S03.E06: Susan's Story

[ChristmasJones]

37yo Susan has never lived on her own

[aliya]

No comments?  She bothered me at first, but she kept trying and she got away from her enabling mother, so I have to give props to that. 

I've never heard of neuropathy like hers before. I know about the diabetic kind, mostly in your feet tho I learned recently you can get it in other places in the body, but not where people become almost paralyzed. I'm surprised they didn't do surgery on her stomach - hasn't Dr Now done that first on a few people, just so they could have more mobility? For sure all that weight on her upper thighs must have decreased circulation or put pressure on the nerves in the legs. Whew. 

 

I can't believe she's 37. My son is 37; she  looks older than I do. 

[Galloway Cave]

I'm glad she finally moved away from her mom. I was stunned at the amount of weight she lost that first month at her brother's house. But she still look very heavy for weighing 240 pounds. I'm surprised there was no talk of removing her stomach skin. When she was filmed at the beginning taking a bath, it looked like a lot of her stomach skin was black, so it might be too degraded to do surgery on.

 

I'm surprised her mom didn't loose any weight during the process either.

 

Hopefully Susan will continue with therapy. If what her sister says is true, she has a lot of mental work ahead of her. I also wonder what kind of life she can now live, having spent 37 years in a trailer with her mom waiting on her. Can she get some kind of job? Does she just become a housekeeper at her brother's house? Hopefully she will be able to continue improve with her walking.

[Betweenyouandme]

Dr. Now said Susan had peripheral neuropathy.

This episode made me cry. It was interesting that she did so well but had those hyperventilating episodes. I couldn't tell if she was faking. I mean, the doctor pretty much said she was, but she did have a medical reason-the neuropathy- and then she ended up leaving her mom and getting back on track. Maybe she overreacted but I don't know...some people just have a lower pain threshold whether it's physical or emotional. She seemed so utterly depressed in the beginning, it was great to see a pretty happy ending.

[deedee2]

I've never heard of neuropathy like hers before. I know about the diabetic kind, mostly in your feet tho I learned recently you can get it in other places in the body, but not where people become almost paralyzed ... For sure all that weight on her upper thighs must have decreased circulation or put pressure on the nerves in the legs. Whew. 

 

 

 

My question is - why did the neuropathy show up only after she lost 160 lbs? You'd think it would have happened when she was at her heaviest.

[non sequitur]

I can't believe Susan's mother.  The grocery shopping trip at the first was painful.  There was no need to buy all of that high fat junk food, it was so excessive.  This is a clear case of someone needing to be in a different environment.  

 

I hope she continues to do well, she already seems so much happier.

[deedee2]

 

But she still look very heavy for weighing 240 pounds.

 

The final weight they showed was 340 lbs.

[swankie]

I think I could take that therapist a little more serious without the Nicki Minaj wig.  Just sayin.  I too wonder why Susan didn't get any skin surgery.  I would think walking would be so much easier without that big apron hanging down.  Maybe Dr. Now was waiting for her to get under 200 lbs so as not to have to repeat the surgery as Susan progresses.  I was also amazed at how much she lost before the surgery.  I can't wait to see Susan and Amber on the Where Are They Now follow up.

[Josette]

 

My question is - why did the neuropathy show up only after she lost 160 lbs?

 

Apparently, peripheral neuropathy is not uncommon after bariatric surgery.  

 

Dr. Berger's points were driven home by a new Mayo Clinic study, which found that a constellation of factors – rapid weight loss, postoperative complications, protracted gastrointestinal problems, and poor nutritional support – appear to place morbidly obese patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery at heightened risk of developing neurological ailments, chiefly peripheral neuropathy.

 

“The most important factor that emerged was probably rapid weight loss, which occurs in most patients who develop peripheral neuropathy following surgery,” said Pariwat Thaisetthawtkul, MD, a neurology fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. “Rapid weight loss, in turn, may be associated with a high incidence of nausea and vomiting, which would prevent patients from taking nutritional supplements,” he said. “There may be cause and effect.”

 

Neurology Today

 

Susan started out well, had some problems, and then ended up seemingly back on track. I hope it works out for her.

[notyrmomma]

I bet the neuropathy was caused by a severe vitamin B (and/or D) deficiency from the rapid weight loss.  I wish they would have mentioned that instead of just blaming it on the excess weight, because it is a real danger with rapid weight loss.  They did kind of the same thing with Donald back in S1 - they implied that his Guillain–Barré was due to his weight, where he would have probably still gotten that even if he was at his ideal weight.

