S06.E07: Joyce's Story

[ams1001]

8 hours ago, magemaud said:

“It’s haaaard...”

Now I have "Hard to Be the Bard" from Something Rotten (specifically, an acoustic version by Adam Pascal) in my head.

(Hard to be the Lard?)

('k, where do I board the bus to hell?)

Edited February 13, 2020 by ams1001

[AVM]

6 minutes ago, calpurnia99 said:

Before her weigh in, after she lost 200 pounds in 2 months on a 1200 calorie a day diet, she was back home. At this point BEFORE HER WEIGH IN WITH DR. NOW to show she can lose on her own- she was trying to tell us or the camera  that  she had not lost weight.  She was telling the cameras that 1200 calories was too much food for her body to lose weight on,-- because she knew she'd gained,--and she was trying to tell us she had been eating 1200 calories a day religiously. She knew she was due to have a bad weigh in. I mean how the fuck would she know that if she was sticking to the diet? Sorry caught in your lying lie, you liar. 

 I think some people interpreted this as meaning she was saying she couldn't finish 1200 calories, that it was too much food but that wasn't her point. Her point was that HERbody at 550 will only lose weight on 800 calories, that she is a special snowflake and her body is beyond the laws of Science. 

She liked this line so so much she tried it on Dr. Now and his comebacks are stuff of legend:

You're delusional if you think that!!

ha ha ha ha ha ha

My favorite was

You need therapy

I've had therapy

well YOU NEED MOREI 

She definitely stuffed her face her whole life to punish her mother. 

 

My favorite Dr Now's line to Joyce was when she said she was hunger after her trip , " You have already eaten enough food for three years ahead "  lol

[calpurnia99]

What about the fake heart attack? Of course it was on camera, Dr. Now knew she was faking but he had to treat it seriously. When he said she manipulated him and the system to get out of an uncomfortable situation and to get a ride home....OMG is all I can say. She manipulated Dr. Now. This is when he thought, you know I'm done with this liar. You have to remember while he is treating these losers, he is also seeing success stories, same day and signing death certificates, same day. 

[zengirl1215]

Every time Joyce got on Dr. Now's scale, she was convinced it was lying to her. "That can't be right, it just can't be!" Like Dr. Now purposely messed with it so it would weigh heavier for her...it couldn't possibly be that she was still morbidly obese, eating massive amounts of food and sitting in that recliner 24/7. NOPE!!!

Telling Dr. Now she needed to lower her calorie intake to less than 1,200 was probably the funniest damn thing I ever heard on this show. Considering there was probably 1,200 calories in that dozen eggs (not just whites) sausage and peppers concoction she consumed. And the shot of the I Can't Believe It's Butter spray was purely for the cameras...I don't believe for one second, she used that to cook with. 

[Pepper Mostly]

11 hours ago, goofygirl said:

She's gonna explode!

Mr. Creosote! One teeny tiny waffer thin mint is all it will take!

9 hours ago, NeitherSparky said:

Tom: Aw, look, Joyce made it outside.

Crow: And without medical transport!

(I finished Tom last weekend, lol)

Tom and Crow definitely need to join the next live chat!

My favorite scene ever was her "having a heart attack"! It was even better than Penny's "where's MY yellow brick road?" moment. She ran through a list of symptoms and ailments like a pro, barely drawing breath! "I'm feeling stressed! I'm having a panic attack! I have pain in my legs and feet! I am not well! I feel queasy! I have beri beri and Rocky Mountain spotted fever! I see molecules! I have mange! I AM HAVING A HEART ATTACK". I laughed like a hyena.

 

[Pondlass1]

These morbidly obese must have some special powers I don’t know about.  I’d starve to death if I lolled about all day in bed yelling for food and someone to come wash me.  How do they find these dedicated servants and family members? How much was that caregiver being paid I wonder? I hope enough to pay for her Valium or whatever she took to get through the horrid day looking after a fat blob.

These fat folk need someone to explain portion size. That concoction she cooked up was enough for four people, and she shoved it in without hardly chewing or appreciating taste.

