Reflux and Our Caribbean Cruise

After my disappointing bout with Western medicine for Reflux I contracted Bronchitis, something that I did not have the pleasure of suffering for almost twenty years. I think that it was brought on by the reflux. Some of the fluid that would rise up during the night got into my lungs and caused a bronchial infection, at least that is what my doctor hypothesized. At any rate, I had suggested to him that I not go on the Caribbean cruise that my wife and booked for my sixtieth birthday. He told me that it would be the best thing for me to go on the cruise.

I had to agree with my doctor that he was right, after only one day in the Caribbean all signs of my Bronchitis had disappeared. Unfortunately, I still had Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR). The flight down to Houston through Atlanta did not bother me and all of the maneuvering to get to the boat did not cause me any undue effects which I found surprising. It was all stressful but not in the same way that work is stressful so it does not have the same effect on the body which I found to be interesting.

Our first night on board the boat was busy. we were tired by the time we went to bed. I slept fitfully until 4:00 AM when I woke up in a coughing fit brought on by my LPR. I wrote for a while in my journal then I went off to the fitness center at 6:00 AM to practice Qigong.

There was so much food on board that it was difficult to decide what to eat. i tried to pick food that was not going to aggravate my reflux. Breakfast and lunch were fine because I could choose whatever I wanted in the Garden Cafe which was a full service buffet. Dinner was a little more difficult. We wanted to try the various sit restaurants on board. The food was excellent but the trouble was that the food was rich and inevitably I caused my reflux to act up as soon as we started eating. I found that I had to drink massive amounts of water just to get the food down my throat which somewhat dampened my enjoyment of the meal.

That night, I woke around 12:30 AM coughing with phlegm in my throat. I went back to sleep but I was awake again a 1;30 AM, and the phlegm was coming out of my mouth before I could make it to the bathroom.

After a few days on the boat I was finding it to be more and more difficult to find food that I could eat that was not going to bother or worsen my reflux. Every meal became a struggle to eat. I had to be very careful that mindful about everything that I ate. There were so many good things to eat but the number of things that I could actually eat was a very small subset of everything that was available.

There were a few times that I threw caution to the wind and indulged myself. My wife and I were at an art showing one evening. They were offering large glasses of red wine so I had one. I was just going to take a few sips and put it down

On the second last day on board the ship I decided to go and talk to the acupuncturist on board. the acupuncturist actually had a practice in Washington D.C. He was taking advantage of combining work with a vacation, it sounded like a great idea to me. At any rate, I told him about my symptoms and how I felt at the time. It was interesting that his recommendations were very close to what my acupuncturist at home had done. At the very least, it gave me confidence that she was doing what other acupuncturist would do. What took me by surprise was his $175 fee for one sessions. That is more than twice what my acupuncturist charges me. Since it was the last night that I was going to be on board I did not see any reason to start a course of treatment so I left.

The cruise finished and my wife and I went home. Don't get me wrong, the cruise was great in spite of suffering with acute reflux, I worked around it for meals. Other than meal time, it really did not bother me.

If you are interested in my cruise, here is the link for the series of blog posts for my cruise,caribbean-cruise-day-1.html .

Fish Baked in Banana Leaves

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
1/3 cup canned coconut milk
2 tablespoons unsweetened  coconut
1/4 cup chopped green onion, optional
4 pieces of fish fillets, (tilapia, cod or  basa)
4 large banana leaves defrosted.

In a blender add cilantro, ginger, coconut milk, coconut.  Blend until smooth.

Place one banana leave on a cookie sheet  Place a fish fillet in the middle  Top each piece of fish with 1/4 of the paste from the blender.  Sprinkle with green onions if using.  Fold the banana leaf like wrapping a present.  Tie with string, or make sure the opening is on the bottom to keep the package from opening.  Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes, depending of the size of the fillet.

Unwrap carefully and serve with steamed rice.

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.