@dbamos1945 , sounds like you had a productive conversation with your doctor. I do agree you should not be alarmed if you had little or no bone growth. But, it depends on your situation. Is stopping bone lose without gains good enough in your situation? Also, some people keep right on losing when taking these meds. So, you're checking not just to see if you gained but also to make sure the drug is working for you and that you are not losing.

And I'll say again it is just plain wrong that it takes years to find out the effects of osteo meds with DXA scans.
Here's just one example and this is not an unusual result for this type of med. From "The efficacy and tolerability of risedronate on bone mineral density and bone turnover markers in osteoporotic Chinese women".
Note that they saw an increase at 3 months and had over 6% gain in a year. It doesn't take years to find out what's happening.
"A significant increase in spine BMD was already evident at month 3 of risedronate treatment (P< 0.001). Risedronate significantly increased BMD and reduced bone turnover markers as compared with placebo. The risedronate group had significant increase in BMD at 12 months at both the spine and hip when compared with the placebo group (L1-4 6.6% vs. 0.4%, P< 0.001; total hip 2.7% vs. 0.3, P< 0.0001; femoral neck 1.8% vs. 1.1%, P< 0.02; trochanter 4% vs. 1.1%, P< 0.0001, respectively).