Very busy period, this one. Apart from our usual activities, we’ve had quite a bit of work done on the house, maintenance work that began back in July, got paused for the three-week holiday period in August, then restarted in September. But we’re done now, fingers crossed.

And so the cleanup begins. I spent hours yesterday scrubbing and re-scrubbing, and then re-re-re-re-scrubbing!, our terraces, e.g….cement dust and filth everywhere…Mamma mia, never seen anything like it…It will take a while to get the house back in shape, I’m afraid.

Result: I’ve had no time to do any research, as you can imagine….but as soon as things quiet down and get back to normal, I will get back to posting. And that is a promise. 

In the meantime, I want to give you the link to a hilarious (IMO) video by “Simon’s Cat.” As you (probably) know, Stefano and I have SEVEN cats, yes, seven!, and they all hate, HAAAAAAATE!, the cat carrier. So whenever one of them has to go to the vet, we have to be as sneaky as snakes in the grass. One trick we’ve learned is never EVER let them see the cat carrier until the last second…But somehow…they KNOW. Even the slightest rattle from the carrier is enough to send them into hiding, and then you have to hunt them down, all over the house.

And that is why this video about Simon’s cat and the cat carrier made me laugh out loud. I hope you will enjoy it, too: https://goo.gl/c3jrS7 🙂

P.S. This is a photo of our eldest cat, Puzzola, putting her nose on the camera lens just as I was trying to take a photo of her. Typical. 🙂

I can’t believe that I haven’t posted anything on my blog for MORE than a MONTH. That’s never happened, methinks. Yikes.

Well, basically, in a nutshell, I took a holiday from my eloma. Oh, sorry, from my myeloma. 😉 In the past four weeks, I’ve barely given a thought to it. Can’t say I’ve missed it, either! 🙂

Stefano and I spent three of those four weeks with my parents on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. We had a quiet holiday and didn’t do much in terms of sightseeing, but we did do one fabulous thing: we hired a private charter to go whale watching off the coast of Provincetown. We’d never done anything like that, mainly because of the cost…We’d always gone whale watching with the Dolphin Fleet, which I highly recommend since you learn a lot about these magnificent creatures, the whales. And of course we strongly support the type of research done by the Dolphin scientists…But there are a few drawbacks to going on such big boats–mainly, they’re always crowded, which makes it difficult to get decent photos. Another thing that I hadn’t considered before is the noise made not just by the above-mentioned crowds (kids screeching with excitement, e.g.) but by the boat’s motors. Those powerful motors make a lot of noise, let me tell ya…

Our private charter was worth every single penny. It was fantastic to be seated on a small boat, almost at the level of the whales, and take photos without anyone in front of us. And…tada!…no noise. The captain of our boat kept the engines at a minimum whenever we were near the whales, so the only noises we heard were the whales expelling air through their blowholes and the rippling sound of the waves around us. Unbelievable. Magical…

We mainly saw humpback whales, including three mamas with their calves (see photo no. 1). We also saw a few minke whales from afar and a couple of fin whales (the second largest living mammal…), which was a big treat…

And we saw tons of shearwaters and other sea birds. That was a big bonus for Stefano and me…and for our cameras. I haven’t been through my hundreds of photos yet, because ever since we’ve returned to Florence, I’ve had a zillion things to do, busy busy busy all day every day!, but here are a few photos, which I hope will give you an idea of the magic we experienced…

Speaking of things to do, I must rush off now. But I did want to say that all is well. I’m feeling and doing splendidly…Okay, must dash…Take care, everyone!!! Ciao!!! 🙂

Well, after a long, tiring, and record-breaking boiling hot July–the hottest on record, apparently, in the past 150 years!–Stefano and I are finally leaving tomorrow for the U.S. to visit my parents. Can’t wait!!! 😀

While we are gone, our cats will be surrounded by an army of caregivers, including my next door neighbors who will be checking in on them at least once a day, plus our regular cat/house sitter AND our vet who will keep on administering IVs to Piccolo, my 12-year-old male cat with chronic kidney disease (he’s doing so well, I am thankful to report…!). The kitties will end up having more company and entertainment than when we’re around!

