Ed had a really weird virus a few months back that involved his uvula -- or whatever that thingie is that dangles down in the back of your throat -- ballooning to some truly unreasonable size. It hurt like heck. He said the salt water gargle tasted utterly foul, but helped a ton. He also used this OTC spray-on stuff from the pharmacy, which decreased the pain sufficiently that he could eat and drink, which was good.