Bone health during cancer treatment

I’m all over this, trying to get women to take note BEFORE they begin their treatment for breast cancer. After a year of chemotherapy, and then years of adjuvant chemo-suppresant therapies, I have osteoporosis. Despite lots of weight bearing exercise, and plenty of calcium and Vitamin D3 - and my Vitamin D3 levels have been tested BTW.

Sigh. So now I’m taking the evil but necessary Fosamax.

Read on:

Healthy bones are essential to our well-being. They provide structure and support for our bodies through the skeleton network, protect vital organs from injury, and store necessary minerals. Since strong, healthy bones allow us to participate in activities of daily life without pain and loss of function, attention to bone health is important at any stage of life. It is an especially important consideration for people living with cancer because cancer and cancer treatments can increase the risk of bone problems.

Osteoporosis

As we age our body loses the ability to replace the cells needed to repair and rebuild bone mass, and bones become thin and more porous. This condition is called osteoporosis, the most common kind of bone disease. When bones become weak and fragile, they are more likely to fracture (break) and cause pain and disability that can interfere with a person’s daily life.

In addition to age, other factors that can contribute to loss of bone mass include:

• Cancer metastasis (spread) to the bone, which causes bones to weaken in certain places. This can include breast cancer, prostate cancer, multiple myeloma, and lung cancer.
  
  
• Some types of chemotherapy

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Study repudiates 'chemo brain'

New research, reported in the latest issue of Mind, Mood & Memory (Massachusetts General Hospital) suggests that the widely reported memory and cognitive problems reported by breast cancer patients and blamed on chemotherapy - including yours truly, Maven - may more likely blamed on the more general effects of the diagnosis and treatments that saved our lives.

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PET and CT scans critical new modality in determining chemo effectiveness

Last night on the evening news and then again in this mornings paper I saw, with great interest, short articles and soundbites regarding the use of PET scans being used to more accurately guage the early effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs.

This is important, since weeks can elapse between chemo infusions - leaving the patient in a horrible state of wondering if it’s working, and doctors in an awkward position of wondering if this or that particular cocktail of chemo drugs are, indeed, optimal or should be changed.

Instead of simply reporting what I read in today’s paper, I went to my most trusted source, The University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center - the nations number one cancer center, and the place where my life was saved. From experience, what I know that what’s in the media today, was already in practice at MDACC.

AT MDACC, the really big news was the fusion of PET and CT scan technology, enabling clinicians to look even deeper than just cellular activity - down to molecular activity. This advance will save lives and enhance treatment enormously.

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Hair loss during cancer treatment: a chance to try a radical new style!

Funny thing: I didn’t find the hair loss to be as traumatic as I thought it would be.

About three weeks after my chemo started, my scalp became very sensitive and in fact the hair follicles were really starting to hurt as I turned on the pillow at night. 

I didn’t want to wait until it started coming out in clumps in the shower, so very, very early one morning after a particularly uncomfortable night, my husband offered to shave my head right then. I was pretty miserable, so I agreed that it was time.

It turned out to be a kind of funny, bittersweet couple of hours for us, as he got me and the shaving supplies ready. I know that he was as anxious as I was and that was sweet. I had already purchased a wig, which my medical insurance had paid for, and it was all styled and ready to go.

Being bald proved to be rather liberating!

Watch these videos for more information - and another great product that they’re not talking about: Buffs. These are super, especially at night to keep your sweet little noggin warm and comfortable. Buffs give you the option of being very hip and stylin’ during your treatment with a lot of fab designs to choose from. http://www.buffwear.com/

Here’s another thing: get some self tanning cream. And shave your head. It’s much more attractive than stubble. Let your husband or boyfriend get the whipped cream out and give you a shave!  My husband thought that my bald head was very sexy! And speaking of that: yes, all the other hair comes out too. You’re just like the day you were born, which is a good analogy. You are being reborn: as a cancer survivor!

Chemotherapy before surgery?

My cancer was advanced, Stage IIIa. Having spread to lymph nodes and having a large tumor made me a perfect candidate for neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.

During this chemotherapy, my oncology team monitored the progress and found that the tumor was shrinking and in fact, breaking up. This was an indication that the chemotherapy drugs were the right ones, were working effectively against the tumor and that the tumor was responding - dying.

In the following video, there is discussion of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy being used, in this instance in patients with another type of cancer, but the modality is also used successfully in many breast cancer patients. There are some other breast cancer news in this video, including the emerging role of plentiful fruits and vegetables in the diet of breast cancer patients, as well as the important role of daily exercise.

Enjoy and learn.

maven