and the test was positive. I had the usual fatigue, headache, a cough like a fog horn, etc. But a few days in, I noticed that the lovely pillow spray I use to induce almost immediate sleep had lost it's scent. "How odd," I thought, "that's quite a new bottle." It took me another day to realize that my sense of smell was gone and, along with it my sense of taste! There's still a remnant - highly salted foods still penetrate the fog on my tongue. Here's what I miss (and I still cook, expecting somehow that the food I prepare will be tasty.)
- I buy a very particular full-fat brand of yogurt for breakfast with blueberries every morning. I get a small note of sour on the back of my tongue, nothing more. The sweet note of blueberries is completely missing, just the texture is left.
-I made lunch of a lovely pack of sliced smoked salmon on a toasted sesame Montreal bagel, topped with capers. The salmon was a tasteless mush, only the saltiness of the capers made it through.
-I made chicken noodle soup with chopped bok choy. The recipe (a favourite) is heavily seasoned with ginger, fish sauce, and other Asian herbs and spices. Nada!
Everyone who has been through this promises it will come back. I am in mourning till then.
