Updates!

_1120585Where do I begin? So much has happened since I last wrote a post…wow, it’s been more than a month (ah, how time flies!)!!!

Back then, I thought I’d have more time to keep blogging on a more regular basis, but life and work got in the way, as often happens.

Well, let’s just jump right in. Today happens to be my birthday. 🙂 How old are you?, you might ask…I’m 55 years old. I never hide my age. Never have, never will. On the contrary, I’m very happy to be celebrating another birthday, and I imagine you can guess WHY! 🙂

_1130765And since a birthday is a celebration, let me also mention that in January 2016 I celebrated my 10th year of taking curcumin. A big milestone for me. I have also almost reached my 11th year of being a smoldering gal…So yes, celebrations are most definitely in order.

Let’s jump now from celebrations to blood tests. Come to think of it, there’s a connection there, too…

My usual set of blood tests, which I had in early July, show that I’m no longer anemic. Cause for celebration, wouldn’t you say? YAY!!! In short, my hemoglobin, hematocrit, and red cells are all back inside the normal range.  _1120110

My total IgG is about the same as it was last time, but my monoclonal component has gone down a bit, as has my m-spike, So that is all good news…

Bence Jones: in 2014 a small amount of this protein was detected in my urine (you know, that’s the 24-hour urine test that we all love to take…not!!!). But then it disappeared. And now that small amount is back. However, there are two things to be said here. _1140177One is that the nurse who drew my blood told me that the hospital lab has found a cheaper way to test Bence Jones (and cheaper is not necessarily better!), and the other is that I read online that small amounts of this pesky protein can pop up in the urine sometimes, then disappear. So I expect it to be gone next time I have tests done. Just like it disappeared two years ago. No biggie, in sum.

Okay, enough about tests and whatnot. Bottom line: I am still stable and doing well. No CRABs!!! 😀

Now I should explain why I have all these sea bird photos. A little more than a week ago, Stefano and I were invited to spend three days in England. A business-pleasure trip to Northumberland.  _1130241We flew, low-cost, from Pisa (Italy) to the Leeds Bradford airport (Yorkshire), where a close friend of ours picked us up and drove us to Northumberland. It was such a wonderful trip. We spent almost an entire day on the Farne Islands, which is a summer breeding ground for all sorts of sea birds, including puffins, arctic terns, European shags, razorbills, and guillemots. The weather wasn’t that good, unfortunately, but we managed to get some excellent photos anyway, as you can see. And these are MY photos…you can imagine what amazing photos Stefano and our friend took, with their fancy big lens cameras.

We love puffins, in fact, we ADORE puffins, but this time we also had a lot of fun with the arctic terns (we tried our best not to bother these agitated, high-spirited sea birds too much, but it wasn’t easy…). _1140007Since they build their nests near and along the paths leading us humans around the island (Inner Farne, in particular), there is really no way of avoiding them. As you walk along these paths, here and there some furious tern parents will suddenly soar into the air much like noisy little helicopters, doing their best to scare you away: they will peck you on the head (see the close-up photo that I took of a guy wearing a white cap) or, worse!, wiil poop on your head and/or shoulders. Visitors to the Farnes are advised to wear hats and jackets. I’m so glad I had a hat and jacket, in fact, since I got pecked quite hard on the head (once) and, yes, also pooped on. As did Stefano. 🙂

Anyway, lots of things going on…But I’ve run out of time. It’s getting late now, and I must get back to my birthday…and to feeding the cats, always a priority in this house.

Hope everyone is doing well! Ciao! 🙂

5 Comments

  1. Belated birthday greetings, you could have called for coffee we are only 30 mins from Leeds and Bradford airport, I dared to call it Yeadon airport the other day to my kids, now that is showing my age ? Your posts are always uplifting thank you for helping me keep things in perspective, this is the first time since my smouldering diagnosis two years ago that I have had a rise in my paraprotein from 8 up to 10, guess what, I came right to your page to cheer myself up long may you smoulder xx

  2. Hi Margaret,

    My name is Michael. My mother also has smoldering MM. I was doing some research on how turmeric could help reduce the number of myeloma cells and I found your blog. I was very impressed by what the turmeric has helped your condition. My mother’s anemia has gotten worse and the doctor suggest we start the treatment. However, she’s generally healthy besides the anemia. She doesn’t have any bone lesions, no renal failure or hyper-calcium. I am not sure if that’s your case when you start your turmeric trial, so I would like to hear more from you if it’s possible. Also, since its been a while after you tried the turmeric method, have you ever need to start treatment after that? Is there any drawbacks on relying just on turmeric? Please let me know if it’s possible. Thank you very much.

    Best luck for you!

  3. Hi Margaret, happy bday. I was wondering if you are still following the same protocol or if you have changed anything a bit?

  4. Hi Margaret,
    I was diagnosed with MM a bit over two months ago and came across your blog about a week ago, and I am so happy I did. Very informativ. Even though this blog post is a year old I hope you can inform me if you have taken any iron supplies to stop being anemic? I think me being on the low side will make my Doctor talk me into starting treatment, but hopefully my blod tests might improve the next time as I just started on curcumin, thanks to you and your blog.

    Trine (Norway)

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