Excerpt from a conversation Stefano and I had a couple of evenings ago…
Margaret: If you could go back in time, would you still marry me?
Stefano: No.
Margaret (taken aback): Noooo? Why not?
Stefano: I wouldn’t marry anyone who would ask such a dumb question.
Margaret: Ohhhh…(pause)…Well, would you STILL marry me?
Stefano (looking up from his iPad): Of course I would!!!
Phew. 😉
20 years ago, on this day, Stefano and I got married. One of the happiest days of my life.
I’ve written wedding anniversary posts before, so I’ll keep this one short…I just want to say how lucky I am to have found such an extraordinary man…brilliant, funny, supportive, loving, wise…the list goes on…
Thank you for all these years, Stefano…and for the ones to come! 🙂
Ti amo.
Buon anniversario!
Just briefly…I wanted to say that tomorrow Stefano and I are zooming off for about 10 days (= holiday…yaaaaay!) with a couple of our friends. I don’t know if I’ll have access to Internet during that time, so I just thought I’d publish a quick post.
Well, I hope you’ll have as much fun as I plan to have!!!
Take care, everyone! Ciaoooo! 🙂
Since yesterday evening, this is what I’ve been hearing on the news: it’s a terrible loss for Catholics, it’s a terrible loss for people of all faiths…
Of course it is, but let’s not exclude anyone. What happened yesterday in Paris is a terrible loss for everyone, even for non-believers like me.
I broke down and wept when I saw the footage of the fire devastating the medieval cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Horrifying…
Simply horrifying…
Stefano and I were in Paris in August of 2018. We were very lucky to have a great view of Notre Dame and the surrounding area from our hotel room. 
Anyway, here are some of the photos I took back then.
This is how I want to remember Notre Dame…intact…
Thanks to Karen for providing the link to this incredible story. At first, like other readers, I thought he’d donated his stem cells to try to save the life of a teenager in France, but no, he’d donated his bone marrow.
Still, I’d never heard of anything like this…I wonder if he had an allergic reaction to the drugs…? Anyway, I suppose we’ll learn more in the coming days…
Here’s the CNN article: https://cnn.it/2P4nV0z
I’m feeling rather stunned…
Yesterday I came across a Science Daily article discussing a recent study on the need to have different diagnostic criteria for the kappa and lambda types of myeloma. Apparently some patients with the lambda type go undiagnosed, based on current criteria.
Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/2GfulHf
And here’s an excerpt: “Current testing trends lean toward looking in the serum only which also can lead to problems detecting lambda-associated conditions.”
I wonder how many have had that problem…?
I just read a bit of news that I thought I’d share here on the blog.
A new study shows that exposure (NOTE: “a high lifetime exposure“) to an insecticide called permethrin increases one’s risk of developing MM. This insecticide is used in public health mosquito control programs, for example. Eeeeek!
Here’s the article, for those interested: http://bit.ly/2G1haJN
I’ve been reading some interesting stuff lately…I just have to find the time to post about it all! Anyway, have a great weekend, everyone! Ciao! 🙂
I already knew about the dangers of drinking very hot tea, and this is confirmed by a new study: it can almost DOUBLE your risk of cancer, esophageal cancer. I read about it a couple of days ago in this CNN article…interesting read, have a look: http://goo.gl/F6jC6N
Here’s an excerpt: “Researchers found that tea drinkers who liked their beverage to be warmer than 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) and consumed more than 700 ml of tea per day — about two large cups — had a 90% higher risk of esophageal cancer, when compared to those who drank less tea and at cooler temperatures.”
According to Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (now, that’s quite a mouthful, eh!), the problem isn’t the type of beverage. The problem is the heat. So basically, anything that’s too hot is dangerous, even, say, microwaved jam (now, why would you microwave jam? Hmmmm…whatever…). I’d add this to the list: very hot soup.
At any rate, since we are already dealing with multiple myeloma in various shapes and forms, I don’t think we need to raise our risk of getting another type of cancer 🙄 (sheeesh!)…And so, just to be on the safe side, let’s avoid eating or drinking anything on the way-too-hot side!
Well, well…well.
