S02.E10: Thick Line Between Love and Weight

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13 minutes ago, kassa said:

Vanessa had already used so many crude terms I assume it was a way of bonding with her without getting as crude as the patient already had.

Oddly Vannessa said vagina lol.

5 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I think Tina never wanted surgery, and I hope she cancelled sooner than the day of that they showed on the program. 

Assuming Tina is correct in saying there is a one percent chance she will die during weight loss surgery I’m sure it’s higher than one percent that she will die in the next five to ten years if she doesn’t get the surgery because she has shown she doesn’t have the discipline to lose a substantial amount via diet and exercise alone.

[Pi237]

And the way that Vanessa’s plastic surgeon said “my results” instead of “your results” just felt like she was more concerned about perfection for her reputation vs what would improve Vanessa's quality of life.

[tvfanatic13]

Why on earth hasn’t Vanessa gotten her tooth fixed yet? Fill the damn gap already. 

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2 hours ago, tvfanatic13 said:

Why on earth hasn’t Vanessa gotten her tooth fixed yet? Fill the damn gap already. 

I assume the show pays for the weight loss surgery or Proctor comps it for the advertising.  They don’t have that deal with a dentist.

[magemaud]

On 3/10/2023 at 5:27 PM, kassa said:

Maybe the difference is that Dr. Now is a general surgeon and not going for refined plastic surgery aesthetics, and this was a plastic surgeon who wants the best possible cosmetic result.

Great point! Dr. Now is a vascular surgeon and chops away at people's extra skin like a butcher and leaves Frankenstein like scars. 

13 hours ago, MrBuhBye said:

They don’t have that deal with a dentist.

Lots of TLC shows have dental makeovers like Angela, Darcey, Stacey (before Turkey) Last season, Tammy Slaton went to a dentist to have her missing tooth replaced but nothing ever came of it, still some dentist got his 15 minutes of fame. 

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31 minutes ago, magemaud said:

Great point! Dr. Now is a vascular surgeon and chops away at people's extra skin like a butcher and leaves Frankenstein like scars. 

Lots of TLC shows have dental makeovers like Angela, Darcey, Stacey (before Turkey) Last season, Tammy Slaton went to a dentist to have her missing tooth replaced but nothing ever came of it, still some dentist got his 15 minutes of fame. 

Yeah I just meant a weight loss show wouldn’t have that deal in place.

[Tipsymcstagger]

Well…that wedding was…ummm…interesting. I’m not that snarky and superficial - so I’ll stop right there with the description. That said - Meghan can get GTFOH. Tina too. One’s a freeloading drama queen and the other one is a spineless simp. They and their dorky hubbies can stay roommates from now until the end of time. I. DO. NOT. CARE.

I still can’t believe how much my opinion of vanessa changed this season. She seems to have a good heart. And overcompensates for her insecurities by being loud and kind of obnoxious. But that could also be the edit she got this year. Who knows tho with TLC? They aren’t exactly known for their concern for the “stars” they exploit or any kind of broadcast honesty or integrity. Anyway - I hope Vanessa keeps on keeping on and she gets the skin surgery she needs. I cannot even imagine carrying around all that weight in my midriff. That must be so uncomfortable if not downright painful. 
I’ll probably tune in for next season’s shit show just to see how Vanessa and Ashley fare. The other two? Refer to my comment above.

[goofygirl]

I SO want Vanessa to get skin surgery!!  Can't she see another plastic surgeon that won't want her to wait a frickin YEAR before she does ANYTHING?

It just doesn't seem right.  Here's Vanessa, toting around at least 40 pounds of skin around her midsection, bat wings on each arm.... Like her LEGS look normal to me.  Isn't there a way she can at LEAST do the bat wings?

Meghan & Tina.  Oy. Vey.  I think they must be co-dependent, otherwise, why would Tina's husband want Meghan to go so bad??  He wanted to KILL Meghan.  Not that I blame him!!

