Back in April of this year, I got a letter in the mail about a study that my insurance carrier is conducting about weight loss. Actually, it’s the Louisiana Office of Group Benefits. OGB is the health insurance provider for all currently active and retired employees of the state of Louisiana. As a school teacher, this includes me. I digress.
In April I got a letter about a study being conducted to find out if OGB wants to start paying for weight loss surgery and/or other weight loss solutions. I think I literally called right then. I talked to a very nice gal who described the program to me and took down all of my information. I think I passed the first test as they called me back to do a phone screening. Actually I may have the story completely wrong, as everyone I have talked to in Jena that applied says they did it online and then never even got a call. I SWEAR I think I called that first time. Anyhoo… I passed the phone screening. The very nice lady told me that it would be up to 8 weeks before I heard anything, and that my name had been put in a “LOTTERY” where out of the thousands of people who applied for the study, they would pick 100. Only 100 people would be selected to have surgery and everyone else who so badly needed it would not. I thought my chances at this point were slim to none!
I got home from school one day and saw that Pennington had tried to call during the day. My mind went crazy as I thought about what they may be calling about. The girl did tell me they wouldn’t be calling until everyone in Louisiana that was sent the letter was given ample time to apply. Later that afternoon, they called again. The girl says, “Mrs. Enterkin, I am calling to update you on the status of your OGB Heads Up application” or something like that. So my heart fell. Then she says, “You have been picked! You won the lottery!!!” OH MY GOSH!!!!! I absolutely cannot believe it!
They scheduled for me Screening Visit One to Pennington Biomedical Research in Baton Rouge. I went to this visit sometime in June (I should have been writing about all of this all along, but honestly I never ever thought I would make it through the whole process!) I stayed with my best childhood friend, Lori, at her house in Walker and went to my appointment the next morning. I should write about our evening with Lori’s mom and cards and scrabble tile games another time! It was such a great time!
The visit was a fasting appointment, so I was not supposed to eat past 9:00 the night before. Some time that evening we went to Sonic and I got a cheeseburger, cheese sticks with marinara, an M&M ice cream thing, and a Route 44 Diet Coke (huh why diet?). I was so worried that I would not weigh enough to take part in the study, so I wanted to weigh as much as possible the next morning. Nothing to eat or drink after!
First thing they do is measure my height. Take off your shoes and put both feet against the wall. Do you know how hard that is? I had to hold on to a big metal bar behind me just to stay upright. 5’6”. I, my whole life, have said 5’7 ½. Weird! Next they weigh me. 253. Anyone who knows me knows how difficult this is for me to just put out there. I have never even told my husband how much I weigh. 253. Sigh.
I have passed the first test of the day. This was the big one. This height and weight calculates to a BMI of 40. This was the minimum it could be. If I had weighed 4 pounds less, I would not have qualified. Or if I had been an inch taller, the weight requirement would also have gone up. Thank you Sonic!
Next blood pressure. Okay, I have been suspecting a little problem here for a while. Little did I know… 168/120. I probably should be dead. I have never seen blood pressure this high. The first nurse tried so many times my arm was hurting, but she had to get two good readings and said she could barely hear it and got another nurse. Together, this was what they got. Okay, this could have been a big problem. Blood pressure has to be under 120/90 to participate in the study. I almost started crying, but the nurse went and asked the doctor what he thought, and he said as long as it’s under 120/90 by my next visit I will not be excluded. They give me juice and granola bars and we continue. They measure my waist. They draw blood. I fill out PAGES of questionnaires. And I have an ECG. Everything went very well. They send me home with powdered drink shakes and instructions to wait until I hear from them to begin my 13 day liquid diet. I have not been excluded!
Actually when I got home, I went to see my family physician and he gave me blood pressure medication and a diuretic. Within a day and a half I have blood pressure readings below 120/90. This is very exciting, though it does creep back up after a while.
Next post… The terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad liquid diet!
well, I remembered very late that I hadn't taken my photo yet. This is the first star I saw tonight; I thought the colors of the sky were pretty. Not the best capture I have ever made, but I got my daily shot.
