S10.E22: Reunion Part 3

[Mrs peel]

E is authenticating the documents. So we will see what shakes out.

Authenticating how?? City of Hope cannot confirm this is his bill.

I totally think he faked this, but one of the interesting things is there are limited ways that hospitals describe the various treatments and medicines - because insurance companies require certain language. So I am not surprised the language is identical.

More interesting to me is - are the drugs and other medical work described typical for the cancer he claimed to have?

I can't seem to make the copies large enough to read, are there prices listed? Because they should not be identical. In fact, shouldn't there be 2 sets of prices - one "actual", the other what your specific insurance will reimburse.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Mrs peel

[motorcitymom65]

That really would be horrible, one of the most horrible things I can imagine if Brooks is holding her hostage with information while abusing her and sabotaging all of her relationships with family, friends and co-workers. Vicki could seriously be in hell right now if she is that afraid of whatever he has on her. That would explain the xanax and her behavior. That kind of blackmail would actually mean Brooks is committing an arrestable offence. Breaking it down like that is an eye opener because the details get so muddled when we're talking about reality t.v.

If he is physically abusing her that would certainly be an arrestable offense, but I don't think it is illegal to tell her he will divulge her sins if she divulges his. Unless he is asking for money to keep quiet. Which he might be doing.

[Bronzedog]

If any of the speculation about Brooks blackmailing Vicki is true, Vicki must be in a living hell. Ain't no full tank worth all that.

[zoeysmom]

Authenticating how?? City of Hope cannot confirm this is his bill.

I totally think he faked this, but one of the interesting things is there are limited ways that hospitals describe the various treatments and medicines - because insurance companies require certain language. So I am not surprised the language is identical.

More interesting to me is - are the drugs and other medical work described typical for the cancer he claimed to have?

I can't seem to make the copies large enough to read, are there prices listed? Because they should not be identical. In fact, shouldn't there be 2 sets of prices - one "actual", the other what your specific insurance will reimburse.

They can deny it is their document.  If there is an invoice number all they have to say is it does not match what they have.  Brooks may think they can't but there is a whole another world when it comes to documents.   Same thing with people who use forge doctor's notes or prescriptions.  The alleged issuing office can confirm or deny.  Brooks is putting this document out there for all the world to see, he can't coyly claim some kind of privilege.

[AnnA]

My guess is that Brooks is blackmailing Vicki about some shady business deal.

 

If that's true, I'll say what Vicki said about Shannon......"She got what she deserved."

[WireWrap]

My guess is that Brooks is blackmailing Vicki about some shady business deal.

 

If that's true, I'll say what Vicki said about Shannon......"She got what she deserved."

I agree that it is a business deal and would hazzard a guess that it is related to the Vodka lawsuit or to money hidden during her divorce from Donn.

[zoeysmom]

If he is physically abusing her that would certainly be an arrestable offense, but I don't think it is illegal to tell her he will divulge her sins if she divulges his. Unless he is asking for money to keep quiet. Which he might be doing.

 

 

 

If any of the speculation about Brooks blackmailing Vicki is true, Vicki must be in a living hell. Ain't no full tank worth all that.

I think what has been implied is they signed confidentiality agreements that state they cannot speak disparagingly about each other.  Stupid questions I have ever heard, "what does he have on you?"  That sounds more like a question for someone who has had 10 Xanax.

[freeradical]

If he is physically abusing her that would certainly be an arrestable offense, but I don't think it is illegal to tell her he will divulge her sins if she divulges his. Unless he is asking for money to keep quiet. Which he might be doing.

No. True. Not unless money is involved or maybe a crime? Like if she is committing tax fraud and she had proof he said some sort of "if you do or don't do (blank) then I will out you." It should be illegal. At the very least it would be a storyline for law and order or something!

[freeradical]

I think what has been implied is they signed confidentiality agreements that state they cannot speak disparagingly about each other. Stupid questions I have ever heard, "what does he have on you?" That sounds more like a question for someone who has had 10 Xanax.

