Rolling meadows

Chapter 2 - Terms

A week later, I was sitting in the waiting room down a labyrinthine side hall of Central City University’s Medical Center. It was wholly unremarkable, painted in hues of faint green and blue, lit by lights that seemed a little too bright to fully relax under, uncomfortable vinyl chairs, all the hallmarks of a hospital.
“Ms. Autumn Latham?” called a medical assistant at the front of the room who greeted me as I stood and walked back towards him. He smiled meekly at me, and ushered me into a room where he asked me a few questions, had me fill out another form and then went to fetch another person. He returned and introduced me to the severe looking woman who followed him who he explained was Dr. Carter. She was rail-thin, almost gaunt in appearance, approaching middle age, and reminded me immensely of a stereotypical catholic school nun.
“Ms. Latham, thank you for coming in today” she began as I shifted nervously in my chair. “I insist on meeting with subjects individually before they begin this study due to its peculiarities which it entails. First of all, it is a very long study, with an estimated timeline of ten years. You must understand that completion of the full timeline of the study is required for obtaining the benefits, along with fulfilling other benchmarks that I will explain now. The goal of the study is to explore the health effects of individuals who gain an extreme amount of weight. With the rise of obesity worldwide, this is a very important goal, but it has been difficult to study rapid weight gain in a clinical setting. Therefore, the expectation of the study is that by its conclusion, you will have gained enough weight so that your BMI is at least 100. Anything less and your benefits will be revoked. Furthermore, it is essential that the weight you gain be primarily fat. While it may be tempting to gain weight via muscle, that will skew data away from the study design, and you will be asked to drop out of the study. We understand that the real-world consequences of this much weight gain may make it difficult to lead a ‘normal’ life at a certain point. We would encourage our participants to lead as much of a ‘normal’ life as they can during the early stages of the study. We should also mention that there are many, many health risks associated with obesity. You should be aware of them before committing to the program (at which point she handed me a sheet with line after line of health conditions listed on it). If you are still interested, I would encourage you to think about it for some time before committing. However, we do very much need participants, and I believe that you would be a wonderful addition. I would love nothing more than for you to join.”
As she was explaining all of this, my mind drifted back to the landlord’s notice, to my mind-numbingly dull desk job, to my fridge that seemingly only had a few sad vegetables and some half-eaten cheese in it, to the fact that I was too broke to have seen a doctor since I graduated college. A few seconds after Dr. Carter stopped talking I asked “what do I need to sign to join?” to which she seemed a little taken aback, stuttering something about making sure I was certain I wanted to join. It was the first time she had expressed anything besides clinical coolness the entire meeting. She called her assistant back and asked him to print the forms and waivers for me to sign and had me read and sign them. I didn’t really read them as much as saw words here and there – something about being sound of mind, waiving the right to seek legal action, other legal terms I didn’t recognize, and then a series of places for me to sign and date and I was formally enrolled in the study. Dr. Carter, now regaining her stern air, informed me that the start of the study would be in six weeks. She handed me another form asking if I would like to live on the campus built for this study, and whether I would like my health care to be transferred to the doctors working on the study. I affirmed to both and was given move-in dates and an address that led me to a development of spacious-looking apartments on the east side of town. There were still some construction workers putting finishing touches on some buildings and pouring concrete for what looked like a pool, so I didn’t linger too long.