KateHearts

Hmm, I've got to disagree. My kids were all taught to address teachers that way (we transplanted here from the Northeast) and most of my Veteran patients address me that way, definitely not in an insulting way at all.

I'm in Virginia, and people say "yes, ma'am" to me all the time. It makes me feel old. I think it's quite Southern.

Point taken. Perhaps it's the petulant, whiny, childish tone she uses to address them? (especially when she's either complaining or wanting something.) Then suddenly she's the "adult" when she calls her mother "Babs" and says with such authority that Babs does NOT belong behind the wheel of a car; no sir, no ma'am.

So Whitney is now the voice of reason/authority regarding her mother's driving abilities? This is a grown woman who calls her parents "mommy" and "daddy," agrees to go on vacation because she was bribed, pouts and responds to her parents with "DUH!", cries and screams and needs Daddy to drag her around a park to finish an 8k, and whose father obviously is in a role where he can scold her for taking in another cat (reminded me of a parent telling a kid to clean up their room)- and now Daddy entrusts HER to take Mommy out for her maiden voyage around the neighborhood? And all the histrionics, the criticism- nope. That is not real life. I am continually flabbergasted by her skewed view of reality. Her description of the race to her Big Girls: (paraphrasing): "It was hard, but I MADE IT!" (nevermind that you blubbered your way through the second half). I re-watched the race scene and her face when she got halfway around: "I can do it one more time!! One more time, right, Daddy?" with the quivering lip. The faces. The roaring/panting. But yes, she is a Warrior, people. This is what would have been cheer-worthy: Someone who had battled an illness/injury coming in last over the finish line- slowly, but NOT crying/whining, and triumphant. But this is how she views it. "I had an injury but I stuck it out! How I persevered!" And her comments about how the past few months have been so crazy and it's time to focus on her career...? Crazy how? Sleuthing her con-artist boyfriend and his numerous other women? Traveling to Hawaii? Being unaware that your supposed BFF who lives with you is an alcoholic and drug addict? Standing by while your friend pushes out a baby? I just don't get it.

She's out of breath just talking to her dancers.

She had "so many responsibilities at home." What were they, exactly- that tore her away from her "dance tour"?

Yeah, 33 years old, sitting in the backseat spilling her coffee and saying "DUH!" to her parents.

Exactly. I was getting downright annoyed by the mini-breakdowns, the "ugly scar at the beach, ugly scar at prom..." Yes, it's surgery but quite honestly, I went through an ACUTE illness with a child (we're talking 12% chance of complete recovery) and the one thing I kept doing was to listen to the doctors, research on my own, and remain level-headed for my kid and the rest of my family. Her histrionics are ridiculous- and Ysabel is not in danger of death or life-altering disability. And I just get annoyed watching Kody frown and talk about it with this "I'm so intelligent" look on his face, then pontificate "we are doing DUE DILIGENCE here..." I fear that if they get to the point of surgery, despite all of the exercises (I'm highly skeptical- you could see that the bootcamp friend has pretty severe scoliosis) that Ysabel will feel that she let her parents down. They should be there for her no matter what course the treatment takes, not wallowing in their own self-pity that they couldn't "fix it." I watched again last night and was studying Meri on the couch scenes. She's barely even paying attention.

Don't forget the requisite plaques from AC Moore with sweet sayings about family, love, and coffee- along with one that has every family member's name painted on it.

I worked in the operating room, assisting a spine surgeon, for four years. The scar is the least of their worries. We were meticulous about closing carefully. And young people heal remarkably well. Hell, the older veterans we close sternums on now often have chest scars you can barely see.

To address the scoliosis issue: usually what doctors are watching is the rate of progression of the curve. It sounds as if Ysabel's curve is progressing rather rapidly and this is why they are moving towards surgery- which is the right thing to do. She is at the point in life (adolescence) of rapid growth and as the spine curves in scoliosis, it also rotates (think of a corkscrew configuration). Correction of this in later life is more painful as the bones have matured and the disks are less flexible. It's a good thing they took her to a doctor at all, as well as a good one who noticed the curvature. As for Meri, my thoughts there: She was the premier, #1, first wife. I think she had a false sense that she would always be the queen bee, the head of the household, and the most cherished one. Two things caused her topple from the throne: first, she had only one kid. In their religion, of course she would be seen as damaged goods for not being able to crank out dozens of mini-Kodys. Now he has three other hyper fertile wives who can perpetuate his need to scatter his DNA all over God's green earth. Secondly, Meri, upon realizing that she was small potatoes (especially once "hot Robin" came on the scene), tried to redeem herself in Kody's eyes by giving up their marriage in favor of him legally marrying Robin to protect her children. While this was a noble move, she didn't get the recognition she wanted and again felt slighted. So what does she do? Seeks companionship online, because she isn't getting enough attention at home. She actively flirted with this "person," had every intention of leaving for him, and then got the death blow of being outed AND realizing she was totally duped. So here she is, embarrassed, trying to find some sort of place in this family. How does she do that? By turning the tables and saying how Kody caused this, he rejected her early on, she was in need of love and attention, and of course, was duped by the online fictitious Sam. She was a victim. And somehow she deserves to be given money to fulfill her dream of owning a family home, since Kody failed her and the other SWs have stuff to do, thus ignoring her. I don't really think she's all that interested in rekindling her relationship with Kody; I think she wants money to take off, go to another town, all the while eking out as much of TLC's money as she can possibly make. PS- LuLaRoe is in a lot of hot water and likely will fold soon, from what I've been hearing and reading.

