S07.E05: Cynthia and Ricky

[auntieminem]

 

Two hoarders are living in life threatening conditions. Cynthia has a debilitating auto immune disease and lives in a hoard that could make her illness deadly. Meanwhile, Ricky sleeps in a house packed with paper and other flammables that are one spark away from an inferno.

[auntieminem]

Matt said on FB he will be live posting during the episode.  

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Matt-Paxton/163346740345178?fref=ts

 

Last week, Cory also posted right after on FB.  He is on tonight's episode as well.

Edited June 26, 2015 by auntieminem

[auntieminem]

Tough ones.  Ricky really needs lots of aftercare therapy.  I am surprised the house is not condemned since it only has the one safe room.  

 

I hate mice and rats worse than anything.  I sure hope I do not have nightmares about them tonight. Such a sad woman.  

[LittleIggy]

What happened with Cynthia? I had to switch over to "Hannibal." I hate when shows run over a minute or two intro the next hour.

Also, I missed how she lost her foster kids. What happened?

Ricky's house should be condemned.

[califred]

Matt said the foster kids were removed on his Facebook page.

[auntjess]

It seemed that when her husband left/died?, she lost the foster children.  I wasn't clear on how the marriage ended, or if the hoarding had already begun.

I couldn't see why the fire marshal, if not the health department, didn't condemn Rick's house, and order everyone out on the spot.
He clearly couldn't cope, and Cynthia couldn't either. 

[OSM Mom]

How was Rickys house not just condemned outright? That top floor is going to fall in. And soon. He needs to be somewhere where he is taken care of. The dude us seriously messed up.

And how was Cynthia not getting sick all the time living in that crap? Methinks her immune system is stronger than she thinks it is. What happened with her birds? I never saw them after the cleanup.

[califred]

Ricky's house most definitely should be condemned. It's going to fall on him.

[Galloway Cave]

 

The dude us seriously messed up.

Rick was deep, deep into mental illness. Way beyond hoarder mental illness. A three-day hoarder intervention with a bunch of hand-holding by The Zaz was not going to cut it. They needed to do what they did at the end- get his friend Rosie to take him away for the duration, clear out as much as possible to assess the home damage, get the place condemned and then get Rick placed into a facility that can deal with his illness. There is no way utilities will be turned on to the place and he will continue to use candles and smoke in that tinderbox. Plus the whole pee bucket situation (Matt!) dumped outside on a regular basis means the place is a haz mat site. It's really strange that The Zaz and Cory just kind of washed their hands of the situation.

[califred]

I wonder if he's always been mentally ill and that's why the wife left with the kids.

[NYCFree]

I think they did as best as could be realistically done with Ricky. They knew he would never agree to be institutionalized. Our society doesn't have much set up to deal with people like him--those managing to eke by.

They set up a room so that he could live in some kind of comfort and dignity. I think they said they could get the utilities back on.

Cynthia reminded me of a one-off hoarding show from England. At first insisting that everything was fine, it was merely a matter of organization (the English guy had to slither atop his junk, he didn't even have goat paths). At some point during the clean up a light bulb just blazed on "how could I live like this?"

[auntjess]

One thing that struck me about Cynthia, was how well-groomed and put together she looked, more so than some of her family.

[pakalolo]

I think they did as best as could be realistically done with Ricky. They knew he would never agree to be institutionalized. Our society doesn't have much set up to deal with people like him--those managing to eke by.

They set up a room so that he could live in some kind of comfort and dignity. I think they said they could get the utilities back on.

I agree, Hoarders knew they would be sending Ricky off to live on the streets/jail with his mental illness if they had his house condemned. There is help out there for people who want it and will work for it, but I don't think Ricky was interested and he would have ended up in a much more dangerous situation if they forced him out of his house, unfortunately.

[suzy]

Please never say "it's like losing a child" IT'S NOT LIKE LOSING A CHILD, NOTHING IS. I'm so sorry Cynthia lost her foster children for what ever reason, but the fact that they have moved from your house, knowing they are alive and breathing is NOTHING like losing a child. That, my dear, is a devastating loss without the knowledge that the children are ultimately living their life, growing, achieving milestones, etc. I'm sure Cynthia has experienced trauma in her life that I don't understand, by the grace of God there go I, however, on behalf of fellow parents that have buried their children, please do not exaggerate on this topic.

[notyrmomma]

The foster children probably went back to their birth mother.....

 

Ricky needs to be moved to an assisted living home at the least.

[kassa]

One thing that struck me about Cynthia, was how well-groomed and put together she looked, more so than some of her family.

 

 

I could be mixing up my hoarders, but didn't they say she was a home health aid or something like that?  So she's going out into people's homes.

 

I have to say those are always the most fascinating hoarders to me -- not the ones who are pooping in buckets and never leaving the house except to dumpster dive/buy crap at yardsales, but the ones who hold 9-5 jobs, present perfectly normally out in the world, yet have houses filled to the ceiling with old pizza boxes and critter waste-encrusted craft projects.  Whatever the level of their dysfunction at home, they are mentally together enough to function outside their own four walls.

 

As opposed to Ricky.  I agree that they finally just agreed among themselves to provide him with a temporary safe haven until the inevitable happens -- a tragedy, or the airing of the show prompting condemnation of the house.  Just because there' s a part of the house that doesn't face the second floor falling into the first floor doesn't mean the town just says "Okey dokey, then -- just promise to stay away from the 18 tons of crap you prize so highly on that side of the house."  I don't know if the term is probable cause, but they obviously have enough reason to go in now and take a look. 

 

He won't last in assisted living, even if he had the money for it and cleaned up enough that they agreed to take him  When that house is gone, he's on the streets or in a brother's house.  Except probably not, because the one brother has obviously been busting his behind trying to keep him in the house to begin with.  Maybe they'll pay for a boarding house room for him.  

Edited July 7, 2015 by kassa