I mean, you try to be oh soooo careful whenever you set foot outside your house, especially during the flu season…For example:
My “try to avoid getting sick” list goes on and on…I repeat, I try to be sooo careful. I always carry a little bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse, for emergencies, such as, well, let’s say that, due to social circumstances, I’ve been forced to shake hands with someone and can’t immediately rush off to find a bathroom and wash my hands, which wouldn’t be very courteous, would it? Sort of like, “Oh, such a pleasure to meet you…um, excuse me, where’s the bathroom?” Much more polite to turn my back discreetly ASAP and whip out the sanitizer, right? And certainly much better than saying, “Oh, please don’t take this personally. I don’t shake hands with anyone because I have smoldering multiple myeloma, and shaking hands with you might kill me.” Hmmm, I wonder what the reaction to that would be! I might try it someday…(just kidding!)
So yes, I try to be super careful, especially during the flu season, as I mentioned before.
But sometimes, in spite of all your precautions, the germs GET YOU anyway. And this time it wasn’t because of my passing next to a sneezing child in the supermarket.
This time it was an IN-HOUSE GERM ATTACK.
Last Friday Stefano came home from work with a sore throat. When he told me about the sore throat, my “GERM ALERT” alarm started blaring loudly, and I avoided touching or going near him all weekend, no hugs, nothing…well, duh, of course we sleep together…
But usually that works…keeping away from him, I mean.
Not this time.
This time the germs he’d picked up were a bunch of really TOUGH guys…
And those tough dudes MIGRATED OVER TO ME, where else?, over to the innocent nice gal with the teeny tiny immune system…
And so, while Stefano merely had what he called a “mild sore throat,” and in fact we had dinner out with friends on Saturday night, here’s what happened to me, starting on Sunday: I woke up with a TERRIBLE sore throat (which, luckily, disappeared within 24 hours…awful, I could barely swallow/talk).
By Sunday evening I had a TERRIBLE cough, ah yes, THAT cough, THE cough. Then fever, vom…well, yeah, that, too. What else? Oh, terrrrrrrible fatigue. I slept and slept and slept, propped up into a sitting position in bed because of THE cough.
Monday was the worst. Then, on Tuesday morning, I began thinking I’d survive. How did I know? My sense of humour came back. 😉
Anyway, since by now I recognize all the symptoms and am well aware that, with my compromised immune system, things can go downhill reaaaaaally fast, from a little sniffle to a full-blown cough within hours, I began taking an antibiotic, a strong one, on Sunday night (but that’s when I was still in vom… mode, so I don’t know how much antibiotic I managed to assimilate…sorry, trying not to be too gross, here!).
Yesterday, much much better: I didn’t have a fever, cough was better, etc. Today I’ve barely coughed at all!
So I’m officially convalescent now, taking it easy, just doing some light housework (laundry, dishes, etc.) but mostly resting, watching my TV series in bed, with various cat-nurses draped on and around me.
But a little while ago I got a call from Stefano (who wasn’t feeling that great this morning but had to go to work…), telling me that he feels terrible. It’s not just a “mild” sore throat anymore. Sheeshhhhh. No idea how he’s going to be this evening, but it doesn’t sound good.
I told you those germs were TOUGH! Mamma mia! But…we’re going to smash ’em to smithereens…no worries.
Anyway, take care, everyone, and stay well!!! Stefano and I will, too! Ciao! 🙂
Some interesting news this morning: for the first time, a group of researchers has reported on the essential role that a specific protein, called Ufbp1, plays in the development and function of plasma cells.
Now, we don’t really need to know all the complicated steps involved in this process…Here’s what’s relevant to us: when Ufbp1 becomes upregulated (that is, when there is too much of it), the development process of plasma cells can go wacky and give rise to allergies, autoimmune diseases, and, tada!, multiple myeloma.
Therefore, if researchers can find a way to manipulate and control the expression of Ufbp1, they might be able to come up with new treatments for all these conditions.
Very interesting, indeed.
In this Science Daily article, the paragraph on multiple myeloma is the third from the bottom: http://goo.gl/zqP5dY
The full study is available for free at this link: http://goo.gl/2gspSe
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to read it today, the entire thing, I mean…but I thought that I’d go ahead and post about this discovery, which could, potentially!, have an impact on the field of myeloma treatments…not now, of course, but in the future…
As the SD article states, in fact, this discovery could lead to “the next generation of multiple myeloma treatments,” to which I would add, “preferably (!) a much less toxic generation compared to previous ones…”
Well, well. Fingers crossed…