Diet (Caffeine Free) Dr. Pepper

As most of you know, I have no sense of taste or smell.  Back when I first developed my allergies in Germany, my sinuses became swollen, and despite a sinus surgery and years of allergy treatments, they have not returned to normal.  Hence, my lack of taste and smell.

Every couple of years (like right now), my allergies become so severe that my allergist has to "reset' my body by giving me steroids.  Steroids reduce swelling (or using those big words, they are anti-inflammatories to the MAX) and help me gain some control over my nose, eyes and throat.  They cause me all kinds of extra problems for the time I'm taking them--bloating, weight gain, sleeplessness, increased appetite.  However, there is one benefit when I am taking them--I can taste and smell again.

Yes, the swelling in my sinuses goes down so significantly that for a few blessed days, I am returned to olfactory and oral heaven.  I can smell and taste and through several courses of steroids over the past few years,  I took full advantage of this fact.

Unfortunately, this effect has lessened through the years, or doesn't seem like quite the blessing.  Now, while on steroids, I seriously feel like clawing my nose off my face.  First, not having smelled anything for 6-7 years, just walking in the laundry room can put me over the edge.  Detergents, and stain-removing sprays, and dryer sheets?  Too much!  Too fast!  Public restrooms?  Gross!  My "fight or flight" reactions pop into hyperdrive when I'm filling up my tank at the gas station.

My "taste" is a bit off too.  Grilled cheese sandwiches taste like Pine-Sol.  In fact, pretty much everything tastes like some kind of cleaning product!  My newly developed love of salmon?  I "tasted" it for the first time two days ago, and I felt like vomiting it back up.  That is some nasty stuff, and I'm going to need to rethink my feelings about the fish.

Enough.

Today, a little tiny window opened in my taste, reminding me of all that is good.  While in Michigan last weekend, I bought some Diet (Caffeine Free) Dr. Pepper for the sole reason that I used to look for it and could never find it.  Dr. Pepper?  Yes.  Diet Dr. Pepper?  Sometimes.  Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper?  In Florida.  But Diet (Caffeine Free) Dr. Pepper?  Never.

As I sat down to have my standard tuna fish sandwich with chips on the side for lunch today, I pulled a can out of the fridge.  While I knew that the combination of Miracle Whip, tuna and kettle-cooked chips would be just perfect (I can catch the sourness of the mayo and the saltiness of the chips), nothing could have prepared me for the taste.....

I know the carbonation well.  I drink diet pop all the time.

The can was sweating and felt good in my hand.

But the taste....

Dr. Pepper.

It took me back to some of the happiest times in my life.  Spending my summers in Tallahassee with my grandparents.  When my grandmother was out running errands, my granddad would head out to his private stash of Dr. Pepper in the refrigerator in the garage.  He would say to me before heading down the stairs, "Hey, Reesy, you want a Dr. Pepper?"

I almost wanted to cry, tasting that again.  Yes, it had some funky bite to it because it was diet, but there was no mistaking the sweetness of that drink.  All of the steroid symptoms of the last ten days were forgotten.

Man, it felt good to taste a Dr. Pepper again.