Sobriety, a dish best served in med school...

Last May, while getting my immunizations and screenings to enroll in med school, I came back with a positive PPD test - I've been exposed to tuberculosis... In case you don't know much about TB, you can wikipedia it if you want to know what it's all about (side note: I recently donated 5 dollars to wikipedia, mostly because I appreciate how almost all of my questions during 1st year of med school can be answered on the site. ANYWAY, I was exposed to Tb, mostly likely in Venezuela two years ago. After testing positive I was immediately sent to get a chest x-ray, which came back clear. Good news, for the most part - It's not an acute problem, and I can't give TB to anyone else.

Normally nothing happens after this, and the patient with latent TB is just routinely checked to make sure they dont start to develop active TB, which can be spread to others, and must be treated with a ridiculous amount of powerful antibiotics. However, I am involved in health care so it is important for my safety and the safety of others that I rid my body of this obnoxious bacteria, meaning I take 9 months of a drug called Isoniazid (you can wiki that too if you like). This is an antibiotic I take daily, along with a vitamin B supplement to limit the chance I get nasty side-effects like neuropathy.
Now that I'm taking this powerful antibiotic I have to get my liver enzymes checked every month to make sure my liver is functioning alright and not being damaged, which also means I should avoid anything that can lead to liver damage like alcohol or the active ingredient in tylenol (acetaminophen).

This littles story of mine leads me to the original inspiration to write this: As I sit in the Boston airport, ready to head back to Seattle, I really want something I can't have - a beer from the stupid airport sports bar 20 yards to my left. This is the first true craving I've had since starting my antibiotics almost a month ago. I recognize the reason for this is probably because I haven't been bored in the last month - school, constant exams, studying, cutting up cadavers, having a girlfriend, studying, studying, cooking a meal here and there... this all adds up to almost no free time and hence no real opportunity to enjoy a drink. With that I'm pretty happy that now is the time I'm doing this treatment. The only major downside is that the holidays are starting up, which means family, good food and great wine, the latter I will be abstaining from... because I don't want liver failure.

Cheers!