“My advice? If you ski, don’t.” Well, the last time I snow skied and fell with both legs splayed out in two different directions; I decided to sell my skis.
“Don’t put on a pair of skates.” Well, OK, no skating. I turned 64 last month and, short of a brief, passing interest in the crazy inline skates Cesar Millan, aka The Dog Whisperer, wears while effortlessly taming those crazed pit bulls on his TV show, I haven’t even thought about skating in years.
“I wouldn’t even climb a step-ladder. Your osteoporosis is acute.” Now you’ve got my attention. I do enjoy climbing a step ladder every now and then.
“A drug called Forteo will fix your problem.” Wait! Not so fast! What about Eli Lilly’s bold disclaimer on the first page of the slick brochure and in the CD that comes with the slick brochure? WARNING: POTENTIAL RISK OF OSTEOSARCOMA.[1]
Ah, well, that has to do with the results of the company’s testing on rats. Rats that already had some health issues that were given excessive doses of the drug. I processed this as “So, you’re saying these were compromised, weakened rats, bombarded with a powerful drug and this really has nothing to do with what might happen to me on this drug since I’m not a stressed out sick little caged rat.” Osteosarcoma has rarely been reported in people who took FORTEO.[2] Rare is not the same as never. Please, do go on.
How powerful is this drug? Well, it requires a daily injection for 2 years. And for no more than 2 years. What happens after 2 years? I’m not quite sure.
At a cost of give or take $1500 a month. I have incredibly crappy insurance so maybe I would qualify for some type of break from Eli Lilly. Or maybe I can wait until Eli Lilly’s patent expires and the price goes down. Way, way down. If I don’t ski or put on a pair of skates or climb a step ladder or step off a curb wrong or pick up a gallon of milk the wrong way while the company recoups its research and development costs and makes billions. While all we baby-booming women get our annual bone density tests. A roster of small white women with osteo issues that I assume includes bone medication spokeswomen Sally Field and Blythe Danner (well, their TV ads seem credible).
This really isn’t a rant about drug companies. This is a rant about aging or, more particularly, an acknowledgment. Here it is. More than the evidence I see in the mirror. More than the way my knees feel when I climb the stairs. This is something that, but for technology, would have stayed silent until it could not be ignored. It is about feeling vulnerable. And about staring mortality in the face.
I have been blessed with good genes. And while I may be more diligent than some in my lifestyle choices, what I eat and drink, how I care for my body, mind and spirit, I know that I am blessed. I don’t really think I’ve deluded myself into thinking I would not get older, it just happened so fast, while I wasn’t looking.
To the young, beautiful, competent, compassionate pharmacist I spoke to about by Forteo dilemma, I’m sure I looked and sounded like every other 60+ woman she talks to on a daily basis. I wonder, though, if she could see herself in me.
I hear my young friends talk about time. Time flying, where did the time go, not enough time. In this fast-paced world of instant communication – instant change, how can anyone not feel time’s incessant steady vibration. The enormous universal clock. The biological clock that ticks for us all – not just for women and their finite eggs – but for every living thing.
I love clocks. I bought my favorite clock at an outdoor fair in Santa Fe, New Mexico many years ago. The clever artist used a dental router to etch the words “There’s No Time Like The Present” into a small piece of flagstone, added an inexpensive clock mechanism and, voila, made my favorite clock.
There is no time like the present. But I believe in the future and preparing for the future and my future in this body is finite, plain and simple. So, I will study my options, weigh the risks, percolate on the challenge, and appreciate with gratitude overflowing the way my bones have carried me and those I care about, figuratively and literally, so far.
[1] http://www.forteo.com/potential-side-effects-of-osteoporosis-medication.aspx?WT.srch=1
[2] Ibid
vivinolavita 