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Remembering Smell: A Memoir of Losing--and Discovering--the Primal Sense

In November 2005, Bonnie Blodgett was whacked with a nasty cold. After a quick shot of a popular nasal spray up each nostril, the back of her nose was on fire. With that, Blodgett—a professional garden writer devoted to the sensual pleasures of garden and kitchen—was launched on a journey through the senses, the psyche, and the sciences. Her olfactory nerve was destroyed, perhaps forever. She had lost her sense of smell.
Phantosmia—a constant stench of “every disgusting thing you can think of tossed into a blender and pureed”—is the first disorienting stage. It’s the brain’s attempt, as Blodgett vividly conveys, to compensate for loss by conjuring up a tortured facsimile. As the hallucinations fade and anosmia (no smell at all) moves in to take their place, Blodgett is beset by questions: Why are smell and mood hand-in-hand? How are smell disorders linked to other diseases? What is taste without flavor? Blodgett’s provocative conversations with renowned geneticists, smell dysfunction experts, neurobiologists, chefs, and others ultimately lead to a life-altering understanding of smell, and to the most transformative lesson of all: the olfactory nerve, in ways unlike any other in the human body has the extraordinary power to heal.


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In November 2005, Bonnie Blodgett was whacked with a nasty cold. After a quick shot of a popular nasal spray up each nostril, the back of her nose was on fire. With that, Blodgett--a professional garden writer devoted to the sensual pleasures of garden and kitchen--was launched on a journey through the senses, the psyche, and the sciences. Her olfactory nerve was destroyed, perhaps forever. She had lost her sense of smell.
Phantosmia--a constant stench of "every disgusting thing you can think of tossed into a blender and pureed"--is the first disorienting stage. It's the brain's attempt, as Blodgett vividly conveys, to compensate for loss by conjuring up a tortured facsimile. As the hallucinations fade and anosmia (no smell at all) moves in to take their place, Blodgett is beset by questions: Why are smell and mood hand-in-hand? How are smell disorders linked to other diseases? What is taste without flavor? Blodgett's provocative conversations with renowned geneticists, smell dysfunction experts, neurobiologists, chefs, and others ultimately lead to a life-altering understanding of smell, and to the most transformative lesson of all: the olfactory nerve, in ways unlike any other in the human body has the extraordinary power to heal.





A Q&A with Bonnie Blodgett, Author of Remembering Smell

Q: What inspired you to write a memoir about smell?
A: A series of unfortunate events. In the fall of 2005, my nose stopped working. I'd inhaled a zinc-based gel called Zicam to prevent a cold. The cold was unfazed, and I spent a week stuffed up and miserable. A week later I noticed a funny smell. Soon I was overwhelmed by unaccountable odors, unfortunately all of them vile. Imagine a blend of rotten eggs, dead fish, feces, and burning flesh. Versions of these odors came and went, but the smell never left.
Q: You mean it never faded?
A: Unfortunately, no. The brain has a mechanism that tunes out smells after a fairly short exposure. That's why we can't smell our own perfume. I knew something was seriously wrong because they were constant. The fade button had gone on the blink. Naturally, my first thought was that I was just imagining it. Maybe I was going mad.
Q: How did you find out what was going on?
A: An ear, nose, and throat specialist knew immediately that the odors were olfactory hallucinations. I wasn't making them up, my brain was. He prescribed an old-fashioned antidepressant that would trick my brain into letting up on the odiferous onslaught.
Q: What actually happens inside the nose?
A: The cells begin to divide, making new ones. Olfactory neurons are the only brain cells capable of regenerating the way other nerves in the body do. Recently scientists have shown that neurons deep in the brain can repair themselves, but the process is circuitous and not well understood. Interestingly, the route that cells take is from the olfactory bulb to the rest of the limbic system and then to the other brain regions, by way of so-called exit ramps off what scientists have taken to calling the cell superhighway. If we can figure out how this works, we might be able to send stem cells we've designed for specific purposes into damaged brain areas and jump- start the healing process.
Q: How long does it typically take for olfactory cells to heal?
A: Full recovery (if recovery occurs) usually takes anywhere from three months to a year, depending on the situation. Anosmia caused when the brain suddenly shifts inside the skull--this is what happens with head injuries--severing the long nerves leading from the receptor sheet to the olfactory bulb, is often permanent. Anosmia resulting from an infection typically takes three to six months to resolve itself, if it does. People who lost their sense of smell after taking Zicam have had mixed results. Most were not as lucky as I was.

