aliya

My friend is 10+ years out and easily 300 lbs. Her plates look like everyone else's. You'd think that the early restriction on how much you can eat would help avoid that, that you would just get into the habit of eating less, but it doesn't seem that way. Several people on the show have gone back to eating what they wanted soon after the surgery (Penny for example) and as we've seen from the 'where are they now' shows, weight gain is not unusual. I'm glad you are doing well.

I just like the kitchen gadget shows. I'm on a FB page for that and we have a great time watching the shows, spending our kids' inheritances on expensive stand mixers, and giving product reviews.

As I've mentioned, I looked into the surgery and opted out. Until recently, I was still on a board for older women who had/will have gastric sleeve. It was so sad to see woman after woman talk about weight gain after the surgery. Yes, some are successful, and I guess the very successful don't post to FB pages, but dang. It was depressing. And, a friend who admitted that she had the regular WLS years ago and who is still very big told me, "You'll gain weight." Well shoot, I didn't need to reroute the plumbing (and risk making my son an orphan) for that... I won't even get into the ones who are just sick post-surgery - this doesn't work, they're back in the hospital for that, whew! It seems wonderful when it works, but there are a lot of things that can happen.

"Happy Dance, Happy Dance!"

Oh no! We are having major thunderstorms go through and the lights are blinking. If the power goes out and I miss my show I will walk to the darned electric company and hurt somebody.

Hello everyone! Hi Mama!

Every time I hear that (because I paid for the episode and watch it repeatedly) I want to slap him. Yes, James, they're going to pull the line out of you and you will just bleed all over the place and they will let you die. Jeez Louise. I didn't cry like that when stuck an instrument in my eye while I was awake, I could see the dark shape moving around, and they pulled out the cataract. I didn't cry like that when I was in back labor for 2 days with a 10 lb baby. What an infantile human being.

When I watched the end of this, where he is sitting up in bed with the help of therapists, it struck me that he was just a round blob with a little head. I doubt he could bend without help. Also, thinking of Patrick Deuel, whose fat hindered his breathing, so that he had to stay in one position, perhaps the same was true with James. He said several times while people were moving/bathing him, that he couldn't breathe - I would imagine from the weight of his body on his chest.

One reason he does the sleeves is that these people are so big, they can't stay under anesthesia very long and the sleeve is faster. Another reason is that there are few, if any, nutrition absorption and malnutrition issues with the sleeve, since the plumbing stays the same. Dr Now has been doing both of these operations for years. I'm going to go with his judgment.

Daniel seemed profoundly affected by his disability. Could he have done more than just be in bed? Can you tell me what kind of resources Dottie should have had for him? My nephew's girlfriend has a sister who had a stroke at 5. She is wheelchair bound, can sit up, is aware of her surroundings and goes with the family on many activities, but is nonverbal and needs almost constant care (they have paid caregivers much of the time). She goes to a 'day care' facility sometimes for interaction with others and I guess they do things with her. I don't think she can communicate in any meaningful way with the other kids. As affected as she is, I can see getting her out of the house, going to the group day care, etc. because she has reactions to her environment. Daniel didn't seem to react to much. What would be recommended for someone like him? I'm sorry, but every time I see your name, I read it as 'foreskin.' I'm sorry.

1. Dottie does not seem loving and caring to me. She doesn't seem to care much about Brandon, despite her statements to the contrary. She used her sick son to absent herself from other wifely and motherly duties. She was home all day with the child - she could have cooked family meals, but instead, she ordered out all the time, which not only contributed to her weight gain but I'm sure negatively affected the family budget. I know the child was severely disabled, but I've met several parents with severely disabled children at home and they function without ignoring the other kids, sometimes they work, and they aren't 600 lbs. I'm tired of people on this show crying about how much they love their kids. I don't see it. 2. Joh - the disabled son was from Dottie's first marriage. 3. Brandon's speech issues - Going to hell, but here's a joke: A couple's child isn't speaking. Years go by. One morning the kid starts to eat his oatmeal and cries out, "This oatmeal is hot!" The parents are flabbergasted. "Son, you can talk! Why haven't you said anything before this?" Child responds, "Up until now, everything's been OK." I watched Brandon during the repeat and he seemed pretty normal to me - normal physical activity, normal interaction with his parents and environment, maybe he just doesn't have much to say? I might, might, take him to a specialist once, but I'd hesitate to put a label on him at this point, with so many other aspects of his behavior seeming to be normal (obviously just based on what we saw on the show). Starting with low hanging fruit, his freakin' mother could stop parking him in the high chair and walking away or talking to him from across the room. eta - Diamond Dog - love your name! Love Bowie!

I agree. I never think of the day my husband died as his heaven day. Jeez.

Shame on the producers for showing the "Uncle Dick" tombstone. You know that was on purpose for the laugh. And yeah, it was kinda funny.

I look at a lot of food storage Pinterest and web pages. Lotsa pantries. Never have I seen 'pantry' and 'crotch' in the same article, much less the same sentence. I'll never think of pantries the same way again.

That is why the other children in households with a disabled or very sick child often have problems of their own - the other child gets all of the attention. She knew she had a disabled child that took all of her time and attention. She should have thought of that before having Brandon. And yeah, stuff happens, but then you have to put on your big girl panties and try not to eff up the new kid because you've got your hands full with the first one.

Yeah. Watching her hips from behind is something else.

Brandon hasn't had a chance to be social?? Was he in daycare so Dottie could take care of the other one (zoning on the name). It didn't seem that way. So, he had plenty of chances to be social with his freakin' mom. Yeah, not liking Dottie much.

Amber got married? Good for her.

Been watching away from the computer. Pls tell me that Dottie didn't give that baby a bowl of spaghettios and just walk away, or tell him to climb out of the high chair on his own? She tossed the other child over her shoulder like nothing, this baby she can't even be bothered to sit next to while he eats? And I don't want to hear about grief. I lost my husband suddenly and had to deal and I still didn't ignore my son. June is kind of surprising me, in a good way, though it's early yet.

Holy crap. I'm playing a computer game and all of a sudden this crystal clear picture of a grimacing Whitney Thore pops up! Did not need that! : )

Thinking about this again... So he falls down the stairs and is house/bed bound. The mother was wrong for not scouring the earth for medical care for him, but OK. It's been what, 7 years now? They have online GED. Shoot, they have online community college classes and bachelor's programs. I would bet that most states have some kind of limited employment programs for the disabled, (so people don't lose their disability payments), even if they are at home. During that time, he could have done something else with his life besides knit in bed.

I don't watch this show, but the commercials have been driving me nuts. Is the heavyset older woman still on a farm? I live surrounded by Amish and Mennonites, including the largest Amish settlement in my state. I see them in the stores (which surprised me when I first moved here since I didn't know the Amish shopped at Walmart). And yes, I've seen a few plump older women, but I've never seen an Amish farm woman that big. I don't know how she does her work. From what I've seen on the commercials, she gambles? What's her story?

Watching the rerun before going out (and while eating PopTarts, sorry Nikki). I knew dad was sending food up the stairs, but didn't realize he was sending a 'snack' before breakfast. Wow. Why don't the parents ever say 'no.' Dad knows when he's enabling. A sugary drink and donuts before breakfast, even if it is a biscuit and gravy, is enabling.

I wore eyebrow makeup to my cataract surgery. I wasn't going into a room full of people with no eyebrows!

Jeez - Dr Now's smock was so bloody - he looked like a doctor doing amputations during the Civil War. Shudder.