Edition:
December 21, 2007
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Reporter
If one couldn’t taste anything for three months, Thanksgiving week would be a great time to regain one’s sense of taste – just ask City Councilman and restaurateur Marty Gibson.
His sense of taste was affected by radiation treatments he received to treat the recently diagnosed stage-4 squamous-cell carcinoma in his head and neck. As Marty underwent 12 weeks of combined chemotherapy and radiation treatments, he lost more than his sense of taste, he also lost his voice, 50 pounds and most of his energy.
Owner of Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant, Marty was diagnosed with the squamous-cell cancer in August. Squamous cells are found in the tissue that forms the surface of the skin, the lining of the hollow organs of the body and the passages of the respiratory and digestive tracts. The cancer started on the very back of Marty’s tongue in his lingual tonsil and spread to his neck, forming a four-centimeter lump. By the time it was discovered, it had also spread to several lymph nodes.
Appreciative of all the support he has received, Marty says the hundreds of letters and cards he’s received from people in the community are overwhelming. “I could tell many of them were written with tear-filled eyes,” says Marty, who adds many people shared their stories of how they fought alongside family members who had cancer.
“Get well.” “We need you.” “I appreciate you.” “I’ve looked for you but haven’t seen you” . . . are some of the messages that have touched him deeply since his treatments began.
Residents, friends and business associates from the community volunteered to drive Marty to his treatments. Dave Carlton of KC Flooring arranged the many volunteers who Marty humbly says were “practically fighting over” being able to drive him. In the beginning, he wasn’t sure he needed drivers, but as his treatments progressed and he became sicker, he says he appreciated them even more.
During the radiation treatments Marty recalls having to psyche himself up to get through the 45 minutes that he spent with a mask strapped across his face, while the radiation machine whizzed back and forth over his head. He had to stay still and try not to think about it if his face itched.
“Can you imagine having an itch and not being able to scratch it?’ he asks. To get through those times, he would hold onto handgrips on the sides of the table and rotate his finger in a circle. The action helped him to redirect his mind and his focus to something else.
Marty’s wife, Jeanne, and son, Chris, have been a great source of support, according to Marty. “It hasn’t been easy on her; she had to encourage me to eat or drink because she didn’t want me to have worse problems. She didn’t have the support around the house getting a 13-year-old to sports practice.” The two made a special effort to be quiet for Marty when he was sleeping, which he says he appreciated.
Being a restaurant owner and losing his taste was extremely difficult on Marty, who is usually involved in sampling the food at Pepe’s. "We use fresh products like pepper, which can change depending on the crop; so taste is especially important in my business," he says.
Wanting to make sure that what his clients are eating is up to his food quality standards, Marty says that, during his treatment, all foods tasted horrible, like cardboard. Even bottled water tasted horrible. So he relied on the taste buds of his longtime employees.
Now he says, “It’s getting better all the time. At first I could only taste the first few bites and now I can taste about half of a meal.”
Marty is in a waiting game as he returns to his full-time work and regains his taste – and a few pounds. “The downside of all this right now is that I don’t know where I stand.
Before, the lump on my neck protruded about one-half inch and, now, it’s totally gone. I can’t feel it anymore. The oncologist has looked at it and has basically released me; but he’s still not sure whether the cancer is gone.”
Since chemotherapy stays in the body for a few months after treatment, follow-up scans have to wait until the chemo is out of his system, according to Marty, who says he’s taken the maximum doses of radiation a body can handle. He also says he will most likely need surgery if the cancer isn’t gone; however, it would not be as invasive as it would have been prior to the chemo and radiation treatments.
As he prepares for the holidays and waits for further testing, Marty is hoping to fully regain his taste so he can enjoy the sweet treats and festive foods that bring him so much pleasure.
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