ODDS AND ENDS

[schlomo]

I occasionally get anemia. Accordingly, my primary doctors, both those in North Carolina and now Hawaii, have always recommended that I take an iron pill until my hemoglobin count increases. But when the oncologist who has been treating me for two years saw that my recent hemoglobin count was a bit low, he told me that decreasing the amount of oral chemotherapy capsules for my blood cancer would get the hemoglobin back to normal. That tactic didn’t appeal to me at all. Because of unanticipated drug interaction concerns, the oncologist had already reduced the chemo dosage from five to three capsules a day. I vehemently objected to any more tinkering with my cancer medication. Instead, I offered to take a regimen of iron pills until the next blood test in two months. The doctor thought that was a great option. Duh! Sometimes the patient knows best.

The other day, my visiting daughter and I were watching Tears of the Sun, a movie about maniacally murderous rebels in Nigeria. After a while, my daughter mentioned that the mountainous terrain with its waterfalls and jungle foliage resembled the scenery that awed her in Oahu during her previous trips. I agreed with her and asked her to google the authentic location: it was, as she had speculated, Hawaii indeed. What was more amazing is that earlier in the day, I drove my daughter to the Kualoa Ranch, one of the main vistas where Tears of the Sun and other blockbuster films were made: a coincidence to cherish.