May 4, 2009

Osteopenia & Bone Infarction

Hi All -
A long day with Sam today but after a couple scares, we got good news...She has Osteopenia (which is kind of like a pre Osteoporosis - weak bones that have pain and can break easily). She is allowed to play softball and anything else she wants to do! The only way to get better at this point is to eat healthy, take 2 Xtra strength tums a day and take a multi vitamin - and then keep moving at a slow and comfortable pace (which is really the only pace she can go), and hope the bone strengthens and grows.

We go back in 3 months for a follow up with her orthopedic doctor. She also has something called a bone infarction which is what the spots were/are. This has happened b/c of high dose steroids and is somewhat common with people who have gone thru what Sam has...kind of like dead bone cells in her femur. My understanding is sometimes it grows back, sometimes not. This area is the area they were talking about doing a biopsy on earlier today. The MRI was also quite challenging due to the script not being faxed over, missing her time slot...and they did do great fitting her in but we missed her ortho appt. We had to wait for 2 hours for the MRI, which was actually 25 minutes long. She was a trooper but was very scared and it took a lot out of her. I also forgot the films and the tech chased me down the parking lot... Yep, I have lost it.

The highlight of her day was hearing that she could play softball as soon as she wanted to.

The highlight of my day was getting a call from her Orthopedic doctor as we were driving home telling me he walked the xrays (and 2nd set of Xrays that he had ordered) and the MRI results (this guy was AWESOME) to the Radiologist and they both agreed that the dark spots were bone infarctions and they did not feel that she needed a bone biopsy nor did they feel like they had to consult with her Oncologist!

All in all, a draining day - but - thank God, with a great outcome!

Thanks for everything!

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