I just read this bit of news: it looks as though antidepressants have a negative impact on bones.
A Columbia University study found that people who took Prozac for at least a year were at a higher risk of bone fractures and depletion. So if you are taking “some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI),” especially any containing fluoxetine, you should definitely have a look at this “New Scientist” article: goo.gl/gYr8hs
Note that not all SSRIs have a similar effect on bones…
It was late in the evening, a few days before the end of our French holiday, and we were in our hotel room in Saint-Malo. Stefano turned to me and said:
“You know, I wouldn’t have traveled so much and seen so many wonderful things and places if I hadn’t met you.”
🙂
Stefano and I hadn’t made any concrete plans to go on holiday this summer, a holiday that Stefano REALLY needed, actually, much more than I did. So when a couple of our closest friends asked us if we might be interested in joining them on a tour of (mainly) Normandy plus a small area of Brittany, we said “yes!” without any hesitation. Traveling with friends and sharing costs = an ideal situation. So off we went, from the second week in August until just a few days ago.
Stefano and I left for France a couple of days before our friends did, in order to visit Paris where we hadn’t been in more than a decade.
Ahhhhh, Paris. Splendid, beautiful as always.
But we did notice some changes. 
There were police vans and heavily armed policemen a bit everywhere–at the Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, in front of most of the bridges, etc. It was a constant reminder of the horrifying terrorist attacks (November 2015, etc.).
Speaking of which…our first night in Paris we chose to eat in a restaurant on the Seine river bank…We were inside the restaurant, but practically on the sidewalk via an open set of French doors.
Just as we were about to dig into our main course, we heard a loud noise of screeching tires.
We looked up and saw a police car come to a halt just a few meters from our table. No, I’m not kidding.
Two policemen carrying assault rifles jumped out and raced over to a car that was stopped in front of them…again, very close to our table. We could see them clearly, speaking with the driver. A third policeman also got out of the car at one point in order to inspect the trunk.
Anyway, nothing happened…but this was another reminder of what the city has been through.
The next couple of posts will be devoted to our adventures in Normandy and Brittany…But now it’s late, and I have to go feed the kitties! Ciao! 🙂
Where 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! 🙂
And 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. 
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. 
One 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. 
We 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…). 
Since 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! 🙂
On Friday my elementary-level students and I did a quick English grammar review. We asked and answered questions such as “where are you from?” “what’s your name?” “do you like chocolate?” “is he Japanese?” “where were you born?” and so on. Typical review questions.
But the answer to this particular one, coupled with the initially baffled look on my student’s face, almost made me die laughing:
I asked: “How old is Margaret?”
My student replied: “She’s old.”
🙂
Just a quick Friday funny, which proves that if you fall into a vat of curry, you will definitely turn orange…
Here is the (full) BBC story, which tells us what happened to this poor seagull: http://goo.gl/wjlocg
Sorry, but…I had to laugh…
🙂
I just finished reading a fascinating New York Times article on the immune system and thought I’d post the link. Remember my April 5 post, “The gut factor,” on the connection between gut bacteria and cancer? Well, this article provides more food for thought in that same area: http://goo.gl/cVDygk
Note: toward the end of the article, there is a reference to the Epstein-Barr virus and the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. No, no mention of multiple myeloma. However, I still think it is of interest to those of us who have had EBV in the past and would like to know about any possible repercussions…
Links, links, links…
P.S. By the way, since I have received a couple of condolence notes, I thought I should mention that my mother is not only alive but is actually doing a bit better these days. She has begun eating a bit more, gaining a bit of weight, and seems more interested in interacting with others. When Stefano and I left the U.S.A. to return to our home in Florence just a few weeks ago, her situation seemed hopeless. I didn’t think she had long to live, to be honest.
But now…who knows?
Back in 2011 I wrote a brief post/page (if you use my Search box, you can find the page easily) about a study showing that a special type of rice bran (MGN-3/Biobran) combined with curcumin annihilated U266 myeloma cells.
This study was carried out on cells, though, not human beings.
But today, about five years later, we have the results of a small study carried out on 20 curcumin-taking human beings with stable, early-stage MGUS, SMM, and CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia).
And it’s a Terry Golombick (et al) study, to boot.
Here’s the link to the full study, which is available for free online (love that!): http://goo.gl/6n2X3U
The Golombick team tested Ribraxx, a combination of a rice bran and shiitake mushroom extract (too bad it isn’t chocolate with almonds!!!), together with a form of C3 Complex curcumin called Curcuforte (which I’d never heard of before…it’s made by an Australian company), on a group of 10 MGUS/SMM patients and 10 CLL patients.
At a certain point, they mention a previous study, which I missed (!) but will go read tomorrow, on 48 myeloma patients who took two grams of this Ribraxx per day. The results were: increased NK (natural killer) cell activity, increased levels of mDCs (myeloid dendritic cells) in the peripheral blood and of Th-1-related cytokines. Yes, definitely need to check this out…
But right now I have time only for the Golombick study. The MGUS/SMM/CLL patients took a daily dose of six grams of Curcuforte and two grams of Ribraxx, in divided doses.
The study monitored a whole bunch of markers, including CRP, FBC, paraprotein, ESR, B2M and so on. You can read about the markers on page 3, in the “Results” part. Just a few highlights:
Personal note: throughout the years, my ESR levels have gone down substantially on curcumin alone. In spite of a bit of fluctuation, they have never returned to the high levels that I had back in 2005. Based on my most recent tests, in fact, my ESR levels are less than half (!) what they were in the pre-curcumin period…Not too shabby!
