Went from 5′ 3 1/2″ to 5′ 0″ in a year, at least that is how it felt. No one ever REALLY checks your height and weight every year. They put you on a scale and write it down and that 5′ 3 1/2″ was copied over year after year until my bones started breaking. I was 50 when I had spinal fusion and over the next 5 years every time I fell or stumbled I broke a bone. Humerus, 4 bones in my foot, wrist, forearm, and ribs (9 altogether over 2 years). I was walking back from my annual physical the day the medical assistant measured my height. She had said it out loud “five feet, zero point two five inches.” I laughed, “you mean 3 1/2 inches.” She stared at me with no sense of humor and said, “zero point two five.” and put me in a room. The doctor came in and was talking about my BMI. I wasn’t even listening and said, “how did I lose 3 inches in height overnight.” She stated, “probably wasn’t overnight and most likely it is osteoporosis, I’ll order a dexa scan.” I was walking back to my office thinking about how my daughter was constantly saying I was so much shorter than her and me stating we were the same height. I was walking up the stairs of my building, I stumbled and grabbed the railing and felt a crack and knew immediately from the angle I had broken my arm…AGAIN! Somene asked me if I was okay and me saying yes I’m fine but by the time I got to my office I knew it wasn’t fine and started crying. Long story short once it healed and I got a dexa scan I was told I had severe osteoporosis and I had to start infusions. I was numb. All that work losing weight and my BMI had actually gotten worse. How dare they play this joke on me. Five years later, those infusions have had no improvement and I get to start something new. I take massive amounts of calcium with D and eat calcium rich foods all day and no improvement. I have to have a stool for everything. My husband yells when I go to the grocery and buy something and he’ll say did you even look? We have 2 of those. Yes, I looked but now even with a stool I can barely reach the first shelf of my cupboards. Sometimes I bring a stool to the grocery store because I get tired of waiting for someone “tall” to come along and reach that can or box that I can see but can’t even come close to reaching. My son laughs everytime we take a picture together at how “little” I am. I met a friend over the holidays that I hadn’t seen in awhile. She was standing next to me and looked over at the top of my head and said, “when did you get so little?” I’ve considered myself “short” all my life but now I’m “little”. How short will I eventually get before I die? I think about “reaching” 4 foot 0 inches by that time. Will they say I’m “tiny” then?
2 thoughts on “The Incredible Shrinking Woman”
Went from 5′ 3 1/2″ to 5′ 0″ in a year, at least that is how it felt. No one ever REALLY checks your height and weight every year. They put you on a scale and write it down and that 5′ 3 1/2″ was copied over year after year until my bones started breaking. I was 50 when I had spinal fusion and over the next 5 years every time I fell or stumbled I broke a bone. Humerus, 4 bones in my foot, wrist, forearm, and ribs (9 altogether over 2 years). I was walking back from my annual physical the day the medical assistant measured my height. She had said it out loud “five feet, zero point two five inches.” I laughed, “you mean 3 1/2 inches.” She stared at me with no sense of humor and said, “zero point two five.” and put me in a room. The doctor came in and was talking about my BMI. I wasn’t even listening and said, “how did I lose 3 inches in height overnight.” She stated, “probably wasn’t overnight and most likely it is osteoporosis, I’ll order a dexa scan.” I was walking back to my office thinking about how my daughter was constantly saying I was so much shorter than her and me stating we were the same height. I was walking up the stairs of my building, I stumbled and grabbed the railing and felt a crack and knew immediately from the angle I had broken my arm…AGAIN! Somene asked me if I was okay and me saying yes I’m fine but by the time I got to my office I knew it wasn’t fine and started crying. Long story short once it healed and I got a dexa scan I was told I had severe osteoporosis and I had to start infusions. I was numb. All that work losing weight and my BMI had actually gotten worse. How dare they play this joke on me. Five years later, those infusions have had no improvement and I get to start something new. I take massive amounts of calcium with D and eat calcium rich foods all day and no improvement. I have to have a stool for everything. My husband yells when I go to the grocery and buy something and he’ll say did you even look? We have 2 of those. Yes, I looked but now even with a stool I can barely reach the first shelf of my cupboards. Sometimes I bring a stool to the grocery store because I get tired of waiting for someone “tall” to come along and reach that can or box that I can see but can’t even come close to reaching. My son laughs everytime we take a picture together at how “little” I am. I met a friend over the holidays that I hadn’t seen in awhile. She was standing next to me and looked over at the top of my head and said, “when did you get so little?” I’ve considered myself “short” all my life but now I’m “little”. How short will I eventually get before I die? I think about “reaching” 4 foot 0 inches by that time. Will they say I’m “tiny” then?
So true. Very clever take on the subject.