Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Friday, January 8, 2016

A Strange Affliction


I’ve been lucky. Not a day in the hospital from the time I was born till a freak drug allergic reaction at age 62  left me in intensive care for almost a week. But that’s  another story….

It all began with a routine chore. It was filling my lawn tractor with gas.  I had failed to notice the crack in the plastic gas cap. Racing to finish the mowing job ahead of an approaching storm I kept going in spite of an increasingly heavy mist.  It included some gasoline being sprayed each time I hit a bump in the lawn.  Finishing the job as it began to pour I ran into the house where I met my wife.  She immediately wanted to know what the “awful smell’ was.  A closer sniff and she determined my wet T shirt was the source.  I had been totally oblivious to the smell.

A few days later my GP sent me to the Mayo Clinic  who gave me a sniff test with little bottles of liquid (high tech that wasn’t).  It was determined I had lost some of my senses.  Mrs. T. agreed.  It was actually a virus which took my sense of smell and to a lesser degree that of taste. Still they told me I was lucky since it could also have been my sight.


 
There were clues to all of this back then but when something gradually disappears you don’t always notice it. My complaints about all the bad smelling and tasting coffee had been noted.  Switching brands hadn’t helped.  When I,  quite out of character,  agreed with my senior high school students how bad the smells from the lunchroom  one floor below my classroom were, the all cheered.  The worst though was when after our skunk scented hunting dog caused my son to puke and I hadn’t noticed anything unusual.  Still when all was said and done I did recognize my good fortune in never having taken up smoking.  We all know the habit can kill you.  Turning into a human torch while mowing the lawn would have been considerably quicker.   

24 comments:

  1. I have lost much of my sense of smell. I'm not sure if it's from medication I take, or whether it's just because I'm old now. Chemical smells are still there, but natural smells are not, for the most part. Luckily I can still smell smoke. I wonder if I would smell skunk. I'm not anxious to try to find out. :-)

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    1. I, too, have lost much of my sense of smell. My sense of smell use to be very keen. Now, it is almost non-existent.

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  2. It's always hard to say what goes from age or what we're taking/eating/etc. Glad you weren't a human torch!! ---and you were smart not to ever start smoking. I quit after 31 years and now every couple of years, I get a good bout of lung infections just to kick my tail for my stupidity.

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  3. Hard to believe that skunk odor could not be recognized.I can detect it miles away.LOL

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  4. I hope once you recovered from the infection that some of the senses you'd been losing have returned.

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    1. It did very slowly recover and now I'd guess the old smeller is at about 75%...;)

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  5. It is strange as to how it slowly changed. My hearing has done that and I am in awe how it was so gradual. I will have to correct it sometime soon. Smell or not to smell should make the taste be confused all of the time.

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  6. Yes, better smell than sight. Taste would be hard, though, but I wonder if it happens gradually if you would just slowly get used to the new normal.

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  7. Interesting entry. Glad you're okay.

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  8. That could have been an awful story had you been around any sort of flame.
    Losing your sense of smell must make eating a boring experience.

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  9. I wondered where you were going with this one. You were very fortunate that the gas vapor didn't ignite.

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  10. This is quite a story! I lost my sense of taste and smell for a short time after a chemical exposure at work. Thankfully, it all came back. You are a very fortunate man that you didn't set yourself on fire when you were covered in gasoline. Did you ever get your sense of smell back?

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  11. Yikes. One little spark and you would have been a human torch.

    That is weird that so many people here have lost the sense of smell.

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  12. Loss of any sense is unfortunate, but with your obvious enjoyment of reading and your appreciation of nature's wonders, I am so glad that your sight was unaffected.

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  13. This past week my Grandsons said that they cannot smell much...I wonder? I told them maybe they are growing to fast to smell! I am glad you got most of your sense of smell back! We are headed for an Arctic Blast...stay warm:)

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  14. You are lucky you didn't blow yourself up! One spark could have changed this story and you might not be the one telling it.

    Zinc deficiency can also cause loss of smell.

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  15. It must really affect your appreciation of food in general since it is quite tied into smell. But maybe taste is enough? Is it? Might deserve another post.

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  16. oooooh my, you were lucky to have been so healthy for so many years but what an unfortunate recent experience!! My husband has lost his hearing, completely, well, he sure can't hear anything I say!!

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  17. That's an interesting story well told.

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  18. Troutbirder -- Never would have "thunk" a gas spewing lawnmower could do such damages to your "senses." Glad it was not a permanent feature of living without your "senses." :) -- barbara

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  19. Were you still able to taste food ? My grandmother had something similar to what you describe and it ended up with her saying all food was bland, no matter how much hot sauce she poured on !!

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