This reduction might be more important than I knew. On page 5 of the study, in fact, I discovered something that I did not know: “In multiple myeloma of the IgG and IgA subtypes, significant correlations have been found between ESR and the monoclonal proteins and between the ESR and percentage of plasma cells in bone marrow.” It might even be “an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with MM.”
Ouch!
Now I’m even gladder that my ESR levels have decreased more than 50% compared to 2005…!!!
Well, I have to go off to have dinner now (first the cats, then us). But I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to publish this post…so…here goes! I hope you enjoy this study! Ciao!
Last week, when my Dad was checked into the rehab clinic for pneumonia, one of the nurses started asking him the standard questions that are part of the admissions process–where do you live, what’s your date of birth, what medications do you take…that sort of thing…
Everything went fine until she reached this question: “If your heart should stop, do you authorize us to get it going again?”
Without missing a beat, Dad said: “Well, that depends. Are you any good at that?”
Stefano and I returned to Italy a couple of days ago. Those ten days we spent in the U.S.A. might well have been the worst days of my life thus far…worse even than when I received my cancer diagnosis…I mean, it was simply awful awful awful, every day, every minute of every day…
The “good” thing is that Stefano and I did get to Cape Cod in time to say goodbye to Mom, and in fact she is still alive. But I don’t think she will last very much longer. She is amazingly weak…The nurse practitioner, whom Stefano and I went to see shortly after we arrived, told us that “there is no going back.”
She’s dying. She isn’t eating enough to keep herself alive…
The “funny” thing is that she is drinking colas (sweetened, carbonated soft drinks) every day. This started back in February, when she began experiencing a lot of nausea after her second hip operation. She now drinks two or three colas a day, at least. My mother wouldn’t have touched a cola with a ten-foot pole a few months ago. But now she finds them “refreshing.” Under other circumstances, that would have been very amusing…very amusing indeed.
She is also drinking small shakes containing Ensure (yes, yes, yes, I know that this stuff is crap, mainly water and sweeteners and chemicals…But she likes the taste, so…whatever…).
The entire time I was there, the only solid food I saw her eat was a small slice of quiche…oh and a tiny bowl of jello. She waves food away. She doesn’t want any. My sister has tried bringing her all sorts of goodies. Nothing has worked.
And now it’s too late.
Stefano and I went to say our final goodbye to Mom on Monday morning, before leaving for Boston Logan airport. She was turned on her side, fast asleep.
I began saying, more loudly each time, “Mom…Mooom…MOM…MOOOOOM!!!!!,” but she didn’t wake up. I began gently shaking her shoulder, then a bit more forcefully, still calling her. No reaction. The thought that she might have slipped into a coma crossed my mind, so I ran to the nurses’ station for help. A nurse rushed in and did what I had done, talking to Mom and shaking her shoulder.
Mom finally opened her eyes. And so we had a little more time together. I pretended to have an allergy when I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I told her that we are all okay (and similar “goodbye” sentences)…But she seemed not to notice…The tiny little creature in that bed really isn’t my Mom anymore…
Later on that day, I thought that going into a coma wouldn’t be such a bad way to go. No pain, just…sleep. I hope that will be the way she will slip away from us…
But let’s get to the title of my post. When it rains, it pours.
Exactly a week ago, on Thursday evening, my Dad said he didn’t feel too well and wanted to go to bed before dinner. My sister and I tucked him in, and he reassured us that he would be okay. After dinner, I went upstairs to check on him, and he looked and felt awful. He had a fit of the chills, so I took his temperature, which turned out to be rather high. I went downstairs to tell my sister and get him a glass of water and some Tylenol. The two of us decided to take him to see the doctor in the morning if he wasn’t feeling much better.
When I got back upstairs, I saw Dad staggering toward the bathroom, moaning and groaning, all bent over. I rushed to him and grabbed him just in time, before he fell down, I mean. He’s a tall guy, too heavy for me, so I yelled for help. Stefano and my nephew came running and gently lowered Dad to the bathroom floor. My sister called an ambulance, while I asked Dad some questions to make sure he hadn’t suffered a stroke. He was a bit confused but answered the basic questions…
The long and short of it is that Dad spent three days in the hospital. Diagnosis: pneumonia. He is now out of the hospital and, get this!, he is in the same clinic where Mom is, except Dad is in the rehab part…
So right now, Mom and Dad are under the same roof, and he can visit her for longer periods of time. That is not a bad thing, all things considered. They have been happily married for 61 years…
It was hard for me to get on that plane bound for Italy on Monday. I broke down at the airport when I realized that I probably won’t see my Mom alive again. But Stefano and I had to get home. And it’s just as well we did…
My cat sitter called us as soon as we landed to let me know that she’d found quite a bit of blood on the bathroom floor the previous evening. She had examined all the cats but hadn’t been able to figure out which one had been bleeding…
So Stefano and I went looking for Puzzola, our eldest cat, the only one who hadn’t greeted us at the door. We finally found her all scrunched up a corner of the bathroom. She wasn’t moving, and she didn’t react to our calling her name and petting her. When we spotted the blood underneath her, we rushed her immediately to the vet clinic.
Thank goodness it turned out not to be a hemorrhage of any sort but “only” a very bad bladder infection. So now she is on antibiotics…and she is going to be fine.
Welcome home.
P.S. Incidentally, Priscilla, the cat who had convulsions before we left for the U.S.A., is fine. The vets couldn’t find anything wrong with her…nothing in her X-rays or in her blood tests. We’ll just keep a close eye on her and hope it was a one-time, weird thingy.