Bad Cold Sweeps Across Long Island, How We Coped

First of all, let me state that the reason I did not go to medical school wasn't because my folks couldn't or wouldn't pay the tuition. The truth is science was not a strong point in my education. However I am observant and I traverse the East End almost daily from East Hampton to East Patchogue to get to my sailboat in 3 Mile Harbor. Sometimes I stop here and there to visit folks or to do a story and I can attest many folks all over the island are in various stages of a very bad cold.

My wife and I have it right now. We are still waking up coughing like jackhammers while going through boxes of tissues even while using all the cold, flu daytime and nighttime products. We are still just plain suffering through it. My cold has lasted eight horrible days and has left me weak. My wife is still in the cough phase although she is now sleeping through the night. When I was coughing in the middle of the night I would go two floors below the bedroom so Cindi could get some sleep. Some nights I could only sleep in the rocking chair chain drinking echinacea plus tea with lots of local East End honey. It was brutal. Now I am sleeping through the night and coughing maybe only at 6 a.m.

If you don't have this cold my unofficial layman's advice is, take zinc products that fight cold viruses. If you do have this cold get as much sleep as you can and keep sipping tea and honey and do not abuse the daytime and nighttime decongestion products as is the temptation when you want and need some form of instant relief.

When I first had the cold in full blown form my wife Cindi made a huge batch of her famous homemade chicken soup. She used parsnip, scallops, carrots, parsley greens, celery. onions and spices. Then she put two raw chicken breast into the huge pot and cooked it, bringing it to a boil and letting it simmer for two hours; she takes the chicken bones out after the first hour. Eventually she adds brown rice. When she made this first huge batch I was in bad shape, with my head feeling like it had pressurized mucus about to explode out of me. I somehow was fast asleep when from our upstairs bedroom I could actually smell the soup almost done. It was soothing and no doubt helped. I had it for breakfast, dinner, and lunch for almost a week. I was so sick it was all I craved. It worked, I am almost completely on the mend with the worst behind me. Cindi is almost over it, too.

I expect everyone reading this to help by telling what is your own personal secret for combating and defeating colds. You just may help someone fight this nasty cold, so please comment and share.