Can you share with me????

Hi Friends, first let me thank you all for being so helpful to me in my journey. It's hard to imagine that it's been almost 4 years since my surgery! I have been developing a lecture regarding the insensitivity of the public towards the obese. I am doing this for several reasons.....to educate healthcare workers, to lobby for obesity discrimination to be prohibited by the ADA, to educate the public at large to the plight of this last socially acceptable bastion of open and rampant discrimination, etc. Right now all I have to go on is my own experience and I was wondering if you could help me to help others by sharing your experiences with me. I know it might be painful but maybe with all of us putting forth an effort it will be worth it in the end. I'll go first and share one of my most hurtful experiences. When I weighed 263 I interviewed for a job as a receptionist at a popular radio station. Because it was for a receptionist position, the interviews were all done over the phone. You mailed or faxed in your resume and then everything was done over the phone so they could evaluate your phone skills and dealing with the public. I made it all the way down to the final two applicants and was invited in for a meeting with the president. Even at 263 pounds I took great pains with my appearance and fixed my hair and makeup and wore nice, professional clothing. I arrived at the office and saw that the other applicant was a tiny lady who was very pretty. When the president came out he literally looked at me first and then looked at her. He walked up to me, shook my hand, told me he didn't think they had anything for me and hoped I hadn't been inconvenienced by coming in. He then took the other lady by the hand and ushered her into his office. I almost felt sorry for her. He was practically drooling over her. I left the office in a conflicted mess. I was happy that I didn't have to work for an ignorant man like that. But, I was devastated because he had totally discounted my intelligence and my abilities because I was morbidly obese. I felt worthless. I was too ashamed to tell my family what happened and I lied to them and said I'd had a great interview but he must've like the other lady better. It wasn't until I'd had WLS that I shared this experience with them. The really terrible thing about this is that this scenario and worse is played out over and over each day with morbidly obese individuals. Can you share your experiences with me? I know I'm only one person and I don't expect to change the world but I figure even the mighty oak started out as one little nut. So, this little nut is seeking your help. Thanks again for being a wonderful, supportive WLS family!

Rona, I have a story I would like to share. When I was in may early twenties I wanted to have a baby really badly. I may have weight about 225 at the time. We tried for a long time and my mother convinced me that there must be something wrong and that I should see a doctor. Being so young and inexperienced with OBGYN I was really nervous about going. But I made an appointment and went alone and waited for nearly an hour before my name was called. When I approached the doorway into the doctor's office he looked at me and said "I can tell you right now young lady what your problem is. You are too fat." I was embarrassed to tears and ran out of the office. Of course my husband wanted to know what the doctor said but I was too ashamed to even tell him. To keep from telling him the truth I said that I would have to have some tests done. I was never able to conceive a child and in 1982 I had the stomach stapling operation to loose weight and they found that I had an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit. After that was removed I began having my periods regularly and 1 year later I did conceive a child. Unfortunately I lost the baby in my 5th month. By that time my husband was having some problems of his own and we were not able to conceive again. Later we decided to adopt a child and in 1988 we adopted our son who is now 16 years old. I love him with all my heart, but there is still a little part of me that wonders if that doctor had taken the time to care back then would things be different now.