Someone at some point on this forum described Meri as a "Muppet," and I can't forget that every time I look at her funny face. She's also a little overdone on the orange-toned makeup, so she really does resemble Scooter or maybe Ernie?

What does #becauseoflularoe refer to?

Meri: "I want to get close. I want to get to know him." Kody: "I don't give a shit." Honey, he's totally checked out. It's over.

I used to work in spine surgery and never saw this, nor was I told that death was a complication. And I saw older women with severe scoliosis who suffered chronic pain and disfigurement. But I'm hard pressed to think it could cause death.

What the HELL is going on with Kody's hair? He looks psychotic. As far as the concern about the scoliosis? There are so many much, much worse things to over-dramatize.

I didn't see a wound vac; I did see a drain which is indicative that an incision is draining. It's interesting to me that people point out how he'd made great "progress," which really only refers to his total weight loss. He didn't progress at all, once that surgery was completed. And the sheer high volume of loss can contribute to more physiologic disequilibrium.

I think they are totally the opposite. Tal really talks up the "oh, Whitney is so determined! She's such a hard worker! She is so dedicated/devoted, blah blah..." and also portrays such over the top concern for her. Remember when she just HAD to come home because she was strung out on the dance tour worrying about Babs and how she was really needed at home? In his THs he put on the worry-face and blabbed on about how concerned he was, he's never seen her like this, she needs to come home, etc. Todd, meanwhile, openly rolls his eyes at her and barely tolerates her nonsense a lot of the time. He's happy to make off with her "dance class," and knows she's a phony. The gagging was stupid and overplayed, but he doesn't care that he's adding to her presentation as a rather crass, gross individual. He's all over it.

I think we've been subjected to a lot of heavy editing- out of respect for the dead, it seems that TLC patched the show together to present him in a decent light (i.e., very little stuffing his face, not much about his diet or adherence to it once in the hospital, etc). For that reason, I think we aren't getting the picture as to what Dr. Now's concerns were - but a few of his comments imply that he was very concerned about Robert's state of health. The whole "pain pills ruined his stomach" thing seemed confusing to me (I am a medical provider and that's not an automatic assumption regarding someone on narcotics), and I would imagine that anyone entering the program would have cardiac testing done, so maybe the gravity of his cardiac status wasn't really revealed. But given the family history (brother and dad dying from cardiac issues) and his obesity, I would imagine that his heart was probably pretty badly compromised. Why they didn't expand on this is a mystery- unless maybe there would be legal risk in revealing that his poor health was known and yet they proceeded with *extremely* aggressive weight loss (risky for anyone and increases cardiac risk), as well as a surgery that Dr. Now himself described as risky, bloody and likely to go badly at any moment. The concern and tears before he went into the OR makes me think that there was more risk than viewers were told about.

I'm referring to the living brother. He is not mentioned at all. There was never a mention of a sister in the intro story- mother stated there were 3 boys. I found it weird that a sister popped up after he died.

agree. And there are almost no scenes where Kathryn looks the least bit happy. She appears downtrodden, depressed, miserable and frustrated. I think that narrating after he died certainly gave her a different slant on how she viewed the entire experience- her words don't match what we see in the relationship, in his attitude or on her face.

It's standard medical practice to give people blood thinners (heparin) after any surgery which may cause them to be immobilized afterwards- joint replacement surgery, open heart surgery, any prolonged procedure or hospitalization. I'm sure this precaution was taken. It is shocking how quickly a blood clot can form from immobility. That said, I was a little surprised that Dr. Now just cold-turkey'd the opiod pain meds- unless the editing was such that you didn't see that. The only drug that can truly cause death if you withdraw abruptly is alcohol- but those withdrawing from narcotics and other drugs are pretty darn miserable for a period of time after quitting. I'm curious about the third brother- the mom mentioned that there were two other brothers who weren't very nice to Robert growing up. And the childhood picture of the three of them had one boy blurred out. No more mention of the other brother.

I am a medical provider, and I've noticed that many people seem to know when their deaths are imminent.

I don't think he had no medical attention: it was still a medical facility (although with less focused medical care- it was a rehab facility and he was moved there because he was medically stable and didn't need hospitalization). Any place like that has staff available, and equipment to deal with medical concerns. It sounds as if his heart attack was pretty swift and they couldn't get him somewhere for more critical care before he died. Performing CPR on someone that big is possible but extremely difficult (I've done it on normal-sized people and it's very difficult). And I didn't really see anyone pooh-pooing his complaints. Remember, he'd been vaguely complaining since the lymphedema surgery. It's really hard sometimes to differentiate between general complaining and a true medical emergency. Sounded like he went from "I don't feel good tonight" to being unable to breathe and arresting in a very short time.

I'd hardly call this a "snuff film."