Well, I set about making more necessary calls today. The first was to the Bariatric Center to schedule the requisite two-hour (and that’s before he discovers I’m nuts!) assessment to ensure that I’m not deluded (enough) to undergo surgery and its aftermath without knowing full well what I am getting myself into. I also talked briefly with a woman who answered me with the expected steps and timeframe until surgery. She explained that it goes like this: send in paperwork; see primary care physician and psychologist and have them send in paperwork; maybe get insurance approval from having done all this; consult with Bariatric doctor; await surgery date (2-3 months after); and, finally, attend exercise/nutrition class nine days before surgery. Also, I left a message and got a follow-up telephone call from the woman at the Bariatric Center identified as the one who could help me complete my diet history. I brought what I had written to work today in hopes of reviewing this with her, then feared all day that it would accidently get mixed up with my client notes or other work papers and end up for all the world (well, co-workers anyway) to see.
I think most non-fat people would find 100 pounds fluctuations in weight over a five-year period not just appalling, but probably fictitious. Unless you’ve been there, the idea of losing and gaining your maid of honor (well mine anyway - my 100-pound, size-zero best friend) a few times, is ludicrous.
Oh, and I told another friend and co-worker (and skinny person), married to a man with lifelong struggles with his weight, about the operation. Wow - what an amazing and supportive reaction! I could cry remembering words like “Great!,” “Good for you!,” “I’ll support you,” and “I can only imagine, by knowing my husband and you, how hard it’s been for you to be overweight.” And my favorite: “I’ve done nothing to deserve my thinness except draw the better straw….” No - “Have you tried (fill in the blank)?,” “Are you sure?” (Of course NOT!), “Isn’t that dangerous?,” or “That sounds gross and unnatural!”
Not that I expect any of my wonderful and beloved friends to sound like this. Maybe these are manifestations of my own thoughts. Gross indeed!
January 4th, 2009 | 
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