 

I bet her gallbladder is shot at this point too.

 

Also, I wonder why they made her lose 100 pounds before the surgery?  She wasn't one of the heaviest ones.  I wonder what was really going on there.

[Cherrio]

Besides all the obvious stuff, the sick enabling mother what stood out for me was that she was able to lose 158 on her own before surgery.  That was a HUGE sign she could of taken the weight off without the surgery.  I wanted Dr. Now to say , look at how wonderful you have done on your own, you can do the rest and not have to have the surgery.    With non surgical medical and emotional help she could of done it.  

    I did notice that she called what looked like sugar free Jello .....yogurt though.   Or maybe I saw it wrong.

            Its too bad so many people who are super obese think that surgery is the ONLY option.    I guess its the MC instant world we live in , which to me is sad.

[gunderda]

 

Also, I wonder why they made her lose 100 pounds before the surgery?  She wasn't one of the heaviest ones.  I wonder what was really going on there.

 

I think a combination to show that she could do it AND because she had a lot of skin infection that needed to be taken care of which I'm assuming Dr. Now thought could only be treated by a lot of weight loss. 

 

I did not understand why she got all angry that her fast food took more than a minute for her to get. And acting like she's worried about all the people behind her. 

 

I thought we were in for another penny episode as well so I'm glad to see that is not what happened!

 

And Dr Now doesn't do skin surgery on these people until they're down to at least 250 or less. She was still in the 300's when the show ended.  He likes to make sure that skin doesn't have any actual fat in it. 

[PityFree]

I kept wondering why Dr. Now didn't have someone help her with her stomach apron. Isn't there any type of wrap or sling she would wear to keep the skin from pulling so much? I realize that the ones that are out there might not fit someone of her size, but maybe something could have been improvised. That huge flap wasn't helping her walking any or helping her keep her balance when she was mobile. 

 

I think she started having troubles with her neuropathy only after she lost weight because she was moving more than she was at a higher weight. I am disappointed that Dr. Now didn't recognize her nerve problems when she first mentioned it. He sees lots of obese patients - he must recognize that as a common problem. If he had directed her toward help sooner, she may not have had such a setback. 

[islandgal140]

I wondered if Susan ever had a job in her life.

 

Could she have possibly be on disability? How the heck did she manage to pay for the surgery and extended stay at rehab?

 

I was shocked that she managed to lose 150 lbs on her own. SHOCKED! I tells ya!! Part of me wondered why she didn't think to herself "hey, I lost this massive amount of weight on my own in a short amount of time, maybe I don't need this extreme surgery and should continue doing what I am doing." But I guess there wouldn't be a show if she did. 

[xls]

I can't believe Susan's mother.  The grocery shopping trip at the first was painful.  There was no need to buy all of that high fat junk food, it was so excessive.  This is a clear case of someone needing to be in a different environment.  

 

I hope she continues to do well, she already seems so much happier.

 

 

I said on another thread that I find the Mother's deliberate overfeeding an act of hostility, maybe even in the Munchausen by proxy category.

 

" About MBPS

In MBPS, an individual — usually a parent or caregiver— causes or fabricates symptoms in a child. The adult deliberately misleads others (particularly medical professionals), and may go as far as to actually cause symptoms in the child through poisoning, medication, or even suffocation. In most cases (85%), the mother is responsible for causing the illness or symptoms.

Typically, the cause is a need for attention and sympathy from doctors, nurses, and other professionals. Some experts believe that it isn't just the attention that's gained from the "illness" of the child that drives this behavior, but also the satisfaction in deceiving individuals who they consider to be more important and powerful than themselves."

Edited February 12, 2015 by xls

[Cherrio]

I wondered if Susan ever had a job in her life.

 

Could she have possibly be on disability? How the heck did she manage to pay for the surgery and extended stay at rehab?

 

I was shocked that she managed to lose 150 lbs on her own. SHOCKED! I tells ya!! Part of me wondered why she didn't think to herself "hey, I lost this massive amount of weight on my own in a short amount of time, maybe I don't need this extreme surgery and should continue doing what I am doing." But I guess there wouldn't be a show if she did. 

I wish she had done it on her own like I said in my previous post.  Good to know I am not the only one who was thinking this. Surgery should always be a last resort.

