Saturday, December 13, 2008

"I'm leaving on a jet plane" John Denver

The Phoenix airport provides free internet and US Airways let me head home two hours early. It was a change not only in flight time, but also a change in airport from John Wayne to Long Beach. Thank you to Marty at customer service for her kindness. I was thus able to avoid a 4 hour wait at the airport.  Very sweet.

Now I on the plane with all the sneezing and coughing and infants in the recycled air. Talk about scary. I do have my N 95 mask on, so I guess I'm the one doing the scaring.

It's all about perspective. 

I was in the Phoenix desert sprawl to learn about a new gout drug. I kept asking questions about whether it might help with tumor lysis issues instead of allopurinol. Between that and my backpack with the American Hematology Society logo, do you think they might have thought I was a blood doctor (or patient?) sneaking into a rheumatology conference. Heck I always feel like I'm sneaking in.



4 Comments:

Blogger TomD said...

N95: I use a Gerson 2140 which folds and is valved with the valve at the bottom. Very comfortable and does not scare anyone.

Would be nice for a substitute to allopurinol as I have developed an allergy to it. I get a rash which makes my face bright red. Any indication that the new drug would work for tumor lysis?

December 14, 2008 at 1:54 PM  
Blogger Brian Koffman said...

To TomD,
Avoid allopurinol by all means.
The new med hopefully will be approved early next year, but the the FDA is not predictable.
It has not been studied in cancer patients and its use would be off label. That said, I suspect it would work just fine, but you would be entering unexplored territory.
Be well
Brian

December 14, 2008 at 7:45 PM  
Blogger Barry B. said...

I wasn't aware that allopurinol was not a good idea. A very famous CLL doc has used this every treatment with me.

What is wrong with using it? I thought it was supposed to protect the kidneys.

December 15, 2008 at 7:40 PM  
Blogger Brian Koffman said...

BarryB,
Nothing wrong with allopurinol. Some people can have a serious allergic reaction to it, and sometimes it is not potent enough. It would be nice to have an alternative for those who can't tolerate allopurinol
Be well
Brian

December 15, 2008 at 9:05 PM  

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