On RHONY some of the ladies were speculating that Aviva "had something" on Sonja because all of a sudden Sonja was nice to Aviva. Like what? It is a weird thing to say. But when I heard it about Vicki I immediately thought of the Giudice family and the shady money stuff. Watching Housewives has clearly made me think the worst of these women most of the time.

[Bronzedog]

If Brooks has anything on Vicki, my guess would also be that it has something to do with her business/money dealings. Work! Has always been too important to her. She sells insurance for God's sake. She's not saving lives.

[athousandclowns]

No way  is that document for chemo going to be proven his. It's the exact same list of drugs that was on line!  Chemo drugs are not all the same and like someone mentioned the drug that causes hair loss is listed.  Know what is the clincher folks? The noted either 2-3 tabs of acetaminophen given at ZERO charge. That's just CRAZY.  Every chemo cancer infusion location I assume is different but both Stanford (old and shabby) and a local center had big comfy new recliners and I could find a very uncomfortable chair and pull it up.

also private little rooms where people are really sick and can lay on a bed to be sick.  You get to know your nurses, you want to be on top of everything. Vicki is so full of shit. The first time he tried pancreatic cancer would have been enough for most people.

Yes you can take a half Xanax which I have done, followed by the other half minutes later.

Despicable people.  I hope it comes crashing down hard on both of them.

[WireWrap]

It looks like E is NOT buying what Brooks is selling. Maybe someone can post the link to the E story because I can not. Also the site TT has a copy of the Dr.'s letter Brooks gave E and even TT, who defended Brooks up until now has changed her mind and believes he lied about cancer.

[pamme64]

Heather talked about this on her podcast. According to her, this Dr. told Brooks that Heather was his patient and told him all about the cellulite treatment he did on Heather, going into details and then he/Vicki told Tamra/Shannon all about it. Heather found out, I think from Tamra, sent the Dr, who was already in trouble/on probation,  a C&D letter and the Dr then called Heather to tell her that Brooks was NOT his patient...ever.

 

IMO, Most likely, Brooks met this Dr somewhere at an event/bar/poker game and the (maybe drunk) Dr spilled Heathers business/private medical info after Brooks said that he knew Heather/Terry to impress the Dr. Then at CUT, Brooks reveals he is quitting chemo in favor of resveratrol based on this Dr....who Heather "might know" making it sound like he is "seeing/going to" this Dr when he was once again lying. LOL

I'll see your theory and put forth another one.....   Heather might have mentioned this Dr to the HW's Vicki mentioned it in passing, Brooks retained the name and then made up a story. Resveratrol is a popular item to talk about when discussing health living and things of that ilk.....which he learned about from the juice lady.  They put together a story and worked it.  

Side observation, Brooks got schooled when he took on Heather.  

[pamme64]

That really would be horrible, one of the most horrible things I can imagine if Brooks is holding her hostage with information while abusing her and sabotaging all of her relationships with family, friends and co-workers. Vicki could seriously be in hell right now if she is that afraid of whatever he has on her. That would explain the xanax and her behavior. That kind of blackmail would actually mean Brooks is committing an arrestable offence. Breaking it down like that is an eye opener because the details get so muddled when we're talking about reality t.v.

 

It would take so much more then a fake cancer story to go there. 

[Satchels of gold]

As far as the duplicate bill why would Brooke's have had a PT EVAL done? He was ambulatory and not deconditioned at all, that doesn't make any sense. Secondly it's hard to beleive the treatment regime was actually the same and cost the exact same given that the Google image one was from 2012. Well Brooke's proves my belief still stands , if a man will cheat his kids he will cheat anyone.