[gunderda]

I was really shocked too - especially when Dr Now gives people 24-50 pounds to lose and they just barely make it. But she was suppose to lose 100 and she lost 150!

 

I was also surprised that she didn't lose anything - and gained after surgery, even if she's bed ridden she should have lost weight just by eating less.

[poeticlicensed]

Here's what I don't understand. She went to Dr Now, he said lose 100 pounds in 2 months. She loses 150. Then  she has surgery, and a host of physical problems show up. Given that she had a dramatic weight loss in a short period of time, why have the surgery? She showed that she was able to take off weight through diet and exercise and was doing really well.The surgery seemed to set her back instead of help her. Maybe it was just the way her story played out, it just didn't make any sense. She lost 150 pounds in 2 months, then for the next 6 barely lost any weight at all. 

 

And I yelled out when mom pulled into a fast food drive through after a bad day. Seriously? I totally agreed with her sister. mom was all about comforting her daughter with food. And probably never stopped to think what was going to happen after she passed away. 

 

I was actually surprised to see how mobile Susan was at her heaviest. She could still drive, sit down in a bathtub. 

 

But of all the My 600 pound life patients, the ravages of super obesity and the toll it takes on a body were  the most evident in Susan. She walked hunched over dragging that huge stomach. You could see that her back and neck were misshappen. Even her neck looked weird.  

Edited February 12, 2015 by poeticlicensed

[deedee2]

 

But of all the My 600 pound life patients, the ravages of super obesity and the toll it takes on a body were  the most evident in Susan. She walked hunched over dragging that huge stomach. You could see that her back and neck were misshappen. Even her neck looked weird.

 

It's funny how people carry weight so differently. At the end of the show, Susan weighed 340 lbs, which is 40 lbs less than Whitney on My Big Fat Fabulous Life! The distribution of fat is radically different on their bodies.

[Ocean Chick]

I wonder if her mom was afraid that if Susan lost the weight, that she'd want to move out and be independent (just like she did!), and mom would be left all alone.  Some people are just afraid to be alone.  So if that was going through her subconscious, maybe that's why she kept Susan fat?

 

Anyway, I was prepared to want to slap Susan silly when she started in with her whining, but I ended up rooting for her.  I hope next season we see her lose even more weight and get the skin surgery she needs.  And see her find a job and support herself.  Her sister seems to be a good person to help guide her into a healthier lifestyle.

[Galloway Cave]

 

The final weight they showed was 340 lbs.

Ah, thanks! I have a raging cold, so my eyes deceived me there. It is interesting how she is carrying her weight, all up in her shoulders and upper back, with that huge stomach flap and neck cowl. The skin surgery should remove the stomach flap but won't do anything for the rest. If she can keep walking hopefully she can loose size in those areas. I'm rooting for her too.

[goodbyeglittergirl]

I, too, thought that after she lost so much weight on her own that SOMEONE would say - Hey, why don't we try this on our own before putting you through a surgery? But then I guess there wouldn't be a show. I hope she continues to get counseling because I don't think she will stay successful without it.

[mmecorday]

 

Susan yelling at the fast food cashier was really irritating,

I really admire the restraint of the fast food worker. Had I been in her place, I would have been all, "Look, when you order half the menu, it's going to take time to put it all together."

[PityFree]

Here's what I don't understand. She went to Dr Now, he said lose 100 pounds in 2 months. She loses 150. Then  she has surgery, and a host of physical problems show up. Given that she had a dramatic weight loss in a short period of time, why have the surgery? She showed that she was able to take off weight through diet and exercise and was doing really well.The surgery seemed to set her back instead of help her. Maybe it was just the way her story played out, it just didn't make any sense. She lost 150 pounds in 2 months, then for the next 6 barely lost any weight at all. 

This is the "only a 5% chance of success" statistic they show at the beginning. Lots of people lose weight all the time! But keeping it off is extremely difficult. That's why Weight Watchers/Jenny Craig/diet companies makes so much money. People lose it and then gain it back - over and over. If I had a nickle for every time I have heard an overweight person talk about how well Weight Watchers works, I would be a very rich woman. IIRC, the diet Dr. Now gave her for the pre-surgery weight loss was very restrictive: low fat, no carbs, lots of protein, small portions. That is a huge change and a difficult change to sustain. The surgery helps them maintain long term at a greater rate than what they can do on their own.

