Waiting really is the hardest part. And, being me, I dealt with it in the most head-on manner. If there was a potential that I was sick, then I needed to get on the ball and get appointments to check up all areas of my health. I made appointments with my eye doctor, my dentist and even my gynecologist (in hopes that he would find some big, benign cyst that could explain away everything…be removed and prove Dr. McCute wrong).
Ahhh, my old friend Denial…steadfast and loyal, yes? Comfortable, reliable and always supportive.
“I mean honestly”, I thought, “I’m not THAT fat. I’m just a big girl. And I wear it well”.
To reassure myself of all this, and keep me busy between check-up appointments while I waited for the phone call, I started searching for recent pictures of myself. Two from the previous Christmas season…
I looked cute! And happy. My husband and I were, obviously, not missing any meals…but we looked jolly. Yes, this was my first notice of my multiple chins, but hey….look at that cute hair.
Granted, I did have a majorly hard time finding a dress for that event…but I did find one that I liked…eventually.
And hey….the family picture is happy and festive! The chins were there again…and maybe my sweater was buttoned up to hide that my jeans wouldn’t button…and if I recall correctly, I was more leaning on than embracing everyone because I was not feeling well after the holiday meal. But hey…it was a holiday! Everyone over-eats on a holiday!
Perfectly good excuses from a very productive and rational person. I was feeling better already. The call from the doc would most certainly come, and he would say that he had made a mistake…been in a bad mood that day…that I was perfectly healthy and not at all at risk.
Yeah…this looking at pictures idea was brilliant!
So I went to the dentist and was proclaimed cavity free. No signs of anything amiss. Hah! Take that doc!
The eye doctor was another win. My eyes showed no damage or evidence of diabetic issues, although it was pointed out to me that I would be needing glasses in the future. Of course I would. Most women in their mid to late thirties start to notice how much the squint to see the fine print. SO…I was perfectly normal. Double hah!
I hit the gynecologist appointment on a major high and made a point of letting him know that my GP had silly concerns about my weight. Could he fax my exam results over to Dr. McCute? Certainly.
Four days after my appointment with Dr. McCute the phone rang. I was having a little snack of bite-sized Oreo minis and browsing yet more photos to prove my point. Getting older? Sure? Not the skinniest girl on the block? Of course not. But still looking goooood. I had a photo in my hand when I picked up the receiver.
Dr. McCute’s nurse’s smiling voice asked me to schedule an appointment to meet with the doc. THIS was not the norm. All test results were delivered by phone or mail. I had never been called back in. I agreed, and hung up. Then I glanced at the photo in my hand.
The picture had been taken just a few weeks previously. We were on the river with another couple, having an awesome time. I felt good, and thought I looked slammin’ in my black bikini. I was sexy and outdoorsy! Looking at the photo with a somewhat changed perspective…I saw something else.
This was not the me I saw in my head when I looked in the mirror. I looked bloated, exhausted….and squint-eyed. I had back-fat that was visible from the front and my head was way out of proportion to the rest of my body. WTF? And again…the crushing fear was back. I looked…sick.
When my husband got home from work that evening there was much discussion. Much moaning about having to go on yet another crazy, restrictive diet. Another bank account sucking plan that would provide me with tasteless food products and a Nazi diet plan that would make me miserable, and ultimately I would give up and feel like a loser…and then have to start the whole cycle again. My husband, who I’m certain was OVER hearing me boo-hoo, mentioned that the wife of a friend of his was going to try Weight Watchers…why not buddy up with her and see what it was like. I remembered trying Weight Watchers, sometime back in the late 80s. Weighing everything I ate? Being restricted from so much food that I loved? No. Thank you.
I got up from where I had been lounging in my now blood-free overalls and headed for the kitchen for the last of the Oreos.
My husband glanced up as I passed in front of the TV and said, “Did you know the side of your pants are ripped?”
I glanced left then right. Ripped they were. Right where the buttons on the side held them together. I tugged and tugged to try to see if they could be fixed. I couldn’t even get the pieces to meet. The fabric had given way out of sheer exhaustion from trying to contain what was evidently more of me than the apparel was suited to hold.
I continued on to the kitchen, got the Oreos and proceeded to eat them in silence alternately glancing at the side of my shredded overalls and at the river-bikini picture on the coffee table.
My meeting with Dr. McCute sealed my fate. I was not dying…or sick…but he was right. I was well on the road to reaching those twisted goals. The bonus? My gynecologist reported back that I had fibroid cysts. They were common in overweight women.
Crap.
Weight Watchers, no matter how horrible, was better than having regular pants-blow-outs and girly-part issues.