2 Years Out

I cannot believe it is my 2-year anniversary, with my oncologist. In preparation for this office visit, I was to have a regular blood-draw, although I could tell from the order that she was asking for more readings than usual. I was also to get a chest xray. And she had scheduled me for a second infusion of Zometa, to combat the osteopenia that I was diagnosed with last April.

Zometa was designed for bone cancer patients. It stops (kills off?) the osteoclasts in your bones, whose job is to tear down bone. That way, whatever bone-building is going on, gets to stay in place. I didn't really like the sound of that, but I appreciated the result. And due to the high cost ($1100/per infusion) out of my pocket, I was hesitant to do it again unnecessarily.

I left a message with my oncologist's office, asking if I could have a bone density scan first, since I would be paying for it, no matter what. The bone density scan cost me less than $200 and if my density had improved significantly, I wanted to skip the Zometa.

The doctor approved my plan, so I squeezed in the bone density scan the day before my office visit. It turned out that my density had improved, but not a lot. When I saw the oncologist, she said I could do whatever I wanted to do. She did not want to sway me one way or the other. I peppered her with questions...and this is what I found out.

My bone density last time was -2.2. -2.5 is the cut-off for osteoporosis. Normal is from -1 to 0. This time, I had improved to -2. Still well into the osteopenia range. She said I would not improve significantly from just calcium supplements/diet/exercise. She really wasn't sure I could ever be "normal" bone density again.

The loss of density is from my early shutdown of ovary function, due to chemotherapy, not from the tamoxifen. Since my insurance isn't deciding what I can or cannot have, I can have another bone density scan in 6 months if I want, to see if the Zometa has gained me another fraction of improvement or not. Also, there is no downside, for me, from the Zometa, other than the cost. In fact, the reason she chose Zometa for me was that it had the unexpected side effect of helping to reduce the reoccurence of breast cancer. (I think I had shared that last time.)

The other decision to be made was whether I would switch from Tamoxifen at this point to Femara. Some study had shown this to be beneficial. She said that without a doubt Femara would cause further bone density loss. So, of course, that was shelved. She didn't have any problem with me continuing with Tamoxifen.

I decided, pretty quickly, that I wasn't going to let $1000 stand between me and the chance to gain any amount of bone density. I am too young to start worrying about that. Especially since her office permits me to pay any amount on my bill, as long as I am paying. I only pay $25/week and am still paying off last April's infusion.

So I took another infusion. The nurse was so sweet, but she almost blew out my vein in my right arm--which is bad, since I can't ever use my left arm, EVER again. So she had to put it in my wrist, which wasn't that bad. 15 minutes later, I was good to go.

I don't see the doc again for 6 months. That's the prize you get after two years. :)

My chest xray was clear. My plastic surgeon waved me off for a one-year check up. Her tatoo artist told me if I was happy, she was happy. I can almost pretend it didn't happen...almost.