Femur Fracture Friends Meet with FDA

On May 24, seventeen members of our on-line Femur Fracture support group* met with eleven key officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Silver Spring, MD. We came from as far away as Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Virginia to tell our stories and ask the FDA to put a black-box warning on the packaging of Fosamax and other  bisphosphonates about the side effects and risks of these drugs. 

All of us suffered low-energy fractures or stress fractures of the femur (thigh bone), which is one of the strongest and least fracture-prone bones in our bodies. All of us had taken Fosamax or similar drugs for at least four years. Most of us had been put on Fosamax by our doctors for osteoporosis, but some had been put on it merely for osteopenia ( thinning bones, not actual osteoporosis). Most of us had to have surgery after "completed" fractures, with placement of a titanium rod. Most of us are still in pain several months or years post-surgery. A few have fractures that refuse to heal after a year or more. 

Each of us made brief statements about our situations. The organizer of our group, Dr. Jennifer Schneider, reviewed the research that establishes an association between bisphosphonates and femur fractures. She also pointed out flaws in the research that finds no such association. Dr. Toby Morgan, the husband of one of the victims, noted that the FDA, unlike its counterparts in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, was still maintaining, as late as March of this year, that no association has been proven to exist between bisphosphonates and femur fractures. He also observed that the drug manufacturers have buried the information about the risks and side effects of these drugs in the finest of fine print on roadmap-sized enclosures.  

The FDA officials listened for over an hour. They seemed receptive. We hope that they will act.

PS. I am second to the left in the back row, the one with the gleaming white hair. 
*Our group has doubled in size since the beginning of 2010. We now have about 55 members, including one man.

Serpent of the Lord

Life in an Extended Family Commune

Welcome to the Commune. There is no guru here, just four quasi-adults, one two-year-old, three dogs  and two cats.

Tom, Becky, our daughter, and Nathaniel, our grandson,  moved in over the weekend. That is to say, they brought their three dressers, clothes on hangers, and a half ton of food. Our freezer is crammed full. Ditto the refrigerator, and there is still food in their College Park refrigerator. We are going to consume all this in the next three weeks. I am having frozen organic samosas for lunch.

Two loads of laundry will be done today. We will dine on a $14 organic chicken tonight  (Becky was afraid it would be "spoiled" because she started thawing it on Friday.)

Tom leaves on Wednesday for a 4-day concert tour. In early June, the army band will go to Hawaii for 10 days. Tom will be gone on June 7th, the day they are moving into their new house.  Becky is a bit frazzled. She just called to ask me if the blue plastic container containing Nathaniel's breakfast was in the driveway or the street. She had put it on top of the car and driven off.

It wasn't.

Yesterday the two cats had a chance encounter before being properly introduced. It wasn't pretty. Somehow Clarence (their cat)  got out on the screened porch where Georgie was holding court from the penthouse of  her cat condo. The next thing you know, she stretched her neck over the side of her perch to get a better view of the stranger. Then she flew at him and grabbed him viciously around his middle. Clarence fled into the "apartment" in terror and later threw up on the bed.

Jake to the Rescue

Last week the house up the street was destroyed by fire. A gas-line leak is suspected because two  explosions rattled the neighbors' windows before the fire broke out. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but what a heartbreak to lose irreplaceable items such as family photos and heirlooms.

Nearly three years ago, my husband's sister also lost her house to fire. She and her husband escaped unhurt, along with their three dogs and about half of their fifteen cats. (A faulty extension cord in the four-season room caused the fire.) Their dog, Jake,  nudged them awake around 5 AM, moments before the smoke alarm went off. 

Jake is the big dog in the picture which we took during our first visit to my in-law's new house. Ramsey, our pitbull, seems to be anxiously wondering how Phil and this other dog came to be such pals.

Phil and Jake met several years earlier, when Jake was a mere pup. At that time, Phil was busy with  our cabin-building project in Ohio. He accepted an offer to stay in a neighbor's cabin for the weekend. Arriving after dark, when everything was pitch black, he was startled to hear ferocious barking from the direction of the darkened cabin. It sounded like a dog to be reckoned with, but when Phil beamed his flashlight on the porch, all he saw was a scrawny little mutt, no bigger than a fox.

That's what he called him: "Fox." Fox was guarding the cabin with fierce loyalty. He might have been abandoned, dumped out of a car on Route 514. Somehow Phil managed to slip through the door without being attacked. He spread some stale bread with mayonnaise and tossed it out on the porch. Fox inhaled it. He then wedged himself into the tiny space between the window grille and the glass to be as close as possible to the his new friend inside the cabin.

The next morning Phil drove six miles to Danville for dog food. Fox gobbled it up and stayed close to Phil all day. On Monday, Phil had to return to Maryland. What to do with Fox? He could hardly come home with Phil. At least not that day. We already had a crotchety, old beagle, Arlo.  Plus my Mom. Mom was very protective of Arlo's rights as a senior citizen. She would certainly have objected to "upsetting" him by introducing an energetic, new puppy.  Mom also had an ancient cat that couldn't stand "too much noise and confusion."

Phil discussed the situation with his sister, who lived in Marietta, OH. She and her husband already had two dogs and about a dozen cats. Nevertheless, they agreed to keep Fox temporarily. Fox rode all the way to Marietta with his chin resting on Phil's knee.

A few days after Phil got home, he called his sister for a report on Fox. His sister said that they had changed Fox's name to Jake and that he was doing just fine.  He was getting along well with his four-footed siblings.  So Fox had found his new family. But he never forgot Phil.