I want to strangle her and I don't even KNOW the beyotch.

Jeebus.  All these freaks gotta go. NOW.  Otherwise, I'm going to GO and then where will TLC be??

[Bugfrey Von]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:47 PM, Pi237 said:

Jonathan read his vows with the enthusiasm of someone reading off a shopping list.

I cringed. And then he started with the hear ye hear ye shit at the toast. Sir. This is a Wendy’s. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

10 hours ago, goofygirl said:

I SO want Vanessa to get skin surgery!!  Can't she see another plastic surgeon that won't want her to wait a frickin YEAR before she does ANYTHING?

It just doesn't seem right.  Here's Vanessa, toting around at least 40 pounds of skin around her midsection, bat wings on each arm.... Like her LEGS look normal to me.  Isn't there a way she can at LEAST do the bat wings?

Meghan & Tina.  Oy. Vey.  I think they must be co-dependent, otherwise, why would Tina's husband want Meghan to go so bad??  He wanted to KILL Meghan.  Not that I blame him!!

I want to strangle her and I don't even KNOW the beyotch.

Jeebus.  All these freaks gotta go. NOW.  Otherwise, I'm going to GO and then where will TLC be??

The bat wing arm surgery is major, and doing it once makes sense.   However the entire midsection skin removal involving cutting off her entire midsection skin, moving everything into place, and suturing it back it serious, and should only be done once.   My guess is she will need full time care by professionals for weeks.   Someone has to change her bandages, see if the sutures are holding together, check for infection, and she will be unable to maneuver and care for herself for quite a while.     I'm guessing some kind of recovery center will be involved for at least a couple of weeks.   That surgery has to be a one time operation.    She will probably have drains for a while too.    

[Scarlett45]

On 3/16/2023 at 7:56 AM, CrazyInAlabama said:

The bat wing arm surgery is major, and doing it once makes sense.   However the entire midsection skin removal involving cutting off her entire midsection skin, moving everything into place, and suturing it back it serious, and should only be done once.   My guess is she will need full time care by professionals for weeks.   Someone has to change her bandages, see if the sutures are holding together, check for infection, and she will be unable to maneuver and care for herself for quite a while.     I'm guessing some kind of recovery center will be involved for at least a couple of weeks.   That surgery has to be a one time operation.    She will probably have drains for a while too.    

Yes. I know Vanessa is uncomfortable, but she still has a lot of weight to lose. She should invest in some suppression garments for the time being so her midsection stays still when she walks. Wearing the shorts and leggings she does isn’t helping. There’s still quite a bit of fat under the skin, surgery wouldn’t be optimal. Although recovery for her arms wouldn’t be anywhere as intense as her midsection- it would still limit her mobility for a while,(which would slow her weight loss) and going under is a risk. It’s sucks but it’s best to wait, it’s only a year. She had been over 400lbs for DECADES. What’s one more year?

[kassa]

I certainly wouldn't advise the entire abdominal reconstruction surgery until she's fully at goal. But removal of 30 lbs of skin off her midsection would enable her to live and move more comfortably AND reach the ultimate goal where the major surgery would be appropriate.

Not downplaying the fact that any skin removal surgery is major surgery. But I don't buy that an intermediate abdominal surgery wouldn't be warranted/beneficial. As I recall the surgeon wasn't saying she wasn't ready because there was too much fat still to lose there, making it a bleeding risk (as Dr. Now often does), but that she needed to maintain the weight loss for a year to optimize the final cosmetic effect. 

It's possible that an initial surgery would be covered by insurance as medically indicated, but then the full body lift would be considered cosmetic, in which case the patient would have a hard decision to make - drastic improvement immediately and a large expense or living with major scarring/suboptimal looks, or living another year as is.

I hope she's using compression garments - maybe she takes them off for the show. But I can also see where they'd be hard to get into and hot given that she is sleeveless 99% of the time.