I\u2019ve had another clever medical intervention today. Isn\u2019t science fabulous?<\/p>\n
As with last year\u2019s colonoscopy (was it last year?), it\u2019s not a treatment for a current problem but rather something that is going to help me stay healthy, hopefully.
\nAt my husband\u2019s insistence, I got a DEXA scan a couple of months ago. Yes, this would be the same man who has put off his own colonoscopy for years, although he did recently reintroduce himself to his GP, which was a step in the right direction. A DEXA scan is a type of bone scan, looking for osteoporosis. It was reported as normal, but Simon, who is excellent at keeping up to date, knew of a study that suggested early treatment with a one off infusion will help ward off osteoporosis for many years to come. My GP agreed, so this afternoon I have had an Aclasta infusion. Well, that\u2019s not quite right, because Aclasta is the trade name and it\u2019s made by someone else now. The generic name is zoledronic acid\u00a0<\/i>which doesn\u2019t trip off the tongue in the same way (clearly these marketing types know what they\u2019re doing).<\/p>\n
The infusion took less than half an hour and I didn\u2019t feel a thing. They recommended staying in the waiting room for half an hour afterwards but I sloped off, bored, within a few minutes, and I\u2019ve been fine. The nurse gave me a spiel about side effects beforehand, which mostly added up to flu like symptoms, if I remember rightly. I\u2019ve been taking a closer look since getting home. As with most drugs, rare severe side effects include seizures, coma, and death. \u00a0There\u2019s also a weird one my dentist told me about, something terrible that might happen if you have a tooth extracted too soon after your treatment. I can\u2019t remember what happens but it\u2019s bad. Jaw bone fracture may be a feature.
\nMore common but less severe side effects are the usual random bunch of nonspecific ephemera: rashes, dizziness, nausea, that sort of thing. My favourite is one out of a range of psychological symptoms:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_1331.jpeg?resize=300%2C251&ssl=1\")
Well, it all looks like a barrel of laughs, I must say. But for all that, I\u2019ve been feeling remarkably well so far, and even got out to a sneaky dance class earlier this evening, for some remedial tango. Fingers crossed I\u2019m one of the lucky ones, as far as side effects go.<\/p>\n
ps. I forgot to mention, the practice nurse who looked after me used to work at Wellington Hospital. She remembered me from scheduling meetings as the one with the fabulous boots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve had another clever medical intervention today. Isn\u2019t science fabulous?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3mB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9758,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/10\/much-better-thank-goodness\/","url_meta":{"origin":12933,"position":0},"title":"Much better thank goodness","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Some improvement yesterday, well enough to get a blood test, and then drive home. Went to see my GP this morning, an emergency appointment that Simon kindly organised for me (best life advice I can ever give you: marry a GP). She asked me how I was and I burst\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9767,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/17\/going-fishing\/","url_meta":{"origin":12933,"position":1},"title":"Going fishing","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Feeling much better this week, thanks for all the messages of concern and support. To be fair, most of these were from colleagues after reading my newsletter editorial detailing my difficulties obtaining a stool specimen of sufficient standard, but it was still heartening. I\u2019m pretty much back to normal now,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9769,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/18\/nad\/","url_meta":{"origin":12933,"position":2},"title":"NAD","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The scan was pretty uneventful. They wanted to give me IV contrast, a dye that\u2019s injected directly into a vein to show up blood (supply) more clearly on the scan. I knew it had a high rate of allergic reactions, but they also warned me that it can cause you\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4493,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/02\/cat-scan\/","url_meta":{"origin":12933,"position":3},"title":"Cat scan","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The neighbour\u2019s cat, whom I have never seen before, ensuring that we are all obeying the lockdown.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/5B325E07-2428-478E-8E85-4EE8B8FC4974-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11789,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/09\/the-pointy-end\/","url_meta":{"origin":12933,"position":4},"title":"The pointy end","author":"Interloper11","date":"May 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Have arrived at the hospital; everyone is being lovely. People have been looking at me like I\u2019m mad this week when I\u2019ve been saying I\u2019m having my procedure done at a hospital where I work, but I know the team here and I trust them. One of them has just\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11757,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/navel-gazing\/","url_meta":{"origin":12933,"position":5},"title":"Navel gazing","author":"Interloper11","date":"May 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I have signed up for my very first screening colonoscopy this Friday, which I\u2019m a little nervous about. The discomfort and embarrassment of the procedure itself is one thing, but at this stage I\u2019m mostly worried about the preparation. 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