[lyric]

Here's the E! article:  http://www.eonline.com/news/713028/brooks-ayers-cancer-treatment-in-question-6-inconsistences-exposed-in-his-medical-documents

[WireWrap]

Here's the E! article:  http://www.eonline.com/news/713028/brooks-ayers-cancer-treatment-in-question-6-inconsistences-exposed-in-his-medical-documents

Thank You!

[zoeysmom]

Here is the Tamara Tattles letter:  http://tamaratattles.com/2015/11/04/its-official-brooks-ayers-faked-cancer-again/#more-18333

[zoeysmom]

My OPINION is that Vicki fears Brooks will reveal damaging information about her MORE than she fears anything else. That fear over rides everything, including physical abuse, co-worker/friendship relationships and her daughter/family. I was in NO way dismissing the impact abuse has on a victim or how society can and often does then question if the abuse ever happened. I was talking about Vicki, NOT abuse victims in general, and what appears to be MOST important to HER, which is whatever Brooks is holding over her head to keep her quiet about any abuse.

After some thought to these very fine theories-I think Vicki is a willing participant with a goal of nothing more than to keep Brooks as a boyfriend.  Brooks as zero credibility, no one will believe some tale he tells.  The discovery is over in the federal case and Brooks has already participated.  Donn seems to have uncovered some of Vicki's deceit regarding the divorce.  Tamra and Heather need to shut up, instead of plying Vicki with excuses and false compliments they need to take a stroll and waive good bye to Vicki.

 

Vicki needs to go and not come back for a long while. There are just some lies you cannot recover from.  Vicki claiming to have sat through a chemo therapy session is just wrong on every level.

[PickleDeeDee]

I can't with this, the rerun is on right now and Vicki just screeched "none of you have lost your mothers yet" and it pissed me off, I read here that she said that, but I didn't hear it myself until just now.

Who says that!? For starters, I am a good 20 years younger than Vicki, I lost my mom to cancer in February, AND I lost my father to cancer about a year before that, but I would NEVER say that anybody else doesn't understand losing a mother. Not to be crass, but Vicki is pretty fortunate to have her mother as long as she did. I don't believe that makes it any harder/easier if you are older when you lose a parent, or anyone you love for that matter. But I am glad Meghan called her out.

Because Vicki is BIG into exclusivity.  She lives in Coto, an EXCLUSIVE gated community, people who have not had children will never understand how to love a child, only bio moms can do so, people who have not lost their mothers cannot relate to her, people who do not work all the time, including in limousines, do not understand TRUE hard work, people who have never been to Cabo or Havasu don't know what they are missing, beautiful people hired to serve as a sushi table cannot be educated like Vicki's children, people who settle for less than a FAMILY VAN are losers, etc. etc. 

Edited November 5, 2015 by PickleDeeDee

[leighroda]

Because Vicki is big into exclusivity. She lives in Coto, an EXCLUSIVE gated community, people who have not had children will never understand how to love a child, only bio moms can do so, people who have not lost their mothers cannot relate to her, people who do not work all the time, including in limousines, do not understand TRUE hard work, people who have never been to Cabo or Havasu don't know what they are missing, beautiful people hired to serve as a sushi table cannot be educated like Vicki's children, people who settle for less than a FAMILY VAN are losers, etc. etc.

You're right, although I lost both parents I am not working right now (I just finished nursing school and have to wait to take my boards to get a job, I'm not a deadbeat) I guess I don't deserve a casserole either... A www man, I was really looking forward to that.

[breezy424]

Soooo, is Brooks lying?  Seems to be.  Not only by the evidence presented by the links posters have provided (and thank you) but also by his past history of using cancer as an excuse to mend relationships.  Add to that, the people who have interacted with him (whether you like them or dislike them).

 

Did Vicki lie about Brook's cancer?  Well, she's all over the place on this.  She did admit she lied about his need for help after chemo to get a hug and casseroles.  And then we have the all over the place statements about going with him to chemo, etc.

