I had big plans for today, and then when I woke up I was profoundly exhausted. So exhausted I signed up for a sick day. I thought if I could rest for a day I might fend off any cold or illness that might be creeping up. I decided that if I was still just tired tomorrow then it was just fatigue and I needed to get on with things, just more slowly than usual.
After an hour I thought I would make myself coffee. Decaf coffee plus an ounce of cream and ten squirts of liquid sweetener. It tastes like mocha candy.
I took a sip, then a gulp. Couldn’t taste it. Uh-oh.
I went back to the bedroom and took a sip of soda, I smelled my hands, nothing tasted or smelled especially strong. Then I realized I should try something really strong just to be sure before I decided to go get a covid test. I remembered the sweetener I squirt in my coffee is terrifically sweet when you taste it straight, so I went back for the bottle of sweetener, planning to squirt some in my palm and lick it.
After a few “squirts” of sweetener I realized the bottle was empty.
7 responses to “Ill”
Auuuugh. So sorry you’re sick, and hope you feel fully better ASAP. (back to monkey goodnights with Gary in the hallway, though? One positive, maybe?)
Are you both getting tested?
I’d note that a relative with COVID reported that she could still taste “sweet” – Hershey’s Syrup was just… gooey, thick sweetness, which was apparently really gross. (but ginger puree: nope; spicy food: nope)
And honestly, if there’s any substantial reduction (beyond just what you’d get with a standard-issue head cold) get tested; some people only have a partial reduction in smell/taste, not a full absence.
(and pleaaaaase take good care of yourself. You are extremely valuable.)
KC – I don’t qualify for testing at my pharmacy because I have no symptoms. When I thought I had symptoms I was planning to go right over to the test site conveniently across the highway. That is odd that the sweet tastebuds still worked but the others didn’t.
Wait, so you *could* taste the coffee, just not the sweetener (that wasn’t there because the bottle was empty)?
(if you couldn’t taste the coffee: that’s a symptom, go get tested.)
And yes! I think the pathways are different for some of the types of tastebuds vs. others? But I don’t know much about any of that.
KC – I use really mild decaf coffee. It tastes like water anyway, and a quarter of the cup was cream, which doesn’t taste like much. I think I’ve read that what I learned in grade school – that there are geographic area of your tongue dedicated the sweet, salty, etc. “� is not true.
The geographic areas of the tongue thing is partly true – there are concentrations of taste buds of a particular type in particular areas – but yeah, they’re not entirely exclusive. (although I *think* there are typically no “bitter” sensors at the back of the tongue – this is why some pills you can place carefully at that spot on the back of the tongue, then swallow, and as long as none of it gets anywhere else, it’s fine, but if it does get anywhere else, then yikes it’s bitter)(there may be individual variation, though.)
But WHEW. I was Very Worried for a bit there.
KC – not as worried as I was!