
By Dr. Paul Ehrlich
Six new patients came to see me on Monday, February 27. They made their appointments well in advance. What does it mean? This was an unusually mild winter and the symptoms have been brewing for weeks. I am told that crocuses have been in flower since the first week of the month and that daffodils are now blooming. This coming weekend is the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) in Florida. It’s supposed to be a warm-weather getaway, the calm before the seasonal-allergy storm. Two years ago when we had the meeting in New Orleans, there were three feet of snow on the ground in New York. For some reason I had decided to take Amtrak from New York to New Orleans and was one of the few northeast allergists to arrive on time. It was just as well, since patients couldn’t get to the office except on snowshoes. Now they can practically wear sandals.