What a waste of everyone’s time. 

 

[Guest]

Just to get this on record: If this sentient blob has a p0rn -- I am NOT going to be watching it. 

[mmecorday]

Pffft. Making a porno would require Joyce to move.

[SunnyBeBe]

Joyce was delusional and I'm not sure if she was conning or REALLY delusional, however, I blame a lot of this on Dawn and Joyce's mother too.  WHY oh WHY, didn't Dr. Now call them out like he has other enablers.  I hope he reported them both to APS.  To me, regardless of what they said about wanting her to stay in the program, they DID NOT want her to get better. They were mainly her problem, imo, as if they did not support her rantings and habits, she would not have had a leg to stand on, pardon the pun. lol

[88Keys]

11 hours ago, IvySpice said:

Points to Mama Joyce for the preparation of what actually looked like yummy homemade lasagna. For the most part, the crap these folks eat does not appear to be worth the shoveling. But other than the family-of-twelve portion size, that looked good.

I will give them credit for having a clean house, too.  Then again, if all you do is sit around and stare at each other all day, the house probably doesn't get that messy.

11 hours ago, nokat said:

Oh yeah, learning that food can be tasty without all of the calories is a big part of losing weight.  Is certain one portion of that lasagna was full of flavor, so you don't need to eat the entire thing.
 

I don't think most of these people are that concerned with flavor, honestly.  They all shove their food in so fast they can't possibly be tasting it.

9 hours ago, Carboncat said:

 

 

There is no redemption with Joyce, no struggle to lose weight, no idea of what a real life is at all.  It is so snarkworthy, and so sad.  Why even waste time with these lost souls who have no desire to even be ambulatory?

I use to cheer pounticipants  who fit into stylish clothes, dated, and found joy.  What's happened?  Month 12 and Joyce makes it out to the porch?  WTF (rigg)?

It's been happening a lot lately on this show.  I understand setbacks, but so many of the newer poundicipants clearly don't want to be there or make any effort at all.  Please stop giving them air time!

4 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I recognized the plate from Aldi. I have some!

#ALDI4LIFE

2 hours ago, dahling said:

I'm confused. Why did we not see a calling out of her enabler (Dawn)?

Maybe because Dr. Now realized Dawn and the mom were both high as kites and it woudn't do any good?

5 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

Pffft. Making a porno would require Joyce to move.

Not necessarily....:(

[AVM]

Anybody else notice the majority of the super obese like Joyce eat only with spoons ? Maybe that the ticket Give them forks and take away their damn spoons.. They  use them like shovels.

[libgirl2]

3 minutes ago, 88Keys said:

 

#ALDI4LIFE

Maybe because Dr. Now realized Dawn and the mom were both high as kites and it woudn't do any good?

 

If we knew they were, I'm sure he did. Joyce is a disability check for them to buy drugs off of. Or they are taking her pain pills. They really don't care what happens to her.

Aldi rocks. 

[SunnyBeBe]

Is oxygen habit forming? I know some people personally, who use oxygen, but, they don't seem to have a diagnosis as to why, like, no COPD, no lung cancer, etc.  So, why do you need oxygen if you have no condition effecting your lungs?  I noticed that Dr. Now told her that she didn't need it, as he has other super obese patients.  They can just check your oxygen level and tell that it's sufficient. So, what is the deal with it? 

Edited February 13, 2020 by SunnyBeBe

[libgirl2]

2 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Is oxygen habit forming? I know some people personally, who use oxygen, but, they don't seem to have a diagnosis as to why, like, no COPD, no lung cancer, etc.  So, why do you need oxygen if you have no condition effecting your lungs?  I noticed that Dr. Now told her that she didn't need it, as he has other super obese patients.  They can just check your oxygen level and tell that it's sufficient. So, what is the deal with it? 

Wasn't Penny hooked on it too? 

[sempervivum]

3 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I noticed that Dr. Now told her that she didn't need it, as he has other super obese patients.

I thought she was using the oxygen as 'evidence' of how helpless she was: it wasn't her fault she couldn't breathe! 

I give her (optimistically) 2 years.

