Update on My "Crappy Bones"

For a while now, when I take my supplements, my daughter comes over and asks, "Are you taking medicine for your crappy bones?" She's four, and yes, she's heard me refer to my bones as crappy enough times to qualify them always as Mom's crappy bones.

I got my bone density scan results (they scanned my hips and lower back), and the results are normal. That's awesome, but it doesn't explain to me why the bones in my leg and foot were noted as shockingly soft by the surgeon. So my general practitioner spoke with my former oncologist. Generally, bisphophontes are not part of regular practice at the BC Cancer Agency yet. They could argue that I need it for premature menopause, but since I'm on hormone replacement therapy (low dose), my bones should be protected.

The news doesn't relieve me, if I'm being honest. The whole shittiness around my type of cancer, Triple Negative Breast Cancer, is that it's still relatively new on the landscape of breast cancer, and studies are being done here and there, and a lot is unknown. So while another country might have research and data to back up a particular finding, another country (like Canada) might not accept that data as fully proven or some such and follow suit with treatment. This is why young adults like my friend Pat (http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-pat-placzek-get-life-saving-cancer-treatment-/326039) has to do crowdfunding to get treatment to help him live--to go somewhere outside the country where there are experimental treatments that could help him.

When I was looking on the Triple Negative Breast Cancer forum, one survivor said that her oncologist has been giving her bisphophonates for years as a preventive measure against metastasis. But that's in the states. So this option is not available to me, according to Canada's findings and standards.

Here I am in a position that many patients often find themselves in: a medical mystery with no answers until some medical professional wants to do the extra legwork to find the answers or push to do something unorthodox. And in the meantime, I'm hoping that my doctors are right, that my fears are unfounded, that I won't get a bone metastasis even though from where I'm sitting (and have been sitting for two weeks), all signs point to a future in which I will meet cancer once again.