 

Does Brook's have something on Vicki or is she a victim of abuse?  I do think Brooks may have something on Vicks.  Maybe the Vodka lawsuit or maybe she knew all along he didn't have cancer and they made a deal with endorsing that 'health' stuff.  I don't know but I think it's something....  Is it about abuse?  I think Brooks crossed a line (the shaking and some other things that Brianna alluded to.  Sure, take it for what it is and the source) but I don't think Vicki was abused to the point that she's under his spell so to speak because of that.  It's more about Vicks 'needing' a man in her life.  And I'm saying this as person who knew someone who I was very close to who was physically and verbally abused for decades.

 

Is Vicki done with RHOC because no one wants to be around her or film with her?  Nah.  As I said before, she'll be back.  She'll get the redemption season.  Will it be successful for her?  That remains to be seen.  It won't for me because I always thought she was on screwed up person but she has a lot of fans.

 

And Brooks will end up sailing into the sunset.  Nothing further will come of his lawsuit or whatever with Meg.  Vicks will end up paying him some money or she'll end up back with him.  That would be RH suicide but Vicks is that screwed up.  Unless, she finds a replacement to fill her love tank.   

Edited November 5, 2015 by breezy424

[Kiss my mutt]

My husband said that the least believable thing about the whole Brooks thing is that he hit on Brianna. He's such as ass sometimes.

Brooks went to Kinkos to get his pet scan I'm convinced.

[Irritable]

Where I live, giving homemade casseroles during hard times is pretty standard.  Major deaths in my family always = fridge and freezer full of homemade dishes, and my house full of more plants than a greenhouse.  One person paid for all the catering after my aunt's funeral, just told me not to worry about it because I had enough to deal with taking care of all the details after her shocking and unexpected demise, and sure enough a barbeque restaurant came and delivered a truckload of amazing food.  That was a huge help, and I will never forget their generous act of kindness.  Even right now, I have been down with a severe back problem, and while it's not a death and I don't have cancer (I hope), I've actually received numerous casseroles/meals from girlfriends because I can't stand up in the kitchen and cook.  I've made plenty of casseroles over the years for others who could just use a little help during a rough patch, because sometimes when you care about someone and they have problems you can't help them solve, you can at least feed them and their family for a couple of days. Food is love here among us regular old people, and maybe that's how it is where Vicki grew up, too, but that's not really the way things go down among the wealthy, fancy and hoity-toity.  Also, I don't go to church, but if I did then my house wouldn't have been able to hold all the homemade goodies, because churches typically have a whole committee of sweet older ladies who are assigned nights to bring a full meal to a member/family going through a loss or crisis.  Vicki talks like she's so involved with her church (she's the female Jesus, after all.  She should probably give herself the Best Christian of 2015 Award!), but either her church is so enormous that they don't have a committee for that, or she's not the beloved, valuable and active member she would have everyone believe.  Or maybe there is a meal committee, but they don't consider the circumstances of Vicki's particular loss to be one that gets the giant casserole machine cranked up.  I wonder if when she went to her mom's funeral there were people shoving dishes at her family from all directions, and when she got back home she was appalled by the blaring lack of casseroles at her door.  She wants to be Fabulous Vicki who lives a Very Successful Life in Orange County, C A L I F O R N I A most of the time, but when she feels needy, she misses the downhome comforts outside of the shiny "perfection" of her precious gated communities. 

 

The thing about Vicki, though, is that I feel that she is a person who only wants things from people to help her keep score, and to show off like medals.  When she says "I expected casseroles and sympathy", what she really meant was she wanted physical proof from people that her suffering is known, and people are worried about her.  A phone call is not enough, an empty-handed visit is not enough.  She probably wouldn't eat a homemade casserole, but she would damn sure Instagram a picture of it as evidence that her extreme difficulties and crosses to bear were acknowledged by someone.  It's beyond Vicki that when your mom dies in her 80's and you are in your 50's, no one is going to treat you like a little lost child who has just been orphaned and is about to become a ward of the state.  Everyone expected her to be sad but to also find a way to deal with her loss like an adult, whether that means therapy, grief counseling or whatever.  It did amuse me when she mistakenly referred to her grieving as "grievance", which is ironically accurate since her perceived lack of attention over her mother's death did become a grievance for her. Didn't Brianna say Vicki would call to tell her she had been laying on the floor screaming and crying about her mom dying? Enough, Vicki.  Just stop.

