Time is flying by. I can’t believe it’s almost June. How did that happen…where did May go???

And I have so much to do…doesn’t everyone???…So once again I have been “ignoring” my blog. So sorry about that…

It’s all because of my mad spring cleaning. Thing is, the more I put things in order, the more mess I seem to have in every room. Go figure! But putting my house in order is my priority right now. So I have but glanced at a couple of studies I have on my desktop…

Okay, I’m actually not “ignoring” my blog. I mean, I check it every day, approve comments and so on, and I am certain to be posting about some serious stuff soon. I will…I will!

In the meantime, though, take care, everyone!  🙂 

I’m spring cleaning these days.

Not (NOT) fun at all…except when the cats help…(see below)…  😎

1999 was an important year for me:

1. it’s the year Stefano and I got married.

2. it’s the year of my MGUS diagnosis.

But today I want to focus more on number one, our wedding anniversary. Stefano and I were married in the town hall of Florence (Palazzo Vecchio) on May 8, 1999, which means that yesterday was our 18th wedding anniversary.

We didn’t have any plans to celebrate our anniversary this year. Too much going on. But months ago, shortly after Xmas, a close friend of ours told us that he was planning to surprise his wife on her 50th birthday. He asked us if we would be interested in helping him. Needless to say, we were.

We decided to go to the Dolomites, a mountain range located in northeastern Italy, where, before Easter, we rented a two-bedroom, two bathroom Airbnb-type apartment…near the city of Merano.

Then Mom died (on Easter Sunday), and I almost canceled the trip. But Stefano had just returned from a long and exhausting business trip and needed a good rest (note: he had to be relatively near Florence so he could make sure things were going well at work) and, to be quite honest, I needed to get away for a while…The Dolomites were the perfect location…only a 3.5 hour drive from Florence.

So off we went. But I’ll stop here, since I have photos of our stay in the Dolomites and may post a few.

I wanted to end this post by saying that I hope to have many more HAPPY (and HEALTHY!) years together with my Stefano, l’amore della mia vita, my best friend, my partner…the smartest, wisest, most knowledgeable, most headstrong (aiaiaiaiiiii! 😉 ) person I know…Oh, and he’s also tall, dark (although his hair is grayer than it used to be…), and handsome!!!  🙂

Ti amo, moro…

P.S. By the way, you can click on the cartoon to enlarge it…

Stefano left last week on a business trip (he’ll be home in a couple of days, thank goodness…I miss him so much), but I have never felt alone. Alone, with SEVEN CATS? Not a chance.

Speaking of which, on the night of Easter Sunday, my cats knew that something BIG had happened. Especially Pinga.

After my niece called with the news of my mother’s death (it was 2 AM over here), I couldn’t get back to sleep. I didn’t go back to bed until 5 AM, in fact. During all that time, Pinga never left my side. When I quietly went downstairs, in the dark, so as not to wake Stefano, she followed me, got into my lap, rubbed all over me, and purred non-stop. Whenever I stood up, she made it crystal clear that she didn’t want to be separated from me. So I had to carry her with me, even just into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

A few days later, Stefano had to leave. The cats always hate that. I can’t blame them. I do, too!

Since then, they have been really clinging to me…more than they usually do… 😉

In the last couple of days, though, they have started taking over our bed. Now, we usually have three or four cats on the bed or rather, spread out on different parts of the bed. Unless it’s very cold outside (not the case right now), they don’t really cuddle with one another… 

But look at this photo. It’s weird. I mean, they don’t normally arrange themselves in a row. By the way, from left to right, we have Piccolo, Priscilla, Prezzemolo, Pavarotta (ex-Pammy: we renamed her because she sings and chirps…a lot!).

I’m not sure what this behavior means, or if it means anything. Perhaps this is their way of keeping close to me…close to Stefano…and also close to one another. Perhaps this is their way of telling me that everything is going to be okay.

It’s very comforting…whatever it is.

But…hmm…WHERE am I going to sleep tonight? That is the question…

This is the title of a case report concerning a blog reader with whom I’ve been corresponding for years now. Her case report has been the main object of our most recent exchanges, as you can imagine. We couldn’t wait for it to be published.

Well, this morning I received a note from her, telling me it had finally been…published! And so I sat down and wrote this post…I’m so amazingly excited for her…

Here’s the link to the FULL case report: goo.gl/YCMR0A

As you can see, it’s very easy to read…

An excerpt from the Discussion: “The fact that our patient, who had advanced stage disease and was effectively salvaged while exclusively on curcumin, suggests a potential antimyeloma effect of curcumin. She continues to take daily curcumin and remains in a very satisfactory condition with good quality of life. This case provides further evidence of the potential benefit for curcumin in myeloma. We would recommend further evaluation of curcumin in myeloma patients in the context of a clinical trial.”

I couldn’t agree more!

P.S. in a recent comment, blog reader Charlotte brought the case report to my attention (thank you!). But I had just lost my mother, and, to be honest, I barely glanced at the abstract…I didn’t make the connection…until this morning, of course…