One year ago, Pamela Davis weighed about 747 pounds. She was bedridden, dependent on others and suffering from a lack of self-esteem. Today, she has lost 279 pounds, can walk, lives independently and is excited about her future.
Davis cries when she tells her story, although she is quick to say her tears are tears of joy. Sitting in a wheelchair at her new home at June Beene apartments, she explained how the staff at Conway Healthcare and Rehab Center saved her life.
Davis had been bedridden since October 2003, she said. She had been unable to live alone for 10 years. She had never left home, she said. When her mother died, her sister and nephews moved in to care for her at her home in Madison, which is near Forrest City. Chana Tucker-Rosbia, activity director at Conway Healthcare and Rehab Center, said Davis at one time worked as a bookkeeper, but was forced to retire and start drawing disability when her weight issues created a problem with her knees.
During the time that she was bedridden, Davis said, she did everything from her bed, even bathing. The only reason she got out of bed was to use a bedside toilet chair, she said. One day as she was doing this, she fell and tore the skin on her thigh. She developed a severe infection and had to be admitted to the hospital on Aug. 21, 2007, she said.
In the hospital, she was placed on a 1,800 calorie diet, which resulted in much of her weight loss, she said.
"But I still couldn't walk," she said. "I thought I was going home, but they sent me to rehab."
Davis did not realize that Conway Healthcare and Rehab Center was both a nursing home and a rehabilitation center. She was beside herself when she saw the nursing home patients.
"I just thought it was over. I'm 43 years old. I didn't know it was going to be a nursing home. When we came in the doors and I saw those people in their wheelchairs and I figured out where I was, I thought, 'This is where I'm going to die.' I figured that's what I would do."
The staff immediately began working with her, she said, asking her about her interests, to which she replied, "nothing" and what was important to her, to which she answered, "going home."
"It was my intention to lie there and not do anything. I wasn't going to work with rehab, but (physical therapist) Ryan (Davenport) and (occupational therapist) Karen (Bach) kept coming down there and wouldn't leave me alone."
Davis laughed as she described Davenport's persistence. She said she told him she was not going to physical therapy, to which he replied, "Okay, I'll be back."
"I thought he was going to give me a day or so to think about it," she said, but he returned every 10 minutes until she complied, she said.
The first day she walked in rehab, she said, "I thought I was going to hyperventilate and die." However, she said, beaming, "It was better than winning the lottery. I haven't liked myself for a long time. I didn't have any mirrors in my house. But now, I love me some Pam. I see myself as a winner."
Davenport said, "Pam didn't realize there was a full rehab department waiting on her. She's not walking in the mall yet, but she's walking, which is a big deal."
Davis said, "I've come so far since I've been there. I couldn't get out of bed. It took two of them to get me out of bed. I couldn't sit up in the wheelchair. I went in there really pitiful, but I walked out."
Davenport said, "It's because we believed in her. She can walk around her apartment. She's come a long way physically and emotionally. We just had to teach her to believe in herself. She gets all the credit because she worked really hard."
Davis insists the credit goes to her friends at the rehab. Additionally, she said the facility took care of her beyond what her Medicare paid for.
"My 100 days was up with Medicare on June 17. The administrator, Rhonda Stout, called the regional office and explained what was going on. He told her I could stay as long as I needed to."
As Davis was preparing to be discharged on July 2, she made the decision to stay in Conway. Tucker-Rosbia found Davis an apartment and had it all ready for her to move into upon her discharge. The staff threw her a going-away party, complete with housewarming gifts of all kinds, Davis said. Living on her own is like a dream for Davis.
"I still can't believe it," she said. "I've missed out on a whole lot, but I'm fixing to get caught up. There's some places I've got to go, some people I've got to see. I want to go to Wal-Mart. I want to go to the movies and I want to go back to church. If I could go back to work, I'd become a CNA," she said, explaining she has been inspired by the staff at Conway Healthcare and Rehab.
"I had to take responsibility for my own life, and it feels good to be in charge of Pam," she said.
Tucker-Rosbia said she has never seen anything like this "her losing so much weight and wanting to be independent and take back over her life and be so far from her original home with her only friends being people she met at a nursing home to check on her and help. I'm proud of her."
Tucker-Rosbia asked Davis what she would say to others who think they cannot lose weight.
"It's not over," Davis said. "Every day you wake up, try. I want to be able to stand up and wash dishes without sitting down. I can't, so I do it until I have to sit down. I used to eat buckets of chicken at a time. I eat rice cakes now, and I like them. A Lean Cuisine is a meal. If there's nothing you can do but lie in the bed and raise your arms anything that will burn calories. Pray. Surround yourself with good people. When you find people who care about you and believe in you, it makes you believe in yourself, and when you believe in yourself, there's nothing you can't do."
As for her own future, she indicated she plans to continue losing weight.
"I'm not done," she said.
Obesity in the U.S. and Arkansas
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "During the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States. In 2006, only four states had a prevalence of obesity less than 20 percent."
Arkansas was among those states with the rate of obesity of 25 to 29 percent in 2006.
According to the CDC Web site, being overweight or obese increases the risk of many diseases and health conditions, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea and some cancers.
Kellie Turpin, a dietician for Conway Regional Health and Fitness Center, said it likely took about 5,000 calories a day to sustain Davis at her former weight of 747 pounds.
When the hospital put Davis on the 1,800 calorie diet, Turpin said, Davis would have lost about six pounds a week. At her current weight, if she continues on a 1,800 calorie diet, she should continue to lose about 3.5 pounds a week.
Turpin noted a discouraging statistic is that 95 percent of people who lose weight gain it back. She said continuing a healthy diet and incorporating exercise will be crucial for Davis to meet her weight-loss and maintenance goals.
(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