 

I found it interesting that it's always the women I despise most in the Real Housewives franchise that loudly describe themselves as smart, successful and a great catch, once they no longer have men in their lives, such as Shiree and Kenya in Atlanta, Ramona in NY and now Vicki.  Keep drinking your own Kool-Aid, ladies, because no one else is.  I don't even feel bad for Vicki that she is so lonely and can't stand to be alone with herself at all.  While I do think it must be terrible to be unable to just enjoy her own company, there's a reason she's alone, or with a piece of garbage like Brooks, and the reason is that she's AWFUL.  If she was less awful, she would have more romantic prospects and more genuine friendships than TV friendships that are gutted and shredded every season.  Her sadness and loneliness are directly proportionate to her awfulness.

 

PS:  For anyone who was heretofore unfamiliar with the casserole-giving process and are thinking of starting to bring food to someone going through a bad time, one word of advice:  Please purchase or use a dish that you don't want back.  The recipient can either keep it for  themselves, or use it the next time they take someone a casserole, or throw it out.  But it really peeved me to see "Return this dish to Mary Brown" taped to the bottom of something, because then the nice gesture becomes the burden of being sure to clean it perfectly and return it swiftly.  Tin foil containers are fine.  Plastic for non-heatables is fine.  Handing over a nice dish with a demand of return isn't the coolest.  It only seemed to be the older ladies, so maybe it's generational, but no matter the reason, no.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Irritable

[sandyskyblue]

Where I live, giving homemade casseroles during hard times is pretty standard.  Major deaths in my family always = fridge and freezer full of homemade dishes, and my house full of more plants than a greenhouse.  One person paid for all the catering after my aunt's funeral, just told me not to worry about it because I had enough to deal with taking care of all the details after her shocking and unexpected demise, and sure enough a barbeque restaurant came and delivered a truckload of amazing food.  That was a huge help, and I will never forget their generous act of kindness.  Even right now, I have been down with a severe back problem, and while it's not a death and I don't have cancer (I hope), I've actually received numerous casseroles/meals from girlfriends because I can't stand up in the kitchen and cook.  I've made plenty of casseroles over the years for others who could just use a little help during a rough patch, because sometimes when you care about someone and they have problems you can't help them solve, you can at least feed them and their family for a couple of days. Food is love here among us regular old people, and maybe that's how it is where Vicki grew up, too, but that's not really the way things go down among the wealthy, fancy and hoity-toity.  Also, I don't go to church, but if I did then my house wouldn't have been able to hold all the homemade goodies, because churches typically have a whole committee of sweet older ladies who are assigned nights to bring a full meal to a member/family going through a loss or crisis.  Vicki talks like she's so involved with her church (she's the female Jesus, after all.  She should probably give herself the Best Christian of 2015 Award!), but either her church is so enormous that they don't have a committee for that, or she's not the beloved, valuable and active member she would have everyone believe.  Or maybe there is a meal committee, but they don't consider the circumstances of Vicki's particular loss to be one that gets the giant casserole machine cranked up.  I wonder if when she went to her mom's funeral there were people shoving dishes at her family from all directions, and when she got back home she was appalled by the blaring lack of casseroles at her door.  She wants to be Fabulous Vicki who lives a Very Successful Life in Orange County, C A L I F O R N I A most of the time, but when she feels needy, she misses the downhome comforts outside of the shiny "perfection" of her precious gated communities. 