[notyrmomma]

I, too, thought that after she lost so much weight on her own that SOMEONE would say - Hey, why don't we try this on our own before putting you through a surgery? But then I guess there wouldn't be a show. I hope she continues to get counseling because I don't think she will stay successful without it.

I don't know if I can articulate this properly, but losing weight is just not as simple as eating less and moving more.  When you have multiple hundreds of pounds to lose, you lose it fast at first, but after the first couple of months, the weight loss slows dramatically.  This means that you have to stay on a diet for a very very long time, which is nearly impossible to do without a little help.  It's one thing if you want to drop a quick 10 lbs for your high school reunion, losing 400+ pounds can take years of strict dieting....look at Ruby for example.  And you don't get to 600 lbs without some serious food issues that you just can't turn off like a switch.  

[KarmaG]

I haven't read the other comments yet, I will as soon as I am done watching the episode. I am all of 5 minutes in and already want to smack this chic. You are mobile enough to walk to the car to get fast food, get ticked off because O M G you might have to wait a few minutes for said food and then have a tantrum because the grocery store doesn't have a scooter for you to ride around in. Seriously?! You're mobile enough to walk to the car, then walk around your house a few times a day. You need a scooter that bad? Get a wheel chair or see if the state will buy you a scooter. Mostly, walk around your house a few times a day!! Ugh. Ok had to rant/vent, back to watching.

I don't know if I can articulate this properly, but losing weight is just not as simple as eating less and moving more.  When you have multiple hundreds of pounds to lose, you lose it fast at first, but after the first couple of months, the weight loss slows dramatically.  This means that you have to stay on a diet for a very very long time, which is nearly impossible to do without a little help.  It's one thing if you want to drop a quick 10 lbs for your high school reunion, losing 400+ pounds can take years of strict dieting....look at Ruby for example.  And you don't get to 600 lbs without some serious food issues that you just can't turn off like a switch.  

 

Ok, Ruby's name caught my eye so I had to reply (before continuing Susan's episode). Ruby did awesome as long as she stuck to a diet, any diet other than greasy food all day every day. It didn't even require strict dieting, it just required sticking to it. She didn't but was great at the lying and manipulation to make people think she did, even production fell for it for a long time.

[gunderda]

Oh yea I forgot about the grocery store.  I didn't understand why she could just sit in the seating area and wait for her mom.  But then I realized that like Penny she had to approve all food purchases and dictate what she wants to eat. 

[notyrmomma]

But Ruby still hasn't lost all of the weight.  I don't even think she is close.  I follow her on Facebook and she never shows pictures of herself.

[non sequitur]

But Ruby still hasn't lost all of the weight.  I don't even think she is close.  I follow her on Facebook and she never shows pictures of herself.

I think she regained but later lost weight again on another diet and exercise program.

[KarmaG]

But Ruby still hasn't lost all of the weight.  I don't even think she is close.  I follow her on Facebook and she never shows pictures of herself.

 

Only because she doesn't really try. In all these years she had so many opportunities to do so. It's just not going to happen. Like I said, she can't stick to a diet. That's a  choice. It doesn't have to be a strict diet, like I said above, any diet would work minus the "as long as it fits in my face I eat it" diet.

[KarmaG]

Besides all the obvious stuff, the sick enabling mother what stood out for me was that she was able to lose 158 on her own before surgery.  That was a HUGE sign she could of taken the weight off without the surgery.  I wanted Dr. Now to say , look at how wonderful you have done on your own, you can do the rest and not have to have the surgery.    With non surgical medical and emotional help she could of done it.  

    I did notice that she called what looked like sugar free Jello .....yogurt though.   Or maybe I saw it wrong.

            Its too bad so many people who are super obese think that surgery is the ONLY option.    I guess its the MC instant world we live in , which to me is sad.

 

I saw the Jello and thought the same exact thing. Yogurt and Jello are very different things in every way possible. Also thought the same about her weight loss. She proved she could do it on her own without surgery. I too wish Dr Now had found a way to help her without having to do the surgery.

[KarmaG]

I thought the jello/yogurt thing was just a voice-over flub. I don't think she's seriously confusing the two. 

 

I would agree if it didn't happen several times during the episode and when she opened the fridge there was zero containers of yogurt but plenty of Jello.

[yogi2014L]

I thought the jello/yogurt thing was just a voice-over flub. I don't think she's seriously confusing the two. 