[88Keys]

8 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Is oxygen habit forming? I know some people personally, who use oxygen, but, they don't seem to have a diagnosis as to why, like, no COPD, no lung cancer, etc.  So, why do you need oxygen if you have no condition effecting your lungs?  I noticed that Dr. Now told her that she didn't need it, as he has other super obese patients.  They can just check your oxygen level and tell that it's sufficient. So, what is the deal with it? 

Wasn't there a fad a few years ago where people could go to oxygen bars and inhale pure oxygen or something like that?  So yeah, it probably feels good and maybe could be habit-forming.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I really had zero sympathy for anything Joyce said, or her mother either.   And Joyce Sr, and Dawn were totally stoned through the entire show.    I almost hurt myself laughing at Joyce's "heart attack".    

[AZChristian]

Oxygen is a visible sign to the rest of the world that a person is "disabled," not just morbidly obese.  Doctors have to prescribe it if insurance is going to pay for it . . . but sometimes lazy doctors (and PAs) just do what a patient asks them to do.  They let the patient self-diagnose and then give them prescriptions for medications the patients see on commercials.

A lazy PA almost ended my brother's life two years before he actually died.  The side-effects of an advertised drug for my brother's self-diagnosed fibromyalgia gave him seizures and messed up his brain.  I looked it up online and printed out a list of possible side effects and showed them to my brother.  He finally agreed to get off of it.

I was actually surprised that my brother didn't ask for oxygen, because he huffed and puffed so much after minimal exertion.  He was also morbidly obese.

[essexjan]

My 600-lb Life - where you can be disgusted, entertained and amused all at the same time.

I am 4ft 11 and currently about 30lbs overweight. I question Dr Now (forgive me!) for saying she should weigh 100lbs. I have broad feet, knees, hips, ribs and shoulders - a short, wide skeleton (thank you, Eastern European peasant ancestors). The lightest I've ever been was 120lbs, and you could count my ribs. Just because you're short, doesn't mean you have a tiny frame.  Still, we're quibbling here when someone is 750lbs.

This had to be one of the more humiliating trips to Houston we've seen, with all those male EMTs (or whoever they were) getting the full view of whatever lay beneath the Giant Skin-Tagged Apron of Lymphodema. I almost went blind watching it with pixellation, so whatever they were paid wasn't nearly enough.

Joyce's logic was staggering.

• eats 25,000 calories a day for 30 years
• as a result weighs 750lbs
• tells Dr Now she's eating 1,200 calories a day - allegedly
• she knows (and we all know) that's a lie
• gains 60lbs and needs to find an excuse
• tells Dr Now it's because 1,200 calories a day are 'too much' and his scales are wrong.

And is this the first one we've seen where the mother looked younger than the daughter? I was astonished to learn Joyce was only 44.

I googled her and found a wedding registry on The Knot from 2013, with someone called Joyce Rotondi.  Is that a real person, or is it a fake name for 'Joyce the Rotund', in an attempt to blag wedding gifts from people?

https://registry.theknot.com/joyce-del-viscovo-joyce-rotondi-february-2013/2518937

I suspect we will not be seeing a WATN on Joyce, unless it's an update on her early death.

[AZChristian]

4 minutes ago, essexjan said:

I suspect we will not be seeing a WATN on Joyce, unless it's an update on her early death.

I halfway expected to see the Black Screen of Death at the end of the episode.

[sagittarius sue]

12 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

Joyce's victory lap, er, 6 foot walk to the patio during which she stepped over a half inch threshold reminded me of Monty Python's Upper Class Twit of the Year event, the matchbook jump. 
 

One of my favorite skits.  I haven't watched it in awhile, but I just might revisit it today.

[libgirl2]

5 minutes ago, sagittarius sue said:

One of my favorite skits.  I haven't watched it in awhile, but I just might revisit it today.

Me too. 

[sempervivum]

19 minutes ago, essexjan said:

I question Dr Now (forgive me!) for saying she should weigh 100lbs.

