Well, well…a very interesting bit of news today. The gist: in order to get around the (well-known) problem of curcumin’s low bioavailability, researchers at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, created teeny tiny dissolvable capsules filled with curcumin, which they implanted in (breast) cancer-ridden mice. They also put another group of mice on a curcumin diet (=the control group). Here are the links to a couple of online newspaper articles (easy to read):

Daily Mail, UK: http://goo.gl/rWTQVR

Medical Daily: http://goo.gl/HsLcBM

I was sorry to read that the curcumin diet (by the way, it was a curcumin, NOT a curry diet!) was ineffective. We have to keep in mind, though, that we are humans, NOT mice…and so I will continue to put some curcumin powder in my food, whenever possible…I just put some in Stefano’s homemade broth that I had for lunch, in fact…yummmmmmmmy!

For more details, here’s the direct link to the study abstract (not so easy to read): http://goo.gl/8CSCm7

Here’s the most important part: the curcumin IMPLANT decreased the size of the tumors in these poor mice, AND it slowed down the reproduction rate of their cancer cells. Significantly, I would like to add…

Now, this is great news for cancer patients who have solid tumors, since the capsules could be implanted at the site of the tumor (= this is all theoretical, since the research is still in the “in vivo” lab stage, of course) . For those of us who have a type of blood cancer, well, it’s not as exciting, since, uh, where would we have the capsule or capsules implanted? Inside our bone marrow? Ah, if only it were so easy…

I have to admit, though, that whenever I read news reports like these, even about other types of cancer, I still get excited. And here’s why: curcumin is increasingly being talked about and studied in labs and clinical trials, AND our myeloma/cancer specialists are beginning to acknowledge that curcumin may be helpful at least for some of us. And they aren’t rolling their eyes as much, either. 😉 Incidentally, I’m 100% sure that we, the patients, have brought about this change. So…KUDOS to all of us! 🙂

A final, quick note before I get back to work: I’ve written many posts about the issue of curcumin’s low bioavailability (you can find them by doing a “search” of my website). Thing is, curcumin is NOT A DRUG and cannot therefore be expected to behave like one. In other words, the fact that it doesn’t show up much in our bloodstream (= a conventional measure of a drug’s bioavailability) shouldn’t surprise us. Of course, if we could somehow inject it right into our cancer cells…(ah, if only it were so easy…!)…

But let’s not forget this: a few years ago Prof. Aggarwal told me (in an email, in answer to one of my questions) that curcumin is absorbed by our tissues within a few minutes of ingestion. Ah.

And that’s good enough for me…At least, until a better, non-toxic sort of curcumin is put on the market…  🙂

A couple of years ago, when I began preparing my “Good or bad for myeloma” Page (http://margaret.healthblogs.org/good-or-bad-for-myeloma/), I decided to add aspirin to the list of stuff that is possibly “bad” for myeloma because it seems to increase our TNF alpha levels (see my 2011 aspirin-myeloma post for more info: http://margaret.healthblogs.org/2011/03/28/to-use-or-not-to-use-aspirin-in-myeloma-conventional-treatments/).

But, as I found out while doing research for the aspirin post, a couple of other studies showed that aspirin also reduces COX-1 and COX-2 levels…Ahhhh, confusing. Back then I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with aspirin but made the choice to put it on the “don’t take” list…

Well, I have some new information on aspirin that has made me rethink my position. A few blog readers recently directed my attention to Dr. Durie’s recent post on aspirin. Well, it seems that aspirin MIGHT REDUCE the risk of developing myeloma: http://goo.gl/1VrKWh An excerpt from Dr. Durie’s post: A key question is: “Can aspirin use reduce or prevent the activation of MGUS or smoldering myeloma into full blown myeloma?” A tantalizing question indeed!  Carefully designed prospective studies are definitely warranted. I couldn’t agree more!

In the meantime…I wonder if MGUS and SMM folks should consider taking aspirin on a daily basis…My only concern would be for those of us who take a lot of curcumin, which, like aspirin, is supposed to have blood-thinning properties…Although I should note that I personally haven’t had any trouble in that sense (= with blood-thinning, I mean)…but then, we’re all different and therefore react differently to the exact same substance…So it’s definitely something that I’d be cautious about and would discuss with my doctor…

Your thoughts? 

This morning a blog reader/friend sent me the link to one of the most amazing videos…never seen anything like it, and I’m quite sure you haven’t, either…

So check it out, and enjoy: http://goo.gl/w7HrIw  🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I met Prof. Gertz in March 2012 at a patient-doctor meeting organized by my friend Vittorio’s charitable association, which he set up in memory of his uncle who was a myeloma patient. If this doesn’t ring a bell, just do a search of my website to find the posts I wrote about this encounter.

Well, Prof. Gertz is returning to Florence. To meet with us. This Saturday, Jan 18, in fact. So if you happen to be in the area (Tuscany!), I really hope you will consider attending.

I have the program of the meeting (where it is taking place, when it begins, info about lunch, etc…It’s all FREE, by the way), so if you are interested in attending, please let me know, via a comment or contact form or email, and I will forward it to you.

As happened last time, I will help Vittorio translate part of the meeting. I have to admit, I’m still suffering from a bit of jet lag (and cats walking over my body or hugging my head and purring madly in my ear at 2 and 4 a.m. certainly doesn’t help!!!), so I hope I won’t make any mistakes…zzzzz…!