 

The thing about Vicki, though, is that I feel that she is a person who only wants things from people to help her keep score, and to show off like medals.  When she says "I expected casseroles and sympathy", what she really meant was she wanted physical proof from people that her suffering is known, and people are worried about her.  A phone call is not enough, an empty-handed visit is not enough.  She probably wouldn't eat a homemade casserole, but she would damn sure Instagram a picture of it as evidence that her extreme difficulties and crosses to bear were acknowledged by someone.  It's beyond Vicki that when your mom dies in her 80's and you are in your 50's, no one is going to treat you like a little lost child who has just been orphaned and is about to become a ward of the state.  Everyone expected her to be sad but to also find a way to deal with her loss like an adult, whether that means therapy, grief counseling or whatever.  It did amuse me when she mistakenly referred to her grieving as "grievance", which is ironically accurate since her perceived lack of attention over her mother's death did become a grievance for her. Didn't Brianna say Vicki would call to tell her she had been laying on the floor screaming and crying about her mom dying? Enough, Vicki.  Just stop.

 

I found it interesting that it's always the women I despise most in the Real Housewives franchise that loudly describe themselves as smart, successful and a great catch, once they no longer have men in their lives, such as Shiree and Kenya in Atlanta, Ramona in NY and now Vicki.  Keep drinking your own Kool-Aid, ladies, because no one else is.

Very insightful post, Irritable....

[Almost 3000]

Irritable ~ I think you solved where Vicki's thoughts of odd casserole wishes and friendship dreams came from. They're directly from Mom's Midwest funeral. Makes sense.

[leighroda]

No way is that document for chemo going to be proven his. It's the exact same list of drugs that was on line! Chemo drugs are not all the same and like someone mentioned the drug that causes hair loss is listed. Know what is the clincher folks? The noted either 2-3 tabs of acetaminophen given at ZERO charge. That's just CRAZY. Every chemo cancer infusion location I assume is different but both Stanford (old and shabby) and a local center had big comfy new recliners and I could find a very uncomfortable chair and pull it up.

also private little rooms where people are really sick and can lay on a bed to be sick. You get to know your nurses, you want to be on top of everything. Vicki is so full of shit. The first time he tried pancreatic cancer would have been enough for most people.

Yes you can take a half Xanax which I have done, followed by the other half minutes later.

Despicable people. I hope it comes crashing down hard on both of them.

I call BS on the Tylenol... Hospitals NEVER give medicine for free, whether they charge the patient or insurance, nothing in a hospital is free. In fact I recently won myself an overnight stay when I passed out during a clinical (I was in nursing school) luckily I was in a hospital when I passed out so they just took me downstairs to the ER (even though I declined once I woke up... I did not want to pay for an ER visit because I don't have insurance) I hit my head so that won me an automatic 23 hour observation period (luckily my worst injury was that I hit my face on my way down and broke my nose and busted the inside of my mouth which required stitches)... My point is even the one dose of Advil I was given cost something like $25.

Depending on the hospital, even to get the basic things like a comb, tooth paste, a water pitcher you have to go through Pyxis which is a computer system basically you have to enter the patient you are getting the item for and it adds that to the bill before it will unlock the door to get the item, or you have to scan an item before you take it to the patient (which is kinda the honor system). Most people don't ever see the charges because it goes to insurance and they pay it, I'm sure some hospitals are more lax than others, so this may not be the case everywhere, but the my long drawn out point is that I HIGHLY doubt that bill is real.

Irritable, where exactly do you live? I would like to move there and acquire some cassaroles. (I know you people must think I'm crazy for my cassarole obsession, but growing up my mom never cooked, so I never really got cassarole growing up)

Oh, and by "half a Xanax" did Vicki mean "half a prescription bottle"? That seems more likely to me.

Edited November 5, 2015 by leighroda

[Former Nun]

After watchikng this clusterfuck, I truly believe that at one point, he had cancer.

 

 

Or maybe some female (his mother?) yelled at him, "YOU are a cancer!!!  Get outta here!!!"   

