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When I got here in STL I looked up people from the area on ObesityHelp.com. I found Katie, she had a boeing email address. I wrote to her and we met in April and I got to know her a little. She had lost 184 pounds but was not doing well. She told me all the trouble she was having, she had been in and out of the hospital 51 times. (I believe mainly for dehydration and malnutrition). I was shocked. She had very low nutrition levels, said the doc had told her, her thiamin (sp?) level was "0". Her blood pressure was always very low. She was not going to support meetings and seemed to be depressed.

She told me she was doing better and taking her vitamins, doing everything she was supposed to. Her surgeon, Dr. Yates (the most popular doc here) was starting a traveling siminar and wanted her to go with him. I had a very hard time with this. She was not a good poster child. But who was I to argue? I tried to do what I could, I would stop by her office to chat everyday, we would compare things and she started opening up. Most of the time I just let her talk, it seems that was what she wanted most. Most of her co-workers only knew what Katie told them about WLS. They thought it was the surgery that was causing all her problems. When they met me, they asked lots of questions. Soon they began to see another picture of WLS.

Katie finally told me that she wasn't eating anything or drinking, or taking her vitamins or her other meds. I would stop by her office in the morning with some cottage cheese or cheese, just to make sure she had something to eat. I would take her to lunch here in the cafeteria and get her to eat some soup and a glass of tea. She seemed to do pretty good. I was going to start taking her to the support group meetings held by her surgeon.

She went home early on Thursday the 28th of June, her co-workers told me she was kind of out of it, almost incoherent. I called her surgeons office and told them the trouble she was having and wanted to know what they could do. Someone from his office called her at home and spoke to her son. She was hospitalized that day. Her blood pressure was very very low and they couldn't get it up. Katie passed away on Saturday June 30, 2001.

I tried all I could, it seemed that at times she was coming along and getting back on track. But I think she was too far gone. This was an awful experience for me. I keep thinking if I had only gotten here sooner I might have been able to help her. It really hit close to home. This could have been me quite easily. I do know that if I have the chance to offer my help to someone else I will. I understand that if someone doesn't want to be helped nothing I can do will help them, but I have to try.

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