Someo ne asked me if the decline in my bone density was caused by the pills or something else. I cannot say why it was -1.4T in 2017 when my OB/GYN had me get one and steadily declined. I knew I had osteopaenia going in to the treatment(s) and, in my own mind, my age (76 at the time) is certainly a factor, but the extreme effects on my fragile left knee have led me to believe that Anastrozole is a Major Culprit. My Illinois oncologist chose to disagree, saying, "You're just old." It is true that I am old (and trying not to become dead!) The only reason I have such good numbers is that I am a well-controlled Type II diabetic, whose A1C has gone from 7.2 to 5.4. My mom and all 3 of her brothers were diabetics and she was a 4-shots a day diabetic. (One of her brothers was early onset.) I have been doctoring at the Austin Endocrinology Center since 2017 and they told me my numbers since I began with them. My last one was -2.2T and osteoporosis usually starts at -2.4T or -2.5T. I am going to them soon for a new bone scan to determine what my latest reading is. I had bone scans in 2017, 2019 and 2023. Medicare will only pay for them every 2 years. In the case of the 2023 one, it had been 4 years and yet Medicare initially denied the payment, which it took me 2 days of calling to unravel. It seems to have been the oncologist's office coding it incorrectly, but, to find that out, I had to call Des Moines (billing agency), Medicare 2x, and then Trinity Hospital (Moline, IL) billing agency, which never answered the phone, so I went online and typed my inquiries. At the time, I was so laid up with excruciating bone pain (especially my back!) that it was real torture to be on the phone that long, but I kept at it. (Later, the Trinity person wanted to know the NAMES of the African American girls at Medicare I had talked to for hours! Who gets the names of the girls on the phone? As it turns out, they had such unusual first names that we had chatted about their unique names, so I knew that much, but---really? I now have to know the names of anonymous clerks at Medicare because you screwed up the coding? I wonder now if they screwed it up on purpose, since my Illinois oncologist seems to have made it his life's mission to NEVER order any additional tests, especially expensive ones, so he "won't get dinged by Medicare." (This told me by the radiologist on the case). I can report that it took me from May of 2022 until March of 2023 to finally get it approved and paid for by Medicare, despite the obvious need to monitor my bones and bone density, as I was already suffering a decline in bone density from as long ago as 2017. Now, I am probably officially a sufferer from osteoporosis, and, if you ask me, I will tell you that I think it was Anastrozole that did it, because it was 7 months on Anastrozole that caused my left knee to simply quit working. The osteopaths who X-rayed me in Moline told me they could see cartilage on the patella in the X-rays of my osteoarthritic knee joints. They would have had to do an MRI to pin down the exact cause of the excruciating pain (it presented like a meniscus tear), but I was leaving for Texas in 2 days and their very logical question was, "We can order you an MRI, but what are you going to do about it here?" I was X-rayed on 9/19 (Michigan Ave. Convenient Care); on 9/21 (Oak Park, IL joint pain clinic); 9/28 (Moline, IL osteo guys) and on 11/15 in Austin6. I decided to bank on recovery from a meniscus tear. That takes at least 6 months, so I was in and out of a wheelchair and had to hobble with a cane and take Tramadol for pain for those months. It took from September of 2022 to March of 2023. And getting Medicare to pay for it took me hours on the phone from May of 2022 until March of 2023. My Iowa City oncologist has put the blame on the A.I. pills, primarily, coupled with old age and my obviously fragile left knee. I do not know if radiation contributes to bone density loss, but I was radiated 33 times, which seems like a lot. It commenced in May of 2022 and continued until the week before my 77th birthday, which is July 23rd. (This is incorrectly coded on the Trinity Hospital records, but I wrote everything down on a small paper calendar.)

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