The Cure

I had a cold toward the end of last year, one that lingered for weeks and seemed to subside, only to return with a vengeance. My symptoms were (for me) particularly bad — lots of sneezing, with fits of violent coughing that aggravated a weakness in my back, which lingered and left me uncomfortable for weeks. I don't recall doing much of anything in November and December besides feeling rotten.

And now I've caught something again. This is very irritating. I hope this doesn't last as long.

As a remedy, I've taken to drinking chicken soup by the mug. But this is soup in a postmodern sense, the kind that comes in an envelope, the kind that makes grandmothers everywhere who work magic with large steaming pots frown with disdain. Heavily salted broth, with freeze-dried bits of chicken and little ring noodles — I love this stuff.

Not only that, but it actually seems to make me feel better. I would have thought this has something to do with the salt, but a quick look at Google reveals that "Chicken soup contains a mucus-thinning amino acid called cysteine, and some research shows that chicken soup helps control congestion-causing white cells, called neutrophils."