 

I just used an internet weightloss calculator with Susan's data, and to lose 145 lbs over a month and a half, she would have needed to take in -5294 calories. Like James with his eggs and milk, it's unsustainable and meant to be super low-cal in order to achieve a specific milestone, like many medical diets. She can't live on 500 calories (or whatever) a day for the rest of her life.

That just goes to show how much they need to be eating to GAIN weight at 400+ lbs. crazy. 

[rubyred]

I hope Susan continues/d to get therapy. I muted that part because I couldn't take her crying anymore. Her sister seemed to think that her parent's divorce was the emotional catalyst for this self-abuse -- a marriage that was physically abusive, culminating in her dad pulling a rifle on her mom - the DIVORCE is what sent her over the edge? I don't know about that. It also didn't seem like she'd ever had a job, but she had the most obvious negative side effects of her weight -- just listening to her breath was painful to me.

 

Also I've noticed a trend: her mother -- and other caregivers in the series -- as the patient loses weight, the caregiver gains.

[KarmaG]

I only saw it the one time when she opened the refrigerator. What other times did it happen?

 

She opened the fridge twice but voiceover mentioned the yogurt/jello a few times, 4 or so I think.

[Pixel]

I would agree if it didn't happen several times during the episode and when she opened the fridge there was zero containers of yogurt but plenty of Jello.

There was a whole tray of Light and Fit yogurt under the box of Jello. I noticed it because I thought, that's not zero carb! But it is very low carb.

[ChristmasJones]

My favorite moment in this episode was when she was in the grocery store and her mom offered to bring the chair with them while they shopped. There is a shot of the chair in the grocery cart, and then the mom says "what kind of cake do you want?"

 

To me that moment highlighted how dysfunctional their relationship with food and each other had become.

 

I also wish they had shown more examples like the one in the drive through- where Susan got super snippy with the cashier. Maybe that is how she talked to her mom behind closed doors.

[Toaster Strudel]

I suspect that her mother was eating her share of cake and Nachos... she should be considering the surgery, too.

[Shibori]

It's funny how people carry weight so differently. At the end of the show, Susan weighed 340 lbs, which is 40 lbs less than Whitney on My Big Fat Fabulous Life! The distribution of fat is radically different on their bodies.

Whitney's maybe 2-3 years away from being on this show herself, but she's certainly heading in that direction.

[aliya]

But Ruby still hasn't lost all of the weight.  I don't even think she is close.  I follow her on Facebook and she never shows pictures of herself.

For some strange reason, I was looking at Ruby on FB the other week and noticed the same thing. I don't see how she still has followers. 

 

The scene in the store with the cake just made me shake my head. WTH?

 

As for diets, I can understand that at 600 lbs or so, surgery would be the best choice because it relieves so many physical problems at once. That said, since Susan was able to lose so much pre-surgery, I wish she had given a plant-based diet a try (I'm not saying veganism because there are tons of bad 'vegan' foods out there). You can eat a lot of food, usually no need to count calories, and a great variety. Yes, it would be different from what she normally eats, but a well-planned plant based diet would be hearty and is doable for a life time. I know people get all weirded out about not eating meat and dairy, it's just my suggestion.  I've got to think that for some of these people, the idea of being on a restrictive diet for a life time must be frightening.

[notyrmomma]

I think she regained but later lost weight again on another diet and exercise program.

Nope.  I believe Ruby is still 350+ (and I'm being nice).  I know this is hard for people who have never had a weight problem to understand, but when you get that heavy, it's nearly impossible to lose it on your own.  It's like something strange happens when you pass that 300 lb mark.  It's almost like your stomach stretches out so much you never get full, and for whatever reason, filling your stomach with lettuce just doesn't cut it.  And about Whitney, I want to like her so much, but she is heavily delusional if she thinks just exercising will take the weight off.  She's young now, but give her 10 years maintaining 380 lbs and she's not going to be able to walk due to the damage her dancing will cause her joints.  She needs to suck it up and get weight loss surgery as soon as she can.  I bet her PCOS would even improve.

[4leafclover]

 

 

My favorite moment in this episode was when she was in the grocery store and her mom offered to bring the chair with them while they shopped. There is a shot of the chair in the grocery cart, and then the mom says "what kind of cake do you want?"

To me that moment highlighted how dysfunctional their relationship with food and each other had become.

 

I thought the same thing--that was the very definition of "irony!"  

