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Who is managing your bone health, oncologist or endocrinologist?
I’m a breast cancer patient on Letrozole for 5.5 years so far and 10 year goal. 2 years ago I had osteopenia and my oncologist wanted to put me on Zometa, but said ask your endocrinologist. My endocrinologist said no, he would do Prolia first and only when I have osteoporosis because Medicare won’t cover for osteopenia. So I haven’t been on anything. I’m reading that Medicare will cover those drugs for AI drug induced osteopenia (true?) and that oncologists choose Zometa for breast cancer as protection from cancer spreading to bones (true?). I feel like the two specialists need to talk so I get the appropriate treatment. Oncologist just told me to have my endocrinologist order DEXA that is due and manage my bone health. Endocrinologist says he can order but it won’t be covered since he has no history on that for me. I feel like a ping pong ball so I’m wondering who is managing bone health for other breast cancer/AI patients. Thanks for any input.
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Do any of you give a verbal run down of what your specialists are reporting when you go to a doctor? I give a 1-2 sentence update of relevant info, the doctor(s) listen - but I’m not sure there isn’t a better way to handle this as it takes up minutes of the visit. With AI “assistive listening” I’m betting that my updates are more likely going to be included in the clinical notes, and considered when looking at the whole picture.