(Photo © Ann Marsden)

Two off the most selfish people I know they are lazy, dirty All Kieli does is eat, talk on the phone & play on the computer & all Kim does is say she does not feel good & quit jobs, school, ect... Neither one of them finish anything they start. And ALL they do is use everyone for money, they both get food stamps & waste so much food , the food that Kieli does not eat, the hungry could eat for more then a month. They thought they were going to use me WRONG, yes I made the mistake of moving in with them but, they are the one's that have to move not me I have an income...when I had a job I kept my job & that is why I have an income....... Since I've been home from Morocco (they moved out while I was gone, only giving the landlords a 10 day move out notice & I was told by some neighbors that they did most of the moving at night & almost immediately after I left) it's a good thing I gave my 1/2 of the rent to the landlords so I'm not responsible & I wasn't on their lease so, they screwed themselves out of their deposits & have to come up with their part of the rent & all the utilites were also in Kim's name so those are on her. I know they had this all planned out when they asked me to move in, I've come to terms with it. They just thought that I wouldn't be able to manage without them here when in actuality it's much more peaceful...the dishes are done, home is really clean (they left the place really gross a bag of pretzels between the stove & cabinet, an inch of scum behind the faucet in the bathroom they used and the shower/tub were disgusting, the fleas are gone (they said they shampooed the carpets but, tell me how do you shampoo carpets & a dead grasshopper be on the floor???) the walls aren't covered with wall to wall crap, it's now nicely decorated (all rooms) & we are now very comfortable. It's also not a Zoo in here anymore with them having (dog, cat, gecko & 2 rats) they couldn't even take care of themselves so people you can just imagine the smell in here. Now, there is only Benji (my miniature schnawzer) & he is so comfortable & even though they took his heartworm meds (I got more) he doesn't have the fleas (which he never had until we moved in with such dirty people), he has his own food (I bought almost 70 lbs of dog food in 2 months time & when I got home he was left with barely a bowl full. (he only goes through a 20 lb bag by himself in 2 1/2 months. They never bought any dog food & barely feed the other animals except for feeding my microwave popcorn to their rats. The gecko (poor thing) hardly ever got watered & when they did buy the crickets for it they would buy so many at a time & they would die before they got eaten (the cages never got cleaned out.......OH, THE SMELL, it took a month to get that smell out of what was their room!!! These 2 blame everything (not being able to keep a job, how they are treated & anything else they can come up with on being Gay. That's BS, I have & know a lot of people that are Gay & they have jobs, are very clean & don't pretend to be friends with someone to use them.....that's a cop-out!!! These 2 (Kieli Rightnower/the FAT one & Kim Cowan/the Stupid one) really need to grow-up, take responsiblity for themselves (stop living off Kim's parents). Before I moved in while Kim was at work (a job she didn't keep very long, just like the rest) Kieli was screwing a guy that works at Casey's right in the house....if that doesn't show how stupid Kim is what does. At least now that they are gone WE ALL HAVE PEACE IN THE HOUSE & LIFE IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning, like most mornings, I go outside to grab the newspaper. Right in the middle of the driveway I notice this little egg. I pick it up and look at it. At first it looks completely intact. Closer examination reveals a tiny crack. But how did it end up on the driveway? And what kind of egg is it?

There’s a tree that overhangs the driveway, but it surely would have completely broken if it had fallen out of the tree. The only thing I can figure is the bird laid it while standing there on the driveway.

I show it to Sue. She isn’t sure what kind it is, but she has books. She will find out.

In the mean time I grab the camera and go to the sliding doors to get more light for photos. Mary Ann, being the hot dog that she is, is lying there in the sun while I take some shots. Then, while trying to hold the egg and reposition, I drop it. It only falls about 3 feet and lands on the carpeted floor, but it brakes right open.

Yuck. Yoke and clear goo on the carpet. Now what? Do I go out to the kitchen to grab paper towels and just hope that Mary Ann doesn’t see it or smell it? It’s only about a foot away from her.

I make a mad dash to the kitchen hoping I am not going to come back and find Mary Ann having egg for breakfast. I get back and Mary Ann is still just lying there. She’s too busy catching rays to notice the little egg.

Later Sue tells me, “Cardinal. It’s a cardinal’s egg.”

Well, it was a cardinal’s egg. Not anymore it isn’t. This one was abandoned and cracked before its time. However, lately I have been seeing a lot of cardinals at the bird feeder. Evidently they don’t all start out on the driveway.