Of Labour and Lard

When last we left our hero, namely me, he was taking about a dream of being in the US Senate. In a previous entry, mentioned working contract for a government ministry. Okay. Well, when the Senate dream happened, I’d already moved on to working contract for CIBC, one of the banks here in Canada. I did that from the beginning of August to the end of November, by which time I’d landed my first full-time job in a couple of years. Currently I’m working as a tech writer at a small software company in central Mississauga, about 20 miles west of where I live in Toronto.

Toronto’s not an easy city to get around in, and this drive is a bear, especially on the way home. Between you and me, I have my eye on another position that’s somewhat closer to home. They’ve said they’re interested and are ‘putting an offer together’, but a long weekend and a workday later, I still haven’t seen anything. The drive’s not that much better, and unless they bump my salary up considerably, I’ll probably stay put and keep looking.

Okay, that’s the job thing. The more personal aspect is my weight. If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, you’ll know that’s a perennial favourite topic. I’m embarrassed to tell you what I weigh now. Maybe someday I’ll fess up. Suffice it to say, it’s awful. Will power’s just been a rollercoaster for me ever since I got my weight down to something sensible with Harvey Brooker back in the early days of the century. But I’ve never been able to keep it there.

I came to realization in, well, March, I guess, that I really need help above and beyond. For the first time, I thought seriously about bariatric surgery. Stomach bypass. So, I went into a clinic near my house to see if they’d take me on and give me a recommendation to the clinics who do these things. They referred me to another clinic nearby that actually does serve as a family doctor. So over I went a couple of weeks later.

They did take me on and the doctor agreed, I fit the profile and he’d give me a recommendation. Asked for some bloodwork to be done. Never easy for me; I’m so phobic about blood I nearly pass out whenever I do this, but got through it. Everything was fine, aside from some protein leakage into my urine and my blood pressure being a little high (no surprises there), but apparently not so high that he gave me a prescription for anything.

Ever since then, though, it’s been rolling a rock up a hill to get this party started. I had to do all the research for the clinic to find a place. Then they buggered off on a two-week vacation without forwarding my recommendation. Finally, when they got back, they sent it in it (or, at least, told me they did). From what I understand, the Ontario Bariatric Network is supposed to contact me and start the process. But as yet, I haven’t heard a word.

The OBN is a set of hospitals across Ontario, but mostly in Toronto, who do bariatric surgery. They were organized by the Ministry of Health back sometime ago, because the province recognizes that helping people get their weight down can head off a lot of expensive and debilitating illnesses, which I am hoping to avoid by doing so. OHIP covers the surgery in Ontario, so it’s very much in my interests to get things moving. I know I’m never going to be some Adonis, but getting back to, and staying at, a weight where I’m comfortable again and I can buy clothes off the rack in regular stores again... that’s going to be like a miracle. I just wish they’d get in touch with me and let me know that, yeah, I’m in the system, and things are now moving ahead, no matter how slowly.

Meanwhile, once again, I’m endevouring to take hold of my problem and try to get my weight down a little in anticipation of the surgery and all the tests that lead up to it. God only knows how far I’ll get, but I’ve got do something while I wait.