Please note: if you want to stay for lunch, you will have to let Vittorio know ASAP. Just quickly: the meeting will take place at the same hotel where we met last time, Hotel 500 in Campi Bisenzio, just outside of Florence. It’s an all-day event, but you can leave before lunch if you must. My advice would be to stay, though…

Okay, I’d better post this…Saturday is fast approaching! Hope to see you there! 🙂

Remember that movie, “The Terminal”? In a nutshell, it’s about a man (Tom Hanks) who gets trapped in New York’s JFK International Airport after being denied entry to the U.S.

I don’t mean to imply that Stefano and I are trapped in an airport somewhere. Nope. On the contrary, we are safely back in Florence, at home with our beloved kitties. So, apart from a major, beastly case of jet lag (we are having so much difficulty sleepingzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…), we are absolutely fine…zzzzz.

Now that I’ve cleared that up, I can go ahead and tell you what happened just a few days ago… 😉

Late Saturday evening, as we were checking in at Logan Airport in Boston, I realized I’d forgotten my Italian “permanent resident” visa at my parents’ house on Cape Cod…

Oh no!!! Now what?!!! Without that precious document, I doubted I’d be allowed to leave Germany (the first leg of our journey). But Stefano said, “it’s too late to freak out now. There’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s get on the plane and see what happens when we land in Germany.” “But,” I squeaked, “won’t I be deported or, worse, kept forever in the airport, just like Tom Hanks?” “No, of course not,” he said, in a reassuring tone, “and don’t worry, I’m with you…”

And so, after my first “TOTAL PANIC, FREAK OUT!!!” nano-moment, I calmed down and, for the first time ever!!!, was happy that we’d have a five-hour layover in Germany…That would give me plenty of time to explain what happened and deal with any ramifications…I stopped worrying (sort of) and managed to watch three movies on the plane…

We landed safely in Germany and proceeded to the airport security checkpoint. With a winning, bright smile on my face, I chirped “Good morning!” and handed my U.S. passport to the customs official. He smiled back at me, then noticed my surname, which happens to be German (= my “maiden” surname, that is). He asked if I spoke any German. I answered, “Ah, I really wish I did…but no, I don’t.” Then, faster than you can say “Tom Hanks,” he stamped my passport and waved us on.

Ehhhh???? That’s IT??? All that worrying for…NOTHING???

It would certainly seem so…

Sigh of relief.

We celebrated my “no muss no fuss” re-entry into Europe with a yummy organic carrot and orange juice…No kidding, an organic juice place in the airport…how civilized! 🙂

I now have a 3-month tourist visa. That gives my parents plenty of time to send me my permanent Italian visa, which they found safely tucked away in a drawer…you know, those blasted “safe” places where you put important stuff so you won’t lose it (!)…those places you forget to check when you’re busy with a million other pre-travel things/errands (!)…

Yeah, those places…uff!!!

Before my next trip, I’m going to have my visa tattooed on my forehead…

I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful our stay in Arizona was…overwhelming, wonderful, happy, beautiful, exciting, moving…extraordinary…

And I have fallen head over heels in love with saguaros = huge, tree-like cacti (or cactuses) that can be seen all around Phoenix, even in people’s yards…wow…I wish we could have one in our yard in Florence! 😉

I have heaps of wonderful (I hope!) photos, but I don’t have time to download and go through them now, so that will have to wait until Stefano and I get back to Italy.

Let’s see. Just briefly, Stefano, Mom, Dad and I returned to Cape Cod last night. What an adventure THAT was…I don’t have time to tell you about it now…but, just to give you an idea, on December 17 we left for Phoenix in the middle of that major winter storm that hit the East Coast (flights were delayed and canceled…a mess!), and only narrowly escaped returning from Phoenix to Boston in the middle of ANOTHER blizzard! Sheesh.

But the main thing is that we’re safely home now. This morning I got up at dawn and went outside to take photos of my parents’ house covered in snow. I also got some photos of a big, fat robin perched in a tree. And Stefano and I are about to set out for the beaches to see what we can find. My biggest hope is that we will also come across a snowy owl…apparently there are many here this year, and I’ve never seen one in the flesh…Will we get lucky and see one today? Mmmmh…

Okay, really must go now. A (belated!) very Happy New Year to everyone!!! 🙂

We’re in Arizona, at my sister’s place in Scottsdale. Wow. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing this trip has been, how wonderful it is to be reunited with my sister and niece, and with a nephew I hadn’t seen in a very long time… But I’m typing this on my iPad, so I’ll have to make it short.

We’ve also been sightseeing. Yesterday Stefano and I went to the Botanical Gardens and were blown away. It was spectacular. We got photos of a sleeping screech owl (?) with its head resting outside its nest, which was a hole in a saguaro cactus. Stefano also got some amazing shots of a hummingbird drinking nectar. Paradise. So different from anything we’ve ever seen…anywhere!

The day after Xmas Stefano and I will be leaving on a 5-day tour of the area around Sedona. We’ll be back here in Scottsdale on New Year’s Eve.

well, typing this way is a bit of a drag, I must admit. So let me just wish everyone a very happy holiday and good times with your loved ones.

Buone Feste!!!  🙂

We’ll be in Arizona tomorrow night…I haven’t seen my sister in years (and my niece since August)…it’s going to be a great Xmas family reunion…can’t wait!

I may not have much access to the computer while we’re there, but I’ll try to pop onto the blog now and again during the holidays. Oh, I probably won’t be answering any emails until after the New Year…sorry about that…but it’s a bit complicated from here…I’ll do my best, though…

This morning I watched this hilarious video (see post title)…Hope you enjoy it, too! http://goo.gl/Gct2fy   😀