Living life well & Another good link on osteonecrosis

This morning my mother, wife, and I went for a "walk" down the street. (Those who know us well know that we live in one of the hillier parts of Indy, there's no level land on our street.) We went down across the bridge, then up a slight grade to the northern terminus of our street. Using both arms and lower legs, was able to do without assistance. It felt good physically, and even more so emotionally. Enjoying time with dear people outside is one of the things which makes me tick, so doing that together was very beneficial and rich with symbolism and poignancy.

Came across a GREAT overview of osteonecrosis (avascular necrosis, aseptic necrosis) on Google Health. It is here.

No new developments... don't expect there to be until I see the orthopedic surgeon Friday. It has been over a week since oncologist took blood and urine tests looking for monoclonal antibodies in the seemingly never ending quest for cancer, and haven't heard anything, so... .

While generally I've been pleased at how wonderfully attentive and aggressive my doctors have been, and I've tended to keep editorial / societal commentary to a minimum in posts like this which start out at my "general public" blog named after Tess' favorite sonnet, allow me a little rant here about our society's obsession with cancer.

The "logic" seems to be...

• There's something wrong
• We can't find a reason
• It must be cancer!

While I'm very knowledgeable about my own body, and pretty well versed in matters medical, I'm not a doctor. Yet I've never thought I had cancer because I've never seen nor been shown any reasons or evidence to support it. There's no history of it in my family, I've not been working in a chemical plant in the third world, etc.

So at this point, I find myself a bit tired of this seemingly never ending quest for something which a biopsy, multiple scans of different types, and so forth, has not shown any evidence for. How long can an argument from silence be maintained?

Its not as if this endless pursuit of nothing has no cost/consequences either... getting anywhere for anything is a major logistical operation for the family and for me. While my pain has been decreasing and range of motion and ability increasing, my energy levels are pretty low.

GENUG!

I have a problem in my right humerus- I'll be seeing my orthopedic surgeon about that Friday. Good- if there's something to be done about it, he's the one to do it. He did a cracker jack job on my femur!

I'll be seeing an endocrinologist who specializes in disorders affecting the skeleton next week... Good! We've not pursued that angle yet, and I've long suspected I'd wind up working with someone like that to finally determine the etiology of these problems with my bones.

I see reason for and benefit to these activities, and am quite looking forwards to them.