Pretty sure the doc takes frame size into account; I actually usually think his weight goals are pretty modest. Her feet (allowing for the gigantic toenails and thick layer of calluses) were small, so it's possible there was a small skeleton under all that flab. According to the World Health Organization, the range for her size and age is between 91.6 and 123.8.

Ain't no way.

[Kid]

11 hours ago, Honey said:

 

There comes a point, a certain weight, where you are no longer anything to society, merely a blob with a mouth.  It's best if she just dies in her sleep.

 

I am with you on that one.  Just keep feeding her until she eats herself to death.  Especially, one who has an attitude like this one.  Usually, someone with this sense of entitlement was one that was pampered not abandoned.

What is really unfair is comparing this lump of fat to the 600  hundred pounder who worked hard, lost weight, was trying to go back to college, and dies of a heart condition. She would’ve been a value to society and was trying to her best to live her best life.  And this lump of lard screams unfair!

[Caoimhe]

27 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

I halfway expected to see the Black Screen of Death at the end of the episode.

I wouldn't have been sad.  With her attitude I can't imagine it's too far in the future.

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, Pepper Mostly said:

I have beri beri and Rocky Mountain spotted fever!

My friend's sister has had three different tick-borne diseases, included Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (and Lyme and I forget the other one...I don't know what she ever did to the ticks...). She did not whine this much.

20 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

Oxygen is a visible sign to the rest of the world that a person is "disabled," not just morbidly obese.  Doctors have to prescribe it if insurance is going to pay for it . . . but sometimes lazy doctors (and PAs) just do what a patient asks them to do.  They let the patient self-diagnose and then give them prescriptions for medications the patients see on commercials.

I'm assuming her oxygen was prescribed by another doctor at home; as long as that prescription is still valid (or that doctor is willing to renew it) there's not much Dr. Now can do about it, besides telling her she doesn't need it. (Side note, I really hate prescription drug commercials.)

20 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

A lazy PA almost ended my brother's life two years before he actually died.  The side-effects of an advertised drug for my brother's self-diagnosed fibromyalgia gave him seizures and messed up his brain.  I looked it up online and printed out a list of possible side effects and showed them to my brother.  He finally agreed to get off of it.

I saw a nurse practitioner years ago a week after I got the flu (saw an MD for the flu) and she diagnosed "borderline" pneumonia. She prescribed an antibiotic and a brand-name inhaler that contains two drugs. My mom dropped me off at their house and went to the pharmacy, meanwhile I googled the drugs (because I'm one of those paranoid types who needs to know just how they might kill me) and saw that the antibiotic and one of the inhaler drugs were contra-indicated. I couldn't call my mom but the pharmacist caught it so when my mom came home she had a different (cheaper, generic) inhaler. A week later I saw the same NP for a follow up and when she came in the room she had a sample of the same brand-name inhaler, but she put it on the counter and never actually gave it to me. Shortly after I left I got a message from the office saying I had forgotten it. (I did not call back.) She did send me home with five days worth of samples of a different antibiotic because I still had fluid in my lungs, plus I had a couple days left of the first one, and still had the other inhaler...so I brought them all into the pharmacy on my way home and asked the pharmacist if they were okay together. She said they were fine but I haven't seen that NP since.

30 minutes ago, essexjan said:

tells Dr Now she's eating 1,200 calories a day - allegedly

Tried to find a gif of Stephen Colbert saying "allegedly" but was unsuccessful. So you'll just have to imagine it.

[nokat]

3 hours ago, RedDelicious said:

Shout out for your avatar - Bill the Cat! He’s my mood on most days

I can make my husband laugh if I lift my leg and say "oop ack." We're easily amused.

I guess I can say, at least I can lift my leg straight out from my body, unlike Joyce.
 

[JJ1]

I was flabbergasted when I saw (midway thru the show - must have missed it earlier) that she was only 4’11”. How on earth can someone 4’11” weigh 750 lbs??? And still be alive??  I’ve almost gotten blasé about some of these patients, but this one flat-out stunned me. 

[libgirl2]

15 minutes ago, Kid said:

I am with you on that one.  Just keep feeding her until she eats herself to death.  Especially, one who has an attitude like this one.  Usually, someone with this sense of entitlement was one that was pampered not abandoned.

