My sense of smell is completely gone.

Apparently this happens after a long battle with the flu. It has been several months since I got over the worst sickness I’ve ever had in my life, and I still have not regained my ability to smell. It seems like it would be a trivial thing, but it has affected my life in unfortunate ways. My ability to taste food has been muted about 20-50%. I can’t tell if milk is expired. I can’t tell if the oven is burning. I can’t smell freshly-cut grass, a woman’s perfume, or summer flowers in the morning rain, or any number of random smells that unlock some faint memory from childhood you forgot you had. Honestly, it really sucks.

I guess I’ll see a doctor about it, but it’s probably one of those things that either comes back, or doesn’t. Once your olfactory nerves are damaged, that’s it, they’re gone forever. Sometimes I get hope, though. I can detect some smells if they’re pungent enough (pepper, vinegar, onions), but even then I think that is my nose reacting to those scents because of acid content, etc.. I can also sometimes detect some scents, but they do not smell the least bit correct… more like a moldy, mucus-y smell.

It could be worse, I suppose… I could have gone blind, or deaf, or lost a limb. Heck, people die from the flu all the time. But I still feel like I have to retrain myself to live life as best I can with what I have left.