The primary reason we decided to become Members of PinnacleCare was my wife, Joy's osteoporosis, and our inability to find knowledgeable, competent help from the doctors we'd gone to in Colorado Springs. Joy's gynecologist's patient clientele was aging and getting beyond child-bearing age. Because of this, we think he needed to find something to replace his former child-delivery income stream, and consequently represented himself as specializing in osteoporosis, but we later discovered that nothing could be further from the truth. We had heard of a new osteoporosis drug when it was in testing, and when it was approved, Joy asked this physician about it. He had never heard of it. He had his nurse do some research and eventually prescribed it for Joy.
Joy had a bone density scan prior to starting the drug and then annually after. During the 2-year course of this treatment, Joy's bone density improved some, but not nearly as much as we had hoped. At the time of Joy's first annual physical after starting on it, her calcium was significantly elevated, but both this so-called osteoporosis specialist and our family doctor who did the physical exam attributed the elevated calcium level to the drug. Only after we had been through the full 2-year maximum course of treatment did we learn that the elevated calcium level, rather than being caused by the drug, was due to an entirely different diagnosis that was actually counteracting the drug’s effectiveness!

Our dissatisfaction with the lack of results and our growing realization of the lack of knowledge about osteoporosis on the part of our doctors caused us to start looking for a way to get more competent medical care. After some research, we settled on PinnacleCare. We both had executive physicals at the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) in Denver, including a bone density scan for Joy and an appointment with Dr. Gaylord West at UCH, a real osteoporosis specialist. Dr. West was recommended to us, after a significant amount of research, by our PinnacleCare Advocate. We learned more about Joy's osteoporosis during our first appointment with Dr. West than we had in years of appointments with our former doctors in Colorado Springs. Dr. West took one look at Joy's elevated calcium level and immediately ordered that Joy be tested for a parathyroid tumor, which she did have, and after it was removed, her calcium level dropped immediately.

This experience has certainly taught us the value of finding really knowledgeable medical help. The lack of knowledge on the part of our former doctors not only cost 2 years’ time without much positive result, but also prevented Joy from ever gaining the full benefit of her original treatment.

We couldn't be more pleased with the level of service that we've received from our PinnacleCare Advocate and all the resources that back her at PinnacleCare.