What is really unfair is comparing this lump of fat to the 600  hundred pounder who worked hard, lost weight, was trying to go back to college, and dies of a heart condition. She would’ve been a value to society and was trying to her best to live her best life.  And this lump of lard screams unfair!

WE can't chose who gets to live and who gets to die, but it isn't fair at all. 

[nokat]

2 hours ago, ams1001 said:

('k, where do I board the bus to hell?)

It probably left last night with a bunch of gasoline soaked knicker wearing people. :D

The next bus will be leaving in an hour. Hands over a pair of gasoline soaked thongs, just to be extra evil.

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by nokat

[ams1001]

Just now, nokat said:

It probably left last night with a bunch of gasoline soaked knicker wearing people. 😄
 

I was assuming there is at least a daily departure..

[calpurnia99]

46 minutes ago, essexjan said:

My 600-lb Life - where you can be disgusted, entertained and amused all at the same time.

I am 4ft 11 and currently about 30lbs overweight. I question Dr Now (forgive me!) for saying she should weigh 100lbs. I have broad feet, knees, hips, ribs and shoulders - a short, wide skeleton (thank you, Eastern European peasant ancestors). The lightest I've ever been was 120lbs, and you could count my ribs. Just because you're short, doesn't mean you have a tiny frame.  Still, we're quibbling here when someone is 750lbs.

 

 

I hear ya. I am 5 foot 1 and I have size 11 feet and I cannot wear womens watches they are too small. I have Man Hands. My hands are larger than most mens' hands. So yes, I am Big Boned. At 130 I can wear a size 2-4 in clothes.  My grandfather was from Lithuania and I remember my mother who is also 5 foot 1 say that her size 9 feet were unusual in the 1950s. Her mother had size 6 feet so she must have got the big bones from her Lithuanian dad.  I like that Weight Watchers upped the amount of the ideal weight about a decade ago. They used to have 128 for a 5 foot 3 person but they changed it to 139. As a result all the leaders are not skinny at all, they all look like they could lose 10-20 pounds, but it was good for people like me.  I also have huge muscles due to being a skater and cyclist, my calves are so big that I've been followed in stores.  However, this Blob looked like she had tiny feet so she is probably small boned.

[cpcathy]

17 minutes ago, ThereButFor said:

I wouldn't have been sad.  With her attitude I can't imagine it's too far in the future.

Totally agree, no matter how terrible of a person that makes me. I thought her face was going to be swallowed by fat. After two hours of watching her stare out the window and stare straight up when eating, I couldn't hate her more.

 

[calpurnia99]

54 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

o

A lazy PA almost ended my brother's life two years before he actually died.  The side-effects of an advertised drug for my brother's self-diagnosed fibromyalgia gave him seizures and messed up his brain.  I looked it up online and printed out a list of possible side effects and showed them to my brother.  He finally agreed to get off of it.

I

What drug was it? I have fibromyalgia, what it Cymbalta?

Anyways this chick was a real pc of work. I think it's possible she just was yelling and screaming and Dawn to bring her food or she was getting up and running (with no problem) into the kitchen at 3 am to stuff her face. 

The best line in the Live Chat thread: Dr. Now is out of fucks.

ha ha ha ha that killed me and someone in that thread ooompa or someone guessed the weight within a pound!

[Swiss]

 I tried watching last night's episode but gave up after about 40 minutes.  I couldn't stand to listen to Joyce's whiny voice.   I got sick of hearing how everything was so "hard" for her.  Seriously. All she does is lay around all day and eat..how hard is that? And as someone with a medical background, if a person doesn't need oxygen, the Dr. shouldn't prescribe it just to pacify that person. Used to drive me nuts at work.    One more thing. It cracks me up how immediately upon arrival to the hospital in Houston, Dr. Now listens to the patient's lungs.   Do you know hard it is to hear breath sounds on someone Joyce's size?? I do and it's extremely difficult when you are listening on their direct skin, let alone over clothes and sometimes blankets.  I'm sure he just does it for show.   Yikes..sorry for the medical rant.  

