Mr. Osteo

We always buy our health supplements at Guardian, when there are on sale. But this time, we were recommended a new place to buy our supplements. Many thanks to BIL-2’s girlfriend, SL. According to her, its a typical Chinese herbal shop which also sells a lot of ang-moh health supplements. What makes it special is its mandatory 15% discount, even for newbies.

Last week, we paid a visit to this shop ( I think it's called Tung Poh) located at PJ State, to source for glucosamine for Brae's ma-ma. Old folks swear by it. The pharmacy is located on the 1st floor of a corner lot. Ignoring the persistent promoters (there were about 5 of them), we walked around looking for glucosamine.

Just right next to the stairs, there was a Bio-Life counter offering FOC Bone Density Tests. Hubby asked me to try it out since it was free. (Yes folks, we are seriously broke with the baby in the family.) Inside, I was very sure that I will ace the test with flying colours. After all, I take calcium supplements daily and am young-ish (though hubby may disagree on the latter bit, he likes to remind me that he is almost a year younger than myself and that I will be "sam-cheong" on my next birthday).

My turn came and my foot was placed on a machine which apparently uses ultrasound waves to gauge the density of my heel bone. The operator told me the machine is 98% accurate. My score is as follows:

Score	Bone Status
>-1.0	Normal
-1.0 to -1.5	Risk for fracture is increased
-1.5 to -2.5	Osteoporosis treatment should be considered
<-2.5	Osteoporosis

My result was -2.13. When I first saw the results, my eyes literally popped out of their sockets and I swear I could hear my hubby snigger behind me. First thing I did was to ask the operator if age is taken into account when tabulating the score because it does affect the results. I was quietly hoping she would say no but to my great dismay, results take into account my age.

Shock horror, not even 30 yet and I am considered almost inflicted with osteoporosis. Hey, even Anlene Gold states very clearly that it is meant for seniors 50 years old and above. Something must be wrong somewhere and I hope it is not with me.

Fortunately the operator informed me that a portion of my body's calcium would have passed over to Brae which could explain the low score. With that I felt a wee bit better but I still hear my hubby trying very hard to suppress his urge to laugh.

Still not quite convinced, I forced hubby to take the scan as well so I can have a benchmark. He's very health conscious so I expected him to score well.

Ah, life has a wicked way of coming one full circle and when my hubby scored -3.10, it was my turn to snigger. -3.10 = OSTEOPOROSIS. The look on his face was priceless. He desperately needed to save his face so he asked the operator whether his score was the lowest (probably hoping that the answer is in the negative) and she told him it was the 2nd lowest, lowest coming from a 70 year-old man.

Usually with these free tests, one must expect to be bombarded with sales talk after the test but with our results shocking everyone into silence, we walked blissfully away.

Now, hubby is taking a glass of milk and a piece of cheese daily (even though he’s slightly allergic to milk products). Paranoia at its best.

Should we see a specialist to get further checkup? Maybe we will get it done when we have our medical checkup at the end of this year.

I now call him Mr. Osteo.