So, you know I have been sick.  At first it presented as a terrible head cold.  Then, day five, it felt like I have been punched in the face.  I could not breathe and the sinus pressure was incredible  The cold also descended into my chest.  It hurt.  My glands in my neck blew up.  I swear I looked like the Mucinex Man.  I went to Urgent Care in a pony tail and my slippers at 8:45 last night.  I got an antibiotic.  I will be fine soon.

The point of this post?  I LOST MY TASTE BUDS!!!!!  Are you kidding me?  This has never happened to me before.  It is just crazy!  CRAZY!  Maybe this is blowing my mind because I value the taste of food above my own children.  Strike that.  Below my children, above my siblings.  HAHA.

Yesterday is when “Taste Bud Gate” started.  I ate a hamburger and tasted NOTHING.  Weird because it had everything on it.  Mustard, ketchup, mayo, tomato, pickle, even onion.  I was not feeling very well, so I blew it off.  Too tired to care.  In fact, I passed on a Klondike bar because I figured I could not taste it anyway.  You think I would be thrilled.

But this morning I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I’m chewing and tasting NOTHING.  I could not tell you if I was eating peanut butter or liverwurst.  I could not tell the flavor of the jelly.  It was strawberry, but it could have been pickled herring! Not only do I not taste it, but I could not even tell you if I was eating something sweet, salty, bitter, or even Cajun!  Now, I am getting a little irritated.  No.  Very irritated!  So much so, I had to write about it!!!

I ask myself – “what is the silver lining?”  Well, I never knew how horrible it is to be unable to taste.  If you, or someone you know, suffers from this, I am truly sorry.  Dare I say, this is very HELLISH.  I am even having a slight panic attack that it my taste buds will not return.  Sayonara!  They left to go south to better weather!

You see, taste buds are a wonderful pearl I have taken for granted.  From out of nowhere, I have had a profound realization.  An ah-ha moment.  Something as gross as the bumps on my tongue are as valuable as a mouth full of gems!

Please, let me know if you find my taste buds.   They are in BIG trouble!

Photo by Daniel Sandoval on Unsplash