My grandfather was some 90+ at that time and he asked his son to get him very young leaves / shoots from a malunggay tree.  I have no idea what malunggay is in english, this tree grows everywhere in the Philippines and its leaves are used as vegetables.  My grandfather got the young leaves, cleaned it up, squished it and got juice he dropped into his eyes!  24 hours later, he was cured of his extreme sinusitis!

Handbook for Curing the Common Cold — The Zinc Lozenge Story is provocatively titled. Some professionals may be inclined to reject this idea without reading past the first line. If so, consider that this handbook is a serious scientific writing on how to shorten the duration of common colds using zinc lozenges. This handbook shows zinc content alone is insufficient to determine efficacy; rather, the zinc compound used, the oral residence time, and other physical and chemical properties of lozenges determine lozenge efficacy.

Most people do not believe a cure for the common cold will be developed until well into the 21st century. If the reader is discomforted by what he reads, it is because the handbook disputes the “no cure for the common cold” conception. Scientists and physicians sometimes become defensive, and even apoplectic, at the thought of a lowly inorganic created near the beginning of time in a distant supernova having such novel effects. For laymen to learn a simple, readily manufactured common cold cure is available now, and to find major pharmaceutical companies have ignored it can be a source of considerable irritation as well. Perhaps those companies have turned away only because they have not understood the complex issues and solution chemistry involved.

The Handbook for Curing the Common Cold website.

Instructions for soar throats. Pluck 1 oregano leaf. Wash thoroughly. Chew as many as 50 times before swallowing.