I would like to apologize for not having written any research posts lately. I have some studies on my desktop that I have been intending to read and comment on, but the horrendous heat (see above) has turned my brain into mushy oatmeal, so any serious research will have to wait for cooler temperatures.

Before rushing off on the last-minute errands I need to do today, I would like to wish you all a wonderful, relaxing, and fun month of August…I will be checking my blog every day, of course…but I probably won’t be writing any posts or answering any messages (but I’ll try to read all of them!)…So, take care, everyone! Ciaooooooo!

I have been absolutely shocked and outraged for days over the killing of Cecil the lion by a dentist, a so-called “trophy” hunter from Minnesota, a man who already has a felony record in connection with the illegal killing of a black bear in Wisconsin back in 2006…

I don’t think I need to go into any details, since in the past few days this dentist-lion story has been all over the news (even here in Italy) and social media…

But I do feel the need to write a post about it. My outrage needs an outlet, and my blog is a clear choice for that, even though this story has nothing to do with myeloma. So here goes.

Something clearly needs to be done. Lions may well be EXTINCT by the year 2050…and that isn’t too far from now. Indeed, scientists predict that many of the species that are currently targets of these so-called “trophy” hunters will be extinct three generations from now.

Extinct. In just three generations. WHY???

I’m not asking for Walter Palmer’s head on a platter as others have done on social media. Or for the head of any other “trophy” hunter, for that matter. Reacting with violence puts us on the same level as these sick folks.

However, the nincompoop Minnesotan dentist needs to be punished in some way AND, most importantly, he must be stopped from killing animals, any animals!, in the future. Perhaps, like Cecil, he could be fitted with a GPS collar or ankle bracelet to ensure he never harms an animal again. Anyone who enjoys tracking a wounded lion for 40 hours, shooting it, then beheading and skinning it, while attempting to destroy its GPS collar so as not to get caught (and then, when he gets caught, says he is “sorry”??? Hello??? That does not correspond to the definition of “sorry” in my book!), is someone who should be kept as far away as possible from any sort of weapon.

And perhaps someday, with some form of rehabilitation (a few suggestions: working, under strict supervision, in a national park; joining anti-poaching teams all over the world, at his own expense, of course; donating huge sums of money to the Oxford University project that was studying Cecil, and so on…), this dentist might be brought to realize all the harm he has done in his life thus far. He might even reach out to pick up a camera instead of a crossbow. That wouldn’t bring back Cecil or the countless other animals that have been victims of all the unbelievably stupid “trophy” hunters, but…but it’s a start.

And things in fact seem to be moving in that direction now, so I can only hope that Cecil’s death will mark the beginning of the end of senseless, cruel, and ILLEGAL “trophy” hunting.

Shoot photos, not bullets!!!!!! No more illegal poaching!!!!!

And now for a couple of links…

Jimmy Kimmel’s perfect thoughts on this story: https://goo.gl/HSW4vC (For the record, I agree with everything he says, except for the bit about hunting. Hunting “because it’s part of your culture or something” is also abhorrent, IMO…see the yearly cruel pilot whale slaughter in the Faroe Islands, e.g.).

There are many petitions you can sign online. Here is one of them: https://goo.gl/KWqqM8

The Oxford University project’s website: www.wildcru.org  In case you have any extra money lying around…

Wellwellwell, I turned 54 on Saturday, July 18th. 🙂

We didn’t really celebrate my birthday this year because Stefano has been recovering from viral gastroenteritis. So he and I spent most of the day in bed, trying to keep cool under the ceiling fan, watching TV series and eating delicious sweets…mmmmh!!! It was nice and restful…just the two of us, surrounded by our furry family of seven (here are two of them–Pinga and Priscilla. Pinga sleeps under a cover, even in summer, so this photo was not staged, in case you’re wondering 😉 )…

It was actually the smartest thing we could have done: this has been the hottest July on record in Italy in more than a decade. Even Italian cows, I read in the below article, now have air conditioning and/or are getting showers to survive this horrendous heatwave: http://goo.gl/W6HrCJ. Mamma mia!

