osteoporosis & what it really means - longish

[Guest guest]

This is one of those ones I've had to sit on for awhile to think how to say it.

We talk about osteoporosis in generalities. We've not had fractures talked about

our damage on this forum, just the potenital, so I need to tell you the story.

Some of you guys saw my husband Don at the conference, with knee brace, on a

crutch. We were waiting for test results to know what it was.

He's now completed the round of tests, and got the result. Here is how the

injury occurred. Father's Day, so about June 16, we were at a kid-park and he

slipped over a fence, about butt high. Just a simple manuever, nothing fancy.

Parking lot was about an 8 " drop, so he pushed off gently. No big deal, not

anything STUPID. As he came down, the upper leg stayed straight, but the gravel

worked like ball bearings and twisted the foot & lower leg OUT. The doc called

it a spin out. There was pain IMMEDIATE & he went shocky. Scared us both, but

being A Man (no, I'm starting starting trouble), it was nothing and he did not

need to go to ER in a city far from home. (OK, 50 mi from home).

We did go to our regular doc the next day & do xrays, not sure if those results

ever came back. But we had to go to the conf. They couldn't do anything for a

week or so due to massive swelling. Anyway, the crux of the story is that here

we are now, with the full data.

The knee is a " total meltdown " as the doc called it. The lower bone (I don't

speak bone) has a compression fracture, which tore the meniscus, which ripped

the ACL, and at some point, there are 2 smaller fractures in the upper bone

somewhere. 5 hunks of damage in about 1 second.

They can rebuild the bone artificially, rebuild the ligaments BUT, here is the

big one. Since they have to basically install " bolts " to rebuild the ACL, is

there in fact enough bone left to do it? I thought this doc was good. He

explained things very clearly to us, and when the CT & MRI didn't agree, he

pursued it. So. He is referring us out to someone else for a 2nd opinion.

We can't just let it go, as it of course, will get much worse. He'll have to

have surgery, but if they can't fix all 5 problems, then they will reoccur like

dominoes.

Don & I were trying to think if the doc was blaming our WLS or our doc in a

subtle way. We kind of analyzed it. Now, anyone who twisted their leg at a

90deg angle would have this damage, no question. So, we theorized. If Don had

lost weight " naturally " (which we both know was not going to happen), would he

be where he is today? Since the first trigger for the bone loss IS weight loss,

that much would have happened. With America thinking of dairy as a main calcium

source, AND his being lactose intolerant, would he have gotten any more calcium

into him than he did with carbonate? Probably not, as we'd not have known how

important it was, and not even given him THAT most likely. (Men don't need

extra calcium, do they?) So, we realized that blaming the WLS for the OP is

rather a reach in this case. One wonders what the damge would have been without

the calcium citrate + boron + ipriflavonne + miacalcin. This is the result

after an actual IMPROVEMENT of bone density!

So, my reason for writing this with no spell checker in my laptop and with a

dead hard drive in my real computer is to warn the doubters. This bone thing is

not a game. You can't un-lose if you gamble. Don will probably not be normal

for at least a year, if ever. (Of course, that could be true with an 18 yr old

jock, too, with this type of injury) But it would be a whole lot easier if he

had solid bones to work with.

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