Dr. Furman on genomic testing and MRD negativity in CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia)

I am going on radio silence and am writing this from the airport in Qatar so please don’t be upset or worried if I don’t respond to questions or comments.

Betsy Dennison, an oncology RN and NP who handles our website will be posting some interviews from ASH and EHA while I am gone. Today she put up this pretty cool one with Dr. Furman  that really explains the different types of genomic testing and the changing importance  of MRD-  in the era of new therapies.

I must admit for a world traveler, this trip to photo safari in Kenya has me worried. It is a long way aways and it is a long time gone in a poor and dangerous country  in some areas with all kinds of disease that are not a concern here

Once I am there, all should be well. I hear that at the tented safari camps, all is calm and secure if still noisy from all  the nearby animals.

Clothes are sprayed with permethrin, I have a ton of DEET and it is not mosquito season.  I will take Malarone. Kenya does not require a yellow fever vaccine  and risk is very very low and Typhoid can be given as a killed vaccine.  

I am staying away from salads and fruit drinks- that will be hard, and bringing a ton of emergency meds (cipro, immodium, Z-Pak, prednisone, pain meds, anti-histamines, suture kit, disinfectants, and an extra week of all my daily meds including my ibrutinib.)  Sunscreen, N95 masks and hand-sanitizer too.

And I won’t feed the lions, or monkeys or swim with the hippos.

I look forward to catching up when I return.

This is the first trip in years where CLL has not been at the top of the agenda, and where internet is iffy at best.

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Brian