I started the search for the ultimate ginger chemo cookie through my blog and have worked my way through everything from ginger nuts to syrup-soaked ginger cakes (admittedly not cookies) over the last four months to help combat nausea. Delia’s ginger nuts seem to have come out on top. I baked for patients and staff at the cancer day unit to help turn chemo days into milestone events. Every time they returned I would dig out my plastic spatula and icing sugar, indulge my passion for baking and try to develop my skills. Far from putting me off the kitchen it has brought me closer to it. (I am not sure my friend will ever forget it either, as I proceeded to demolish our shared bread bowl and was craving seconds before our starters arrived.)Įven though I tried hard to reclaim them each cycle (see top tips below) I am glad I lost my taste buds. But my most vivid memory throughout this whole journey is the moment I discovered I could taste bread again. Of course I’ll never forget rejecting my first glass of water or eating a tasteless sea bass with a teaspoon (due to a lovely helping of mouth ulcers). But when the bread rolls turned to Brillo pads and the madras felt like a korma I started to realise just how important taste is to my general happiness. Interestingly, for a self-confessed foodie the one thing I didn’t think much about before treatment was losing my sense of taste (so preoccupied was I with thoughts of peripheral neuropathy and neutropenic sepsis). And I never want to take that feeling for granted ever again! I didn’t think much about losing my sense of taste But what about the sheer delight that comes with rediscovering your taste buds every cycle? Right now, a month after my last docetaxel, I can honestly say that food has never tasted this good. Nowhere do you see the words: ‘By signing up to this course of chemotherapy drugs, please be advised that your skin will become silky smooth and soft and you won’t need to shave for a good few months.’Īnd what about your taste buds? Everyone mentions the metallic taste and the fact everything turns to cardboard. First, I would include truths that would make even the most hardened oncologist blush (and us feel normal when they actually happen).Īnd second, I would add the positive side effects that many tend to overlook. If I were to rewrite the consent form I would add two things.
And while losing your hair downstairs may sound like a treat it does have a rather adverse effect on your ability to pee in one direction). Without even reading the form, for example, I knew it would tug at my hair, attack my nails and pluck out my eyebrows (in truth, I didn’t think too much about nose hair, which is not to be underestimated. If I were to rewrite the consent form I would add two thingsĪll too often there’s a focus on all the things cancer treatment takes away (seven pages of focus in my case).
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