Letters to the Editor: I’ve lived without smell my whole life. Can the pandemic change that?

To the editor: Reporter Nicole Kagan’s article on losing her sense of smell after being infected with COVID-19 grabbed my attention. I have been careful to avoid getting this disease, but I have had no sense of smell my entire life.

As a kid I was not even completely aware that I couldn’t smell — I just thought I sensed things differently. My parents were never aware. It wasn’t until as an adult that I received an official diagnosis. I was told I lacked smell sensors, likely from some trauma at birth or soon after.

I read the article and took in all the unhappiness and difficulties from not being able to smell. It does make me sad when I allow myself to think about this wondrous sense I have missed. It is not completely true that you don’t miss what you never had.

I am in my senior years, and I guess I have learned how to cope. Because of the medical interest in this condition generated by the pandemic, I have a glimmer of a hope that there might come a treatment that could benefit me — and maybe, just once before I take the Ferryman’s hand and step into his boat, I’ll be able to walk into the kitchen and smell the apple pie in the oven.

Dave Wilson, Murrieta

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To the editor: I read with interest about COVID-19 causing someone to lose her sense of smell.

I lost my sense of smell five years ago, and it had nothing to do with this virus. A brain injury caused a bleed that required an operation, and the surgeon let me know in advance that this procedure could result in some kind of impairment. He was correct.

It might be of interest to readers to learn that there was another rather positive consequence. My taste buds have now become comfortable with many foods that I had no desire for whatsoever prior to this surgery. I’m OK with the trade.

Denis Garvey, Santa Ana