[CarolMK]

I wonder if Susan has some type of emotional problems that the show didn't talk about. During the scene where she's crying in the doctor's office while her mom and sister were arguing with each other, she looked like a frightened child, hiding her face, and from the way her mom was talking, the father wasn't the only one who was abusive. It's so weird that her mom seemed to see Susan as "her baby girl" and had this need to take care of her, and Susan always went along with it.What a sad life for the two of them. That said,

I noticed that her brother's house was much nicer than the crappy trailer she was living in with her mom, and he didn't appear one time on camera.

I do hope that Susan continues to do well.

 

As for Ruby, I actually saw an update from her, Jeff and Georgia about a year ago on YouTube, and she said she weighed 318 lbs. It was about 40 minutes long. She does look better and quite a bit prettier now that you can really see her face. Ruby probably doesn't look all that much different from many other women now, considering she is

5 ft 9. She should have had skin removal surgery while she still had her show, that would probably take off at least 30 more lbs considering she was once 716 at her highest.

[KarmaG]

There was a whole tray of Light and Fit yogurt under the box of Jello. I noticed it because I thought, that's not zero carb! But it is very low carb.

 

Ooooh, damn I am blind lately :)

[CousinOliver]

There was a whole tray of Light and Fit yogurt under the box of Jello. I noticed it because I thought, that's not zero carb! But it is very low carb.

 

Yes, I noticed this too.  They blurred it out, but it's Light and Fit yogurt.  In the scene where Susan is eating an egg, there is a blurred out container to her right, and I believe there was a scene were she was eating from a blurred out yogurt container.  It seems like she was just generally speaking about food, her egg and yogurt breakfast, when she was getting a jello snack.  That, or as a previous poster mentioned, a VO flub. 

[Guest]

I wonder if Susan has some type of emotional problems that the show didn't talk about.

I have to believe this is the case. What with the constant crying, the weird outbursts at the slightest annoyance (drive through/grocery store) and the absolute joylessness with which she went thought life, I think Susan has a host of mental issues. Compound that with living in near total isolation from everyone in that near-windowless trailer and having no contact with the outside world -- it's a recipe for disaster.

The biggest distraction for me was the haircut scene. In the very next scene at the doctor's office, her hair is back to its original length. Please hire competent continuity editors, TLC.

[scowl]

I just used an internet weightloss calculator with Susan's data, and to lose 145 lbs over a month and a half, she would have needed to take in -5294 calories per day. 

 

According to my fitness calculator, that would require me to run 30 miles a day and not eat anything. But I would then weigh twenty pounds so perhaps this isn't possible.

[Miss Chevious]

But Ruby still hasn't lost all of the weight. I don't even think she is close. I follow her on Facebook and she never shows pictures of herself.

Yes it's too bad Ruby is still fat. If she would've stuck to a healthy diet since her show ended, she'd be thin now.

As for Susan, all I can say is her worst enemy is her mother. She needs to get out from under her influence permanently if she wants to be successful. Hope she can either stay with her brother or move out on her own.

[alegtostandon]

From what the sister said, Susan was devastated when her parents divorced and never recovered from this.  Based on what I saw, it was as if mentally, Susan stopped growing at this point. It seemed to me that the events that happened before the divorce would have been more difficult to handle and they would have welcomed the peace that came to the household without dad there pulling guns on mom and beating everyone.  I wonder where the dad is today.  I do not remember them mentioning him in present day. 

 

I agree with what others have said about the way Susan carried her weight.  I was really expecting her to be over 700 lbs.  I wonder how much time had actually gone by from the time Dr. told Susan to lose 100 lbs and she actually lost it.

 

I just will never understand how another person can sit by and watch their partner or child balloon up to over 600 lbs and still continue to buy the food for them.  The mom should have been in therapy also. 

 

I could not believe it when they took the chair from the dining area of the grocery store and put into the cart.  It did not look like a very sturdy chair.

[KarmaG]

I was wondering this. I would armchair-suspect some sort of arrested development or PTSD, but I also wonder if being smothered by a co-dependent mother is actually something that can be diagnosed. Susan seemed fearful and scared, and everything she spoke about were the kind of things a 13 or 14 year old would dream about when they grew up--being independent, having her own place, celebrating a birthday party. She didn't even speak about having a partner or anything like that. 

 

I agree. So many of the things she talked about wanting, the way she spoke about herself even, just came across as someone who stopped maturing around 14-17. It's kind of sad really. I hope some day she matures more and lives on her own, not with mom, not with brother or sister but alone.