In March 2007, Mayfield was experiencing serious pain in her shoulder, and she received two steroid injections. But something wasn’t right. A good friend who’s also a nurse took her blood sugar reading, and Mayfield’s heart sank when it measured 287.

 

Her own mother learned she had Type II diabetes after taking steroids, and Mayfield vividly remembered nursing her mother through a list of ailments, including kidney failure, heart disease and neuropathy in her legs and feet.

 

She feared for her own health, especially her eyes. As an artist, she depends on them. She paints: oils, watercolors, and acrylics. Her paintings are sensitive, detailed, moving. They express her own inspirations; for example, she painted one that she named “The Healer” (image to the right). She could not bear to give that up, especially since she donates some of her paintings each year to help benefit a children’s shelter in Chattanooga.

 

“I had seen the consequences, and I was scared to death,” Mayfield said, adding “Dialysis did not look fun either.” Her friend recommended that she call Vanderbilt. Mayfield got online and researched the medical center’s Diabetes Center and its staff, then made an appointment with Dr. Shichun Bao. A week later, she drove down from her Rutherford County home, and she felt a sense of relief almost as soon as she walked in the door. “I knew it was some different kind of place,” she said.

 

She was gratified to discover that no one surreptitiously raised their eyebrows at her girth. She weighed about 320 pounds that day and was sensitive about the looks she might get. But she realized that everyone at the center simply viewed her as an ordinary person with a problem, “not like a freak.”

 

“They were there to help,” she said. “That makes a huge difference in patient motivation, I feel.” After a series of tests that confirmed Mayfield had steroid-induced diabetes, Dr. Bao gave her a prescription for a medication called Byetta that reduces the level of glucose in the blood—and specific instructions on what to eat while she took the medicine. Mayfield went home and began her new life.

 

She met with dietician Amy Kranick. She learned how to measure out portions of food for each meal, even though she thought some of the portions looked too small at first. She learned how to eat healthy snacks, including some food with carbohydrates, which she had mostly avoided in recent years.

For Mayfield, that meant apples: Cameo, Braeburn, Pacific Rose, Macintosh, you name it. “I have tasted them all,” she said.

 

Then she began to kick-start her activity level with a new cardiovascular exercise regimen. That often translated into regular stationary bike sessions, with her dog, Lucy, supervising from the sideline.

And the weight began to drop off.

 

Today, Mayfield stands tall, blonde and slim, unafraid to don a chic sleeveless dress and kitten-heel shoes. She’s still taking her Byetta medication, and she is still careful to maintain her diet and exercise routine. She’s proud of her new look, especially since she works hard to maintain a healthy eating and exercise routine.

 

“I dress up to go to the diabetes center,” she said, grinning. “So I can show off.”

Plastic surgery helped to remove and tighten up some of the excess skin left over from her weight loss. She looks different, yes, but she feels even better. “This is how I’ve always looked on the inside,” she said.