Woman winning long war with her weight

By LISA MILLER Special to The News-Messenger

Originally published Tuesday, May 20, 2003

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GIBSONBURG -- The road from Bucyrus to Gibsonburg is a fairly flat one, zipping through little splats on the map like Melmore and Helena. Once you hit town, a right turn or two and there's Windsor Lane Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, a temporary home for the aged and the morbidly obese.

Down the hall is Jodi Baker's room, a stop on a journey that has had a few more dips in it, a couple more hills. "I knew it was going to be a long trip," Baker said. "It's been interesting."

What an understated way to describe losing 278 pounds or, as she describes it, the equivalent of two average women and a small child in 17 months. She has gone from 603 to 325 pounds.

Jodi's battle with her weight has been a lifelong one. "Fat kid, fat adolescent, fat adult," is how she explained it in early December 2001. Jodi and her husband, Robert, were living on Rensselaer Street in Bucyrus and hoping for a miracle. The woman who used to sing and dance hadn't left the house since moving there in July. In addition to the crippling weight, she suffered from polycystic ovarian syndrome, an endocrine problem, and arthritis. She was at risk for heart attack, stroke and other health problems.

"It's hard to breathe, my chest is so heavy," Jodi said on a cold snowy day before Christmas 2001. "Oh, I'm always in pain." Robert, whom she met on the Internet, was insistent that they find someone to perform gastric bypass surgery. "I'm afraid I'm going to wake up sometime and she's not going to be there," he said.

Her mother, Mary McKinley, described hers as a "praying family." The Licking County woman who said being overweight "seems to" run in the family, recalls wondering why her daughter, plagued with such health problems, had moved away to Crawford County. "What are you thinking, God?" she recalls asking.

Just before the calendar changed to 2002, Jodi was admitted to Windsor Lane. Dr. Samuel Christian, who has an office in Tiffin, treats obese patients at the Gibsonburg facility along with geriatric patients in another wing. He offered help to Baker after seeing a Telegraph-Forum story about her and predicted that she was in for "very slow, painstaking work."

Another understatement.

Jodi knew her health and life weren't going to change with the snap of the fingers, just as the pounds didn't pile on overnight. "It happened gradually," she said, "I guess part of it, I didn't care."

Baker started out on a 1,200-calorie a day diet, "which is not very much," she said. "The first month I lost 30 pounds." She gained half of that back because of a change in her medication. Since then the weight loss has ranged from 20 to 30 pounds or, as Jodi puts it, "a pound a day and weekends off ... I even lost weight over Christmas and most people don't." She is now on a 1,500-calorie a day regimen.

Baker undergoes physical therapy, occupational therapy and range of motion exercises. She has gone from walking five feet down the hall to 40.

Machelle Derr, Windsor Lane's admissions/marketing director, calls Baker's progress "fairly typical." She said the Croton native has been a role model for other patients who come to the facility from all over the country. Derr said that Baker's goal of being home by Christmas is realistic "for her I would say. As long as she doesn't have any more setbacks."

January 2003 brought some of those setbacks, a big wrong turn in Jodi's journey. What began with a loss of appetite and included an open wound on her leg, sciatic nerve problems and the beginning of kidney failure ultimately landed her in a Toledo hospital for six weeks. "That goes to show that you need to be careful on any type of diet," she said. Still suffering from PCOS, Baker said, "It's not as bad as it was before. It still factors into a lot of things."

Medicaid and Medicare pay her bills, something Baker is not ashamed of. "I paid in to it for 15 years," the former radio station and AT&T employee said. "It's there for me to use." Her size made regular health insurance impossible to obtain.

Sitting up in a bed equipped with an air mattress, Jodi admitted that "Sometimes it gets depressing." Workers were busy in the courtyard outside her room, a small space decorated with cards and cat posters, a sewing machine resting against one wall. Making dresses for an upcoming Gibsonburg event is something that helps her forget that she is 31 years old and in a nursing home.

One thing missing is the computer she used to spend hours on, the machine that helped her meet Robert, research her illness and communicate with others. It's gone, along with her husband and car. About six months after she was admitted to the home, "He just left ... He's not coming back and I know that. Obviously he's moved on with his life and I'm moving on with mine."

At this point, as she continues to lose weight, Baker has decided against having gastric bypass surgery. She faces plastic surgery to remove excess skin that she hopes to donate to burn victims. Her plan is to get down to 200 pounds and be home, possibly in Johnstown, by Christmas. In her mind, she decorates an apartment in soothing rose colors and aims for a job in data entry. "I'm not going to be ready to deal with people," Baker said, although she does enjoy occasional shopping trips when her family comes to visit.

Her mother says Jodi's spirits have been "up and down" and calls her daughter courageous for sticking to the weight loss program. "I'm proud of her," McKinley said. She also notes her daughter's singing voice. "I'm her mom, but it amazes me that voice that comes out of her."

While she's a much smaller woman than when she left Bucyrus, Jodi Baker knows that 200 pounds is still heavy in most people's eyes, particularly those who don't know where she's come from. "If I had not come here I wouldn't be here at all," she said.

To those considering a similar step she advises starting the trip.

"Do it. Go for it."

Contact Lisa Miller, a staff writer for the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum, at lkmiller~nncogannett.com or 419-563-9223

Has anyone heard of any updates about this woman? i sure hope things are looking up for her now.