Update on Mark

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I'm still here and reading almost every day, but have been so darn busy

lately that I haven't had time to post.

Mark had a bone density test done a few weeks ago, then an MRI of his back

for the first time since he hurt his back 26 years ago. (He was in the Air

Force and they didn't have the best doctors, at least that was our

experience.)

We got the results yesterday, he has osteoporosis and the MRI showed a wedge

compression fracture in his back. Now we're wondering whether his back pain

all these years stems from this fracture.

I was wondering if anybody here has experience with this and what / if there

is something that can be done about it.

Also, Mark has had kidney stones 7 1/2 years ago and he's not supposed to

take a calcium supplement because of it. When he mentioned that to the

doctor yesterday, she said we'll deal with that when that problem arises.

She prescribed Fosimax, but after doing some research myself I found that

blood calcium levels should be checked before taking this. I don't trust

these VA doctors very much, can you tell?

We're making an appointment with the doctor at the pain management clinic to

get a second opinion from him. After all, he's the one who suggested doing

the MRI and the VA doctor didn't even think it was necessary.

Well, we surely don't want to go through kidney stone hell again, so I also

wanted to ask if anybody here knows if there's something that Mark could

take that won't possibly cause kidney stones. Arrrgh, does it ever stop???

Last, but not least, what happened to ? I haven't seen him post in a

long time and I was getting worried about him. If you can post, , it

would be nice to hear from you again. I surely hope you're doing okay.

Sorry about the length of this post, but I had to tell you all everything

new.

Thanks for any input,

Marita in

Superior, MT