THE BEGINNING OF THE TALE

 I first noticed that something was wrong at a luncheon that my wife and I hosted one Saturday in September of 2014. We had a few friends and neighbors at our house for lunch. We had appetizers of cheese and crackers, vegetables and dip, and drinks before lunch. there was lot of conversation and everyone was having a good time, including me.

Then it was time to sit for lunch. It was quite a healthy lunch, my wife and I are mostly vegetarian so we served a variety of vegetables and other items. We started with a green salad, sliced roast beef and salami for our guests (just because we eat vegetarian there is no reason that our guests have to!), cheese and olive bread, butternut squash soup, smoked salmon and a freshly baked raspberry tart for dessert along with tea and or coffee.

I first noticed that I gagged on the freshly made raspberry dressing for the salad. The salad actually stuck in my throat just when someone asked me a question. It took a while to clear my throat before I could speak. I thought it was odd at the time but I did not think more of it. The soup went down without any problem and I had a small piece of salmon that was absolutely delicious and easy to swallow. However, I a some preserved fig on a piece of bread. As soon as the fig hit the back of my throat and I tasted the vinegary flavor my throat closed up. I picked up my glass of wine to wash the fig down but it only made the matters worse. I actually had to get up from the table and go to the bathroom to clear the phlegm from my throat.

The entire episode was a mystery to me. I thought that I cold or something like that was causing all of this congestion and phlegm to collect in my throat. I had no idea of where this was going to lead me and how long it would be before I found help for my issue.

This blog is a collaboration between my wife and I. I will provide the story about my ordeal with reflux Gastroesophageal_reflux_disease and how I eventually got help with my condition. My wife will provide recipes with every post because as you will see in subsequent posts, the food that I eat will be critical to my ability to deal with reflux.

In the next post I will continue the story about  my life with reflux.

Here is a recipe that my wife make for that is easy on the stomach and is easily digestible. It is relatively easy to make.

Plain Congee
1/2 cup rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 cups water or broth
soy sauce to taste.

In a dutch oven place all the ingredients except for the soy sauce.  Bring the mixture up to a boil and turn the heat down to simmer and cook until the rice is very soft and the whole mixture has thickened.  About 1 to 2 hours.

Variation:  Ground Beef or Ground chicken can be added. Vary the amount of meat to suit your taste, you can add as much or as little according to your own taste. Along with sliced green onions as a garnish.