Tastes Just Like Chicken

3rd application of DMSO on injured knee.

For those not old enough to remember, long long ago, probably in the 70s there was a stand up comic who had as part of his routine a bit on exotic foods.  I do not recall it in its entirety, but I remember they whatever he served, his gust would state, “Hmmm tastes just like chicken.”, and devour it with gusto.  Guest:  “What is this?”  Host: “Alligator”.   G:  “Hmmm tastes just like chicken.”  “What is this?”  H:  “Rattlesnake.”  G: “Hmmm tastes just like chicken.”  “What is this?”  H: “Snapping turtle.”  G:  “Hmmm tastes just like chicken.”  “What is this?  It tastes horrible!?  H: “That’s chicken.”

I was reminded of this twice last night.  First was with a dish my wife made for dinner.  AS I brought the been spouts she made up to my mouth, the smell of DMSO confronted my olfactory senses.  I asked what she cooked it with, you know the answer already, “Garlic, salt and oil”.   After the monthly festival meeting, one of the snacks they brought out were potato chips.  Once again, my nose detected DMSO.  Yep, garlic flavored chips.  None of which fit perfectly my recollection of what garlic smells like.  True, my wife did not use fresh garlic but oil that had garlic “pickled” in it, for lake of the correct term.  And the garlic flavoring of the chips was most likely artificial flavoring.  I was going to use the following statement on the scent of DMSO in my earlier post, DMSO does NOT smell like garlic but nothing could smell more like garlic without smelling like garlic.  Guess it does smell like garlic after all.  When I first caught the scent of the bean sprouts my wife made, I knew she must have used garlic and laughed to myself.  Thought I would share that with you.

No, on to the meat of the issue, my knee.  I did not feel the burning sensation that I did on the second application.  Guess I did not rinse as well as I thought I had, or the drinking with the matsuri lads helped dampen it.  I think it was the former.  The bath I took before the second use had bath salts in it.  So I rinsed and rinsed and rubbed the skin where I intended to apply DMSO for several minutes as I rinsed.  I am guessing that at least some of the bath salt had penetrated the skin and was not able to be removed by rinsing and rubbing and that this is what caused the burning sensation.

Much improvement today.  I was able to take three normal steps down the stairs before even the hint of pain or soreness.  The pain that did come was bearable, though still undesirable.  Given the amount of pain I have had since August, this is in my estimation nothing short of miraculous.

The area I applied it to my right ankle has improved.  After taking a bath, the whole region is a deep blue/purplish hue.  It was mostly gone after last nights bath.  The ankle seems less puffy too, but that may not be the case.  As far as my right knee goes, the twitches and twings of pain that periodically shoot through it are so irregular that it will take more time to see if they are reduced.

After lunch, I will apply DMSO a 4th time and will report later today or tomorrow on it.