Edited February 13, 2020 by Swiss

[magemaud]

3 hours ago, ams1001 said:

('k, where do I board the bus to hell?)

Looks like we're gonna need a bigger bus! 

[calpurnia99]

5 minutes ago, Swiss said:

 I tried watching last night's episode but gave up after about 40 minutes.  I couldn't stand to listen to Joyce's whiny voice.   I got sick of hearing how everything was so "hard" for her.  Seriously. All she does is lay around all day..how hard is that? And as someone with a medical background, if a person doesn't need oxygen, the Dr. shouldn't prescribe it just to pacify that person. Used to drive me nuts at work.    One more thing. It cracks me up how immediately upon arrival to the hospital in Houston, Dr. Now listens to the patient's lung.   Do you know hard it is to hear breath sounds on someone Joyce's size?? I do and it's extremely difficult when you are listening on their direct skin, let alone over clothes and sometimes blankets.  I'm sure he just does it for show.   Yikes..sorry for the medical rant.  

maybe his blingy stethoscope has magical powers like Superman's X-Ray vision, Dr. Now has the power to hear lungs through 65 layers of marbled fat?

And why do we keep getting people with this annoying baby voice? 

Edited February 13, 2020 by calpurnia99

[magemaud]

8 hours ago, Tabbygirl521 said:

If mom was so outraged when Joyce started getting big when a child, what turned her into a feeder? 

My favorite scene was Mama shoveling half a pan of overstuffed lasagna onto Joyce's plate while saying, "When I used to see Joyce overeating, it made me livid..." 

[Kid]

24 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

WE can't chose who gets to live and who gets to die, but it isn't fair at all. 

We are not choosing. She is.   My point is to let her.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Kid

[Swiss]

4 minutes ago, calpurnia99 said:

maybe his blingy stethoscope has magical powers like Superman's X-Ray vision, Dr. Now has the power to hear lungs through 65 layers of marbled fat?

And why do we keep getting people with this annoying baby voice? 

LOL.  That could be it..Dr. Now has a magical stethoscope.  Maybe all that neck fat is compressing Joyce's vocal cords..resulting in that baby voice!!

 

[MelissaMinion]

Oh, my goodness. I’m kind of glad I missed last night’s live, because my hate mouth would have gotten me a seat on the bus. So I listened to it at work this morning, and had to keep pausing to look at what I was hearing. 

Dr Now was way too patient with her, but I did love his sassy mouth when she flopped and faked a heart attack.

I think he didn’t confront the enablers because he recognized that his patient wasn’t serious, on top of their obvious long term stoner faces. 

My friend was listening at her desk, and turned to me with, “Melissa, I love you, but I will never reach up there to lever your fat from your hoohah so you can stand up.” I agreed, and we now have a murder pact between us, triggered if we ever become too fat to wear pants.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

 

1 hour ago, essexjan said:

I googled her and found a wedding registry on The Knot from 2013, with someone called Joyce Rotondi.  Is that a real person, or is it a fake name for 'Joyce the Rotund', in an attempt to blag wedding gifts from people?

https://registry.theknot.com/joyce-del-viscovo-joyce-rotondi-february-2013/2518937

I think Joyce Rotondi is the mother's name.   I think the woman in the picture is the mother, but I'm not positive:

https://www.mylife.com/joyce-rotondi/e165991821450

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, calpurnia99 said:

my calves are so big that I've been followed in stores.

By calf gawkers? Is that a thing? Or is there some rule that people with large calves are more prone to retail theft?

Joyce is an all-roads-lead-to-misery human tree stump. I wish there were more to these people's stories other than "my parents got divorced" and "food is the only thing that gives me comfort." These are oversimplifications of much larger addiction issues.  She's been overweight all of her life -- that's not her parents' fault or her grandmother's.  The backstories on this show are woefully redundant. I mean, it's so bad, it's like writing a Mad Lib every week: "My parents [past tense verb] me. I got pregnant at age [inappropriate teen age]. I [verb] my feelings." 

