It sometimes surprised Barbara how trite doctor's notes could be about a patient. She read the phrase again.
Barbara Jane Thompson, 27, due for bilat amp 17 July - cause morbid obesity/sport injury
Morbid? The only thing morbid about her weight was that there was nothing she could do about it and that she'd spent her entire life this way. Now they were going to take away the last thing she had that made her like everybody else. Her legs.
She rubbed at them unconsciously as she continued to read.
Patient adamately refuses bariatric surgery, procedure to remove both apendages ak determined necessary to avoid further life threatening complication
All Barbara's life doctors had wanted to blame her weight for anything from colds to ear infections. She was definitely hardened to their comments. In her well-studied opinion, bariatric surgery could kill her, make her perpetually sick, shorten her lifespan and still fail. The problem was, after her injury she was left to face the facts; no matter how active she had been, the extra weight was in fact living up to it's ominous reputation.
In two days she would lose her legs.
Barbara closed the folder and pulled herself up, wincing slightly as she felt the improperly healed bones shift as they assumed her weight. She hated that she agreed with them. The poor things couldn't take much more. They would rebreak, get infected and kill her. they had to come off.
Barbara shuffled behind the grey walker to the hall, where she kept her scale. It had been her habit to weigh herself everyday. Today, the scale said 265. On her 5'3" frame it was a number much higher than it ever should have been. With great effort she prevented herself from bitterly blaming her parents, who had tried to help her by putting her on diet after hopeless starvation diet instead of encouraging her natural bent towards health and fitness. She checked her fridge and pulled out two plums; this morning's breakfast.
In spite of herself, she grumbled, "stupid yo-yo diets." and took a juicy bite.
Her metabolism had become so confused by 17 some years of hunger, that everything she ate metabolized as fat. She had learned that too late.
Six years ago, energetic and thrilled to be turning 21, she decided to spend her birthday skiing in Colorado. Tragedy stuck there, sending her to the hospital for surgery, casts and physical therapy. She didn't think much more of it then, but she had never been the same.
She stuck the second plum into her purse and left for work.
She was five minutes late. She could see Darrin watching her from the front door and groaned under her breath. She just wasn't in the mood for a chastening. For the past several weeks he had been watching her every move closely. It was hard enough to have to use the old lady walker, but trying to get it out of the car, pulling herself up and moving along at the quickest pace she could while under the scrutiny of someone who could end her career in the field was the last thing she needed at the moment.
She looked directly at him, hoping he would realize this. He didn't.
She moved to push the little blue octogon that would open the door and hold it open for her and every other handicapped person, but to her dismay, Darrin pushed it open himself and held it.
"Thanks." She mumbled.
"Barbara, wait." Barbara didn't want to wait. Standing on those pegs hurt. She wanted to get to her desk as quickly as possible. "Barbara."
She answered him with as much cheer as she could. "Good morning, Darrin. HOw was your weekend?"
"Great. Listen, I've noticed the difficulty you've been having getting around here recently. you want to talk about it?"
"Oh... gee..."
"Hey, just forget I'm your boss for a moment. I hope you consider me your friend as well." He paused, waiting for her to answer him. Barbara couldn't think of what to say, so she jus tlet the time run out. "Barbara I noticed you put in for a leave of absense. Just tell me what's going on so I can help."
She sighed. Then gestured to her legs. "Can you walk with me?"
"Oh! Of course. I'm sorry, I should have realized. Why don't we go into my office?"
Next
Index
Devguide - organized links