Shortly before heading for New Zealand, I was sick. Fast action was needed to head off whatever it was. First I began taking Cold-Eze, a natural preparation that's said to work best if you take it at the first sign of a cold. It felt more like flu- aching, fever, stuffiness - but I took Cold-Eze every few hours as directed. My research had revealed an elixer almost guaranteed to do the trick. So I sliced up three lemons, added them to 5 cups of water, a Tablespoon of cayenne, a Tablespoon of grated fresh ginger, two crushed garlic cloves and boiled it down to four cups. I skipped the honey, recommended to make it more palatable, and added Splenda, instead.

It was awful! But I gulped down one cup and took the rest with me to work, totally alienating anyone within breathing distance. But half of them already had whatever it was that was going around and I'd been avoiding them and using hand sanitizer at every opportunity so as not to contract whatever it was. But I got it anyway.
Now I was 24 hours from departure and still felt awful. So I ran a nice hot bath, dumped in 3 cups of cider vinegar and soaked. I asked my dear husband to keep me company, since spending the required 15 minutes soaking in a tub is like torture for me. I am just too antsy, especially with visions of packing for New Zealand running through my head.
After the 15 minute soak I felt drained and began perspiring profusely. Was this a good sign? But the next day it was time to leave. I sent my earlier blog from the airport in LAX where I waited to board my LONG flight to New Zealand. Turned out my seat in coach was between two very large people, both of whom needed seat belt extenders since their girth was greater than the seat belts Air Zealand provided.It was not pleasant. But fingers crossed, I added the No Jet Leg homeopathic preparation to my Ambien and was fast asleep before dinner was even served. It was 1 a.m. at home by then and way beyond my body's need for food.
I awakened early enough to watch a movie. I was slightly groggy, but fine upon landing 14 hours later in Auckland.
Did it work? Have I discovered an important cure? I'll never know.
I'll be writing about my New Zealand adventures in January, so stayed tuned.