[libgirl2]

18 minutes ago, nokat said:

OMG, anyone who hasn't seen that Monty Python skit, get thee to google. It is gross and hilarious.

How are you feeling? Better. Better bring a bucket. The perfect reference for overindulgence that we see here.

Okay, I forgot about the piano playing. Definitely not safe for work.


 

I honestly don't know how these people don't just explode with vomit. How can all that food go down and stay down? Bucket indeed! 

9 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

 

I think Joyce Rotondi is the mother's name.   I think the woman in the picture is the mother, but I'm not positive:

https://www.mylife.com/joyce-rotondi/e165991821450

That is her and it looks like she has some financial "issues" 

Edited February 13, 2020 by libgirl2

[magemaud]

18 minutes ago, calpurnia99 said:

maybe his blingy stethoscope has magical powers like Superman's X-Ray vision, Dr. Now has the power to hear lungs through 65 layers of marbled fat?

That's an entirely plausible explanation! The stethoscope bling might be some kind of signal booster. 

[libgirl2]

4 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

By calf gawkers? Is that a thing? Or is there some rule that people with large calves are more prone to retail theft?

Joyce is an all-roads-lead-to-misery human tree stump. I wish there were more to these people's stories other than "my parents got divorced" and "food is the only thing that gives me comfort." These are oversimplifications of much larger addiction issues.  She's been overweight all of her life -- that's not her parents' fault or her grandmother's.  The backstories on this show are woefully redundant. I mean, it's so bad, it's like writing a Mad Lib every week: "My parents [past tense verb] me. I got pregnant at age [inappropriate teen age]. I [verb] my feelings." 

Yes, someone should just say, I like food a lot and I eat too much period. I know Travis kind of did last week. 

[KateHearts]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

Oxygen is a visible sign to the rest of the world that a person is "disabled," not just morbidly obese.  Doctors have to prescribe it if insurance is going to pay for it . . . but sometimes lazy doctors (and PAs) just do what a patient asks them to do.  They let the patient self-diagnose and then give them prescriptions for medications the patients see on commercials.

I agree with the first part of your statement and I think it applies here. I am sure that in Joyce's situation, at some point she had low oxygen levels which prompted a provider to order oxygen. I mean, look at the resistance she has to breathe against to get air into her lungs.

That said, (from a PA standpoint, we are not able to just randomly order oxygen for home use for patients. Our (hospitalized) patients need a full evaluation by a respiratory therapist to   justify the ordering/cost of home oxygen, which requires education of the patient and family, arranging delivery, etc.  Once a patient is approved for it, there are scheduled deliveries and probably in Joyce's case, no follow up to see if she truly still needs it.

But I agree that those who "are" their illnesses, real or perceived, get some sort of satisfaction from the fact that they have something tangible to project their disability to others, both to garner sympathy or manipulate (which she is a master at).

Just wanted to defend my profession 🙂

[KateHearts]

1 hour ago, sempervivum said:

Pretty sure the doc takes frame size into account; I actually usually think his weight goals are pretty modest. Her feet (allowing for the gigantic toenails and thick layer of calluses) were small, so it's possible there was a small skeleton under all that flab. According to the World Health Organization, the range for her size and age is between 91.6 and 123.8.

Ain't no way.

Working in a teaching hospital, we cared for some of the most unhealthy patients out there- a lot of whom had never had healthcare at all.  while I used to think 200 lbs was a large woman in general, in my years there my gauge went up and I realized that 300 was the new 200lbs.  And most of these very large women had itty bitty feet. We're talking size 5 or 6.  I marveled at how they could balance their bodies on such tiny little pegs.

[JunkFoodTV]

On 2/9/2020 at 11:58 AM, PrincessPurrsALot said:

My prediction if Lola is involved:

She's writing a letter to Mommy, 
Her address is somewhere, who knows?
I've written "Dear Mommy, I hate you
And blame you for all of my woes"

If she is not going to even try she can do the "I've written a letter to Daddy" version and deliver it in person. 

[nokat]

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by nokat
was probably crossing the line