Anyway…Fifty-four…definitely an important milestone for me. When I was diagnosed with SMM in 2005, I thought I’d be dead within a few years, based on statistics AND on what a few hematologists told me…

But almost ten years have gone by since then (sixteen years, in fact, if you include the six years of my 1999 MGUS diagnosis…), and here I am, still very much alive and kicking…AND celebrating another birthday!!! Yaaay! 😀

Did you read about that doctor in Michigan who made millions (from insurance companies) by administering chemotherapy drugs to HEALTHY people? If not, then have a look at this article: http://goo.gl/y2ycx4

Makes me sick.

And yes, he told some of his healthy patients that they had multiple myeloma.

He just got sentenced to 45 years in jail…Do you think that’s enough, after what he did to more than 500 healthy people?

Well, I guess there’s a good lesson to be learned here: always ask for a second opinion…at the very least…

A hot-off-the-press study (see this super-easy-to-read summary given by Cancer Compass: http://goo.gl/HNtZk9) suggests that the mental health of cancer patients is strongly affected by that of their spouses/partners/caregivers….as follows: if your partner is depressed, you are more likely to get depressed, too; if your partner is in good mental shape, so are you. Actually, I wasn’t surprised at all by this finding…It makes sense.

But here’s something that did surprise me: “the mood of the cancer survivors did not have a significant influence on their spouses’ risk for depression.” Ah, so it’s not reciprocal…

Food for thought.

This article made me think about how cancer has affected my relationship with Stefano. It’s impossible to know how different things would/might have been, since myeloma (first MGUS, then SMM) has been in our lives almost from the beginning…          

Of course I can’t ignore the fact that I’ve been incredibly lucky…thus far, anyway (knock on wood!!!)–no CRAB symptoms, no conventional treatments…a very high QOL ( the acronym stands for “quality of life”)…and now I’m in my 10^th year of living with smoldering myeloma…Yes, very lucky indeed!

But…what if I hadn’t been so lucky? What if my myeloma had been more aggressive? What if I hadn’t come across the curcumin-myeloma study at MD Anderson so many years ago? What if…hmmm, well, we can’t live by “what ifs,” so I’ll leave it at that…

Oh, one last thing: any thoughts or reactions to the Cancer Compass article would be very welcome, so please leave me a comment here on the blog or send me an email. Thanks! Hey, what can I say…I’m a curious gal! 😉

More evidence supporting the use of curcumin in patients with MGUS, SMM, MM and, now, amyloidosis or AL.

Yes, true, this is “just” a case report, carried out at St. George Hospital in Sydney, Australia…an anecdote, many would say. But then again, so is my story, and so are the many similar stories of everyone who’s taking curcumin…

And these anecdotes do add up, don’t they?

At any rate, you can read the entire story here, for FREE: http://goo.gl/YFCM8Y (once you are on the Case Report page, look to the right and click on “Provisional PDF.”)

The report isn’t difficult to read, so I won’t bother giving you a summary or rather, BORE you with a summary. 😉 If you don’t want to read the whole shebang, though, just scroll down to the “Discussion” part…

Oh, I almost forgot: please note HOW MUCH curcumin this guy has been taking to obtain these results…Interesting, huh?

A highly recommended read…indeed!

Thanks to my blog reader and Facebook friend Cathy for the link to an intriguing Washington Post interview with a Harvard Medical School neuroscientist on the benefits of mindfulness meditation. Now, we all know that meditation reduces stress and anxiety, but that isn’t all it does…Check out this link: http://goo.gl/KQCt3r

Now, if you’ve never meditated before and don’t know where to begin, you can go to this UCLA website and follow their FREE guided meditation sessions: http://goo.gl/nSJgwK Just close your eyes and listen, it’s as simple as that. The sessions won’t take up much of your time…one of them is just three minutes long, for example. I’ve found them very helpful…for starters, anyway.

Okay, off I go. I want to add some gray matter to my frontal cortex… 😉