Losing My Sense of Smell

It’s been an odd sensation, losing my sense of smell as a result of Covid. While we had a lot of delicious things to try recently (rare whiskies, pasta carbonara)… I couldn’t taste anything.

And in a lot of ways, the good whisky we had was more or less lost on me. Not being able to smell means not being able to taste, and I was sipping on water as far as I could tell.

We’ve stocked up on groceries, over the holiday period. With us no longer traveling a lot, we decided to get a lot of winter, comfort foods while we’re home and on vacation.

The unfortunate thing for me now, is: I can’t taste anything at all. Everything’s bland. Even coffee is just hot water. So while we might have all these indulgent snacks and meals available, right now it’s all lost on me.

I’m no longer asking myself what I want to eat, or thinking about a particular kind of food or snack. I’m wondering what kind of texture I want. Because that’s all that food is, at the moment – a series of different textures. And perhaps heat.

Having no sense of smell, and no sense of taste as a result… puts a slight dampening to the days. It’s a sliver of gray that permeates things. While I’m starting to feel better (blowing my nose less, coughing less)… the lack of smell/taste makes me feel like I’m standing a few feet away from feeling “normal” again.

I’ve cooked a little bit, since I lost my sense of smell. And it’s an odd sensation. I’m adding salt and pepper to things, but it’s a guess. An approximation. At times, my situation seems a little dangerous: I’d be unable to tell if food has spoiled, or if I was eating something that I should be throwing away.

I’ve been pulling items off the pantry shelf, whenever I go into the kitchen. And smelling things like coffee beans, trying to sense if I can pick up any aroma at all. Sometimes it’s nothing, sometimes I think I catch a whiff of something. But it’s hard to tell if it’s an actual smell I’m able to detect, or if it’s the memory of a smell.

From the little I’ve read so far, the loss of smell tends to come 4-5 days after initial symptoms. And can last from 7 – 14 days. I’m largely ignoring the details of Long Covid, as the idea of not having my sense of smell for months or years is, quite frankly, disconcerting.

A few days back, I took a test and learned I got Covid. ANd now, a few times a day, I’ll reach for the coffee beans, the bathroom hand soap, a random spice from the spice rack… as another kind of test. And hoping one of these days, it comes back positive.

[photo via Battlecreek Coffee Roasters]

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Felix Gets an Early Christmas Present: Covid
Smelling the Roses