Another Fracture

Bad news / Good news

After dropping by the oncolgist's office to pick up last week's X-rays which showed another major compression fracture, we went to see the neurosurgeon again (last time we saw her was early July). Here is the bad news. She looked at it and said that it looked like the T-12 vertebra had compressed down a full inch all the way across while the T 10 was also compressed a bit. She said that in a bone that had a lot of myeloma tumor in it, when the myeloma is killed out the bone is so compromised that it compresses under the body's weight.

But the good news is that it looks like it is a candidate for kyphoplasty (the procedure to pump it back up with a baloon, then fill the cavities with cement so that the vertebra will rregain most its original size.) We will do an MRI and then she will determine if kyphoplasty is a good option. Fortunately, Deb is still off all pain medication and doing well. She is walking a half hour each day, can stand sit and walk reasonably well. Her strength and energy are returning to near normal. She got her hair cut and styled yesterday and it looks really cute on her (amazingly, most of those stray gray hairs disappeared too! Mine is turning loose more than turning gray.)

I had a physical done today and everything was normal and good with the exception of my triglyceride count. The Dr. said that exercise will take care of those numbers. My supervisor told me earlier today that I needed to get back into my exercising. So that is being reminded twice in one day. Do you think I will get the message? Or am I like those die hards who choose to ignore evacuation warnings and choose to ride out a hurricane? Time will tell.

God bless.

Duane and Debbie