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The American Fertility Association Blog

Green Eyes

June 26, 2009 - Friday
Posted by Corey

My dogs are people magnets.  I have two, Cabo Lucas, a mixed breed that we adopted out of a shelter in Mexico; he had been hit by a car and lost a leg, I adopted him when Dubya was president and I used to get a kick out of the fact that my furry Mexican wetback had no green card.  My other nut job is a maniacal cocker spaniel named Coco Chanel; she got a hair cut yesterday and lost her auburn curls, her beautiful green eyes are more prominent now.  She’s a shelter dog too, I tell all my friends in the adoption world that I have one domestic and one international adoption and they indulge me in my story without reminding me that dogs are not children.

The three of us were out for a walk this morning and a little girl stopped me to pet my dogs – Coco is skittish but I let her warm up to the little girl’s hand.  A teenage girl was with the little one.  I took one look at her and knew without a doubt, PCOS.  Like most girls, and women, with PCOS, this 16 year old was trying very hard to be invisible.  Overweight, a navy blue hoodie, jeans, dirty scuffed sneakers, a monotone look and voice.  She had acne but what really got to me was the male pattern baldness and the five o’clock shadow that she couldn’t hide above her upper lip.  But you know what else she had?  She had the same shade of green eyes as Coco – seriously – riveting eyes.

I didn’t know what to do.  In my work at The AFA I have spoken to scores of young women over the years who also had pco and had never heard the words before.  No, of course I’m not a doctor, and I can’t make a street corner diagnosis.  But still.  I felt so torn, in my mind I kept going back and forth.  Do I have the right to talk to her about this, without an invitation?  Do I risk making her feel worse?  Do I risk ruining her day?  But in the end, I chose to talk to her because I couldn’t bear the thought of her not knowing the truth about herself.

I was more gentle than I knew I know how to be before my first cup of morning coffee.  “Do you know that you may have pcos?  Have you heard that term before?” She was clearly embarrassed and I went on to tell her that I have it too.  I told her that I lost 70 pounds by eating low carb foods and exercising and sent her to http://www.atkinscenter.com to teach her how to do it.  I told her how I had eradicated the other life sucking symptoms of pco from my existence and also that I was a mom.  I told her my name and address, and that she could borrow my work out tapes.  I told her what she had, but mostly what I told her was that that she also had hope. 

Yes, she already knew that she had PCOS.  But the hope piece?  That she didn’t know.  She had been given a prescription but not a game plan.  When I told her she could be a mom someday, her beautiful eyes smiled.

Then I went home and had a cuppa, and turned on my computer, and started my day.  Dogs at my feet, I couldn’t stop smiling either. 

Corey Whelan
Program Director
The American Fertility Association

Categories
PCOS



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