Up until a few days ago, I was basically hiding in my office at work everyday. Literally not coming out of my office, going to the bathroom, getting a drink of water, or visiting coworkers.
I kept reading about this super sense of smell that I would get, but I had no idea it would be so horrible. They describe it online like a superpower or something, but I would call it a curse.
Without opening the door to the hallway, I could tell you that someone just cooked eggs in the microwave (uggggh!), reheated their leftover Thai food (bleh), or cooked their Asian-themed Lean Cuisine. Those are the worst offenders. It was just safer to stay in my room and forbid my coworker roommate from bringing any hot food into the room.
Side note: For anyone reading this, I have an awesome coworker, and I truly appreciate all of the listening she has done, water she has gotten for me when I was too afraid to leave the office (due to smells), food she hasn’t eaten because the smell makes me want to barf, and her ability to pretend like all of the gagging noises I make don’t bother her one bit.
I did find that one day while walking bravely through the hallway, someone had just eaten an orange, and it was the best smell I have ever smelled. I went to Target and bought this 100% natural orange car freshener. I take it everywhere I go.
Now it is about 13 weeks, and I have noticed that going into the hallway isn’t as bad, but I still keep my office door closed. I even let Heather eat a sandwich in the office the other day :).
In mentioning awesome people, I must also mention how absolutely fabulous my husband has been. Opening the fridge and smelling the wave of fridge food is enough to make me never venture into a fridge again. Peter makes me lunch, snackbags, and dinner. I don’t think I would be able to eat without him. I tried going to Target but when I saw all of the food, my stomach got so overwhelmed, that I needed to run away from the food section quickly.
Back to how awesome Peter is. He cleans my puke pots, takes care of my animals, goes grocery shopping, does the laundry, makes me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, brings me bananas, etc. The list goes on.
I also have wonderful family members who buy me cold drinks (like the 99-cent Arizona Orangeade, which is the only drink that I can stomach sometimes), make me lima beans and carrots, and sneak actual homemade food to my husband.
Thank you to everyone!
I liked this post 🙂 It made me laugh because I really did NOT mind you making gagging noises– I felt bad for you, but it didn’t bother me one bit!!
I am, however, very happy you are feeling much, much better!!