Hua Tan Zhi Ke Cha

Dh came back from Japan and had been coughing badly for more than a week already. He had seen the GP thrice, taken antibiotics, cough mixtures, anti-phlegm medicine, lozenges and all of them don't seem to give him any immediate relief. The cough is really bad ... when he coughs it's as though he is coughing his lungs out and sometimes he retches out all that he had for lunch or dinner which is also not much.

I had a chat with the GP and she said that the kind of viral infection that's going around seems to be another kind that takes a longer time for the body to recover from. Also as we age our immunity is also taking a beating. So it seems the body will also take a longer time to heal.

Since dh's appetite is so poor, I had to cook soups for him. So here I chanced upon this chinese herb soup from Chwee Song which was good for clearing phlegm and for relieving persistent coughs. All I had to do was to empty the entire contents of the package into 500 mls of boiling water and simmer for about an hour to get the soothing soup out. Give it a pinch of salt and dh readily drinks this to get some relief from his wretched cough. I've made this many times now.

Dh is on his way to recovery as I can hear he is coughing less. I'm sure by the end of this week he will be well again.