Some Answers

Tuesday, my daughter visited me - a 400 mile trip. It was a good visit and I enjoyed it alot. She had told me that she had a meeting in the city and would come up after that, but she lied. She came up on her own. It was a good lie. We had most of the day together.

Wednesday I had my bone scan. I was injected with the radioactive stuff, went away for 3 hours, came back and they did it. It wasn't too bad and I did not glow in the dark.

Thursday, I noticed that my pain had decreased. Good. I could use less pain. I also went for a walk with my walker, but I'm still having problems walking straight - I have to hunch over. Without my walker, I can't walk more that 5 minutes without getting real tired, whether I walk with or without my cane, and I can walk without my cane.

Today I got a call from my doctor. The bone scan showed that I had healing fractures of my ribs - several of them. I also have one in my spine. The doctor called them compression fractures. Have no idea how I got them. We talked about my previous use of steroids and he believes that the steroids made my bones brittle and subject to fractures. Treatment is with Fosamax, which I've started on already. The problem is that it takes about 3 months before any affects begin, so for the next 2 1/2 months I'll have to be really careful. I'm also noticing that other than being sore from my walk, I have very little, if any, pain. Good. I'll be able to cut back on some of my pain meds, which may increase my energy levels.

This also expains how I broke my hip, probably from some little activity that just put pressure on the bone, and it broke. I'm getting referred to an endocrinologist to make sure that a hormone from one of my glands (parathyroid) is not causing this. Now I've got to find out who I can see about walking hunched over.

I'm upset about all this crap. I envision my life as a semi-invalid unable to do the things I like to do, and a burden to Arlene, basically housebound. But she's helpful. "we could go on these old folks tours" or stuff like that. Maybe. We'll have to see. In the meantime, I've got to focus on getting better. Whatever time I have left, and it could be years although it doesn't feel like it today, I will make a life with Arlene. While I may be limited in what I will be able to do, I will be able to do some things, and I will enjoy them with Arlene.