Food Glorious Food

I took care of patients with cancer when I was a new nurse. What amazed me was the way they would become so emaciated; food sights and smells did not interest them, in fact it had the opposite effect. I am told that this happens in poor countries also, when malnourished children go so long without meaningful food that they lose interest in it, even when finally made available by rescue agencies. I understand it now, because it is happening to me. I sit down to eat, 2 bites, no bites, I don't want anymore. Yet I am hungry, I can feel it deep down. I see pictures of food on Facebook, people enjoying my favorite menu items at my favorite restaurants, cookouts with burnt steak and grilled corn and even while mentally I lick my lips, I know that I could no more eat it than a plate of rocks. Meanwhile, I watch my weight drop, seemingly helpless in the face of the toxins that the cancer endlessly secretes that kills the appetite. Maybe this is the most humane way it goes, how a body reacts to overwhelming disease or famine, a kind of quiet fading. I took the taste of grilled buttered corn for granted, I guess...food, with all it's flavors, one of life's greatest pleasures. Today take a taste of your favorite food, savor it, and share it. I think mine will be a root beer float.