You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone

I guess I probably could have started this blog a year ago but better late than never. It was October of 2005 that I first realized I had a problem with my sense of smell. Now, before I get into the particulars, I will say that over the past few years, whenever I'd have a drink or a cigar, I'd notice a drastic reduction in my ability to smell something. I can't remember how many times I'd be getting ready to cook something for me and my wife, say a barbecue, and I'd have a cocktail while getting things ready only to have to ask my wife to smell something to make sure it was fresh.

I guess I just never thought anything of it. I'd always heard that alcohol can dull senses in some people so I chalked it up to that and figured that if I wanted to enjoy a drink, that was the price I had to pay.

The word anosmia never even existed in my vocabulary until last October. My wife and I were visiting NYC for our first trip to the Big Apple. What a great time! That was one of the best vacations ever. Of course, being New York, we did a lot of walking and of course eating and drinking.

We had taken the subway from mid-town to Little Italy where we had a nice lunch. I should mention that over the summer I had been smoking a cigar every night so of course I brought some to New York with us. While in Little Italy we stumbled across a cigar shop so I went in. The owner was a great guy and when I told him what type of cigars I liked he offered me some handmade premiums. While walking back to the subway I lit one up. It was one of the most enjoyable cigars I'd ever smoked. Unbeknownst to me at the time, it would be one of the last times I was able to taste a good cigar.

That night, we were eating dinner and about halfway through I realized I couldn't taste my food. I felt fine but said to my wife, "I can't taste anything, I wonder if I'm getting a cold". We both brushed it off and continued our dinner and had a great time with the rest of our trip but the loss of taste really bugged me.
At that time I never even realized that not only could I not taste anything, I could not smell anything either!