A Happy Accident

I went to see my oncologist today. I just saw him about a month ago. At that time, he brought up something that had been sort of lingering in the back of our minds. We needed to do something about my ovaries. He was actually disappointed that my ovaries seemed to be firing quite nicely and my periods had resumed. I was actually happy that my body had returned to normal.

The plan was to give me a drug that would prevent my ovaries from producing estrogen, called Zoladex. Since this would effectively put my body through menopause, there is a concern that it could cause osteoporosis, so my doctor scheduled me for a bone mineral density test so that we could monitor any changes.

Today, we were to review the results of my bone density test and discuss anything concerns we had with shutting down my ovaries. Surprisingly, my bone density was below average, to the point where I am considered osteopenic. Osteopenia is considered a precursor to osteoporosis. At first, I was a little upset by this. It's like a whole other thing I didn't think I had to worry about. Then my doctor explained some interesting results from a study that involved breast cancer patients who were also given a drug to help prevent osteoporosis.

In this particular study, the control group received a drug to prevent the ovaries from producing estrogen (just like me). The other group was also given a drug to prevent osteoporosis (also just like me). The women who received the osteoporosis drug were ONE THIRD less likely than the control group to have a recurrent cancer. This is pretty significant and the importance really can't be overstated.

Here is a link to an article about the study:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/health/research/12bone.html?em

I actually remember reading about this somewhat recently.

Now, what could be seen as bad news actually turned into something pretty positive. My doctor probably would not have decided to give me Zometa if I did not have bone density issues. My insurance company might not pay for it, and it's not yet considered the standard of care. But now I need it, so I get it.

Both drugs are administered at the oncology clinic. It was a little weird. We went back into the chemo area and sat in an infusion room. The nurse prepped me just like they did for chemo. This was much easier, though. The drip was only about 15 minutes long, compared to the hours I spent getting chemo. Then she informed me that the other injection was a little unpleasant. She told me that she didn't want to let me see the needle because it was pretty big. The Zoladex is like a seed that gets implanted in belly fat and releases over a month, so the delivery needle has to be big enough to contain the seed. Clearly this lady doesn't know me. She got me all scared for nothing. It was really no big deal at all.

And there it is. I will go through menopause. Again. But I had this happy accident of finding out that I have low bone density, which actually turns out to work in my favor.

Next time I can tell you all about my last meeting with my plastic surgeon. The surgery is January 11, by the way.