What about it...bone time again...

         It was time for the annual Wellness Visit. Doctors do annual Wellness Visits that are not really 'exams'. For me that entails a fasting lab, and a short visit with the nurse who does the height-weight and blood pressure thing along with the long questionnaire designed to see how your ADL [activities of daily living] are getting along. 

There was a review of medications [right now, none for me] and a review of family history. 

The subject of osteoporosis came up and I came clean that I quit the meds after 2 months and didn't notify anyone. 

I won't be due then for another bone scan until 2025 which is fine with me. The Ibandronate made me so sick with headaches and nausea for 3 weeks after each monthly dose. On the 4th week before taking the med again, I felt pretty normal. 

[If I am not taking the medicine for Osteoporosis, the insurance won't pay for a scan except every two years.]

I have a history of sensitivity to medications. But I kept trying. After 3 strikes, I'd like to call it quits for the moment. 

I'm not in pain, I haven't broken anything, I even got run over by an E-bike and a woman and I came out with just a bruise.

We read the lab test, she asked how I am doing with being a caregiver.

------>>> 

We discussed the bone stuff. 

Here we are again. 

Discussing bone numbers. We discussed the 3 meds I've tried and not gotten along with. 

Of course Prolia was mentioned again. Pretty much because my medication choice has run out of options. 

I told Ann "forget it". 
She agreed that it was my choice ultimately. Then she discussed my results from last year once more. She urged me to call Emily and talk to her. [Emily is an Endocrinologist]

Her biggest point was again to point out to my that my LS [Lower Lumbar spine] scored a -4.8. The scale for Osteoporosis only goes to -5. Ann said she never had a patient with such um, alarming numbers.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
I scored High!
Go Big Or Go Home!

Yet here we are.

I will call Emily's office and either make and appointment or talk with her via phone. 

My biggest concern with Prolia is that it may play badly with me. 

I've reacted terribly to all the bone meds so far. What happens if I start to have hypocalcemia with a 6 month shot in my system? I've had that before with the first med.  It is a critical emergency if that happens. Not all people have it happen, though. 

Prevention of hypocalcemia and by more lab tests. Yum, who doesn't enjoy a needle poke? Another place to monitor is the kidneys. Rut Roh. My kidneys have been flagged, so there is that. 

For 3 years they have been in the low normal range and now have dipped into the hmmm, range.

So what happens if my kidney numbers get worse with the meds? Um? Back to a med that caused me so much pain?

The really fun thing about aging is this. Your body ages, parts start to break down whether we like it or not. Skin gets wrinkly, joints get stiff, ... If only we were like old classic cars that could be rehabbed.

My lower spine got rusty. Unfortunately there is no body shop for spines. 

The issues with where the awful numbers are lies in my lower spine which supports by body weight and helps support my hips and legs. Eventually one way or another there will be a compression fracture in the low back. 

Eventually that causes a domino effect of compression fractures. 

It will happen with or without the medication in my opinion, since at this stage the meds can only maintain me at that low score. 

So I ask. What am I preventing? 

The bottom line is, I am not going to give up Hope. 

I found an inspiration just the other day from one of my older cousins. How much older? I'm not sure. She was a teen when I was a little kid.

I grabbed this from her FB page:

You are seeing it right. She is in Mongolia living with a family and learning to hunt with an Eagle from a Mongolian pony.

I would love to grow up just like her!