Oh, and by "half a Xanax" did Vicki mean "half a prescription bottle"?

 

 

 

This is more like it, leighroda...and wash it down with half a glass of vodka.

[Former Nun]

Or maybe there is a meal committee, but they don't consider the circumstances of Vicki's particular loss to be one that gets the giant casserole machine cranked up.  I wonder if when she went to her mom's funeral there were people shoving dishes at her family from all directions, and when she got back home she was appalled by the blaring lack of casseroles at her door.

 

 

Sadly, Irritable, the only way (most likely) any of her fellow church members learned of her mother's death was long after the fact--and by watching RHOC.   In my housewife days (60s/70s) there weren't so many throw-away food carriers available.  Those on the "food committee" would remind us to label our casseroles so someone (usually the food committee) could get the dishes back to us.  There are lots of stories of "lost" Corningware, etc. whose homes were never found.  I still have a beautiful "lost" ceramic pie plate from my 1972 hysterectomy!

[WireWrap]

Here is the Tamara Tattles letter:  http://tamaratattles.com/2015/11/04/its-official-brooks-ayers-faked-cancer-again/#more-18333

Thank You!

 

After some thought to these very fine theories-I think Vicki is a willing participant with a goal of nothing more than to keep Brooks as a boyfriend.  Brooks as zero credibility, no one will believe some tale he tells.  The discovery is over in the federal case and Brooks has already participated.  Donn seems to have uncovered some of Vicki's deceit regarding the divorce.  Tamra and Heather need to shut up, instead of plying Vicki with excuses and false compliments they need to take a stroll and waive good bye to Vicki.

 

Vicki needs to go and not come back for a long while. There are just some lies you cannot recover from.  Vicki claiming to have sat through a chemo therapy session is just wrong on every level.

I think this has to do with her Vodka lawsuit. I also think Vicki was a willing participent in this cancer lie storyline.

 

Where I live, giving homemade casseroles during hard times is pretty standard.  Major deaths in my family always = fridge and freezer full of homemade dishes, and my house full of more plants than a greenhouse.  One person paid for all the catering after my aunt's funeral, just told me not to worry about it because I had enough to deal with taking care of all the details after her shocking and unexpected demise, and sure enough a barbeque restaurant came and delivered a truckload of amazing food.  That was a huge help, and I will never forget their generous act of kindness.  Even right now, I have been down with a severe back problem, and while it's not a death and I don't have cancer (I hope), I've actually received numerous casseroles/meals from girlfriends because I can't stand up in the kitchen and cook.  I've made plenty of casseroles over the years for others who could just use a little help during a rough patch, because sometimes when you care about someone and they have problems you can't help them solve, you can at least feed them and their family for a couple of days. Food is love here among us regular old people, and maybe that's how it is where Vicki grew up, too, but that's not really the way things go down among the wealthy, fancy and hoity-toity.  Also, I don't go to church, but if I did then my house wouldn't have been able to hold all the homemade goodies, because churches typically have a whole committee of sweet older ladies who are assigned nights to bring a full meal to a member/family going through a loss or crisis.  Vicki talks like she's so involved with her church (she's the female Jesus, after all.  She should probably give herself the Best Christian of 2015 Award!), but either her church is so enormous that they don't have a committee for that, or she's not the beloved, valuable and active member she would have everyone believe.  Or maybe there is a meal committee, but they don't consider the circumstances of Vicki's particular loss to be one that gets the giant casserole machine cranked up.  I wonder if when she went to her mom's funeral there were people shoving dishes at her family from all directions, and when she got back home she was appalled by the blaring lack of casseroles at her door.  She wants to be Fabulous Vicki who lives a Very Successful Life in Orange County, C A L I F O R N I A most of the time, but when she feels needy, she misses the downhome comforts outside of the shiny "perfection" of her precious gated communities. 

 

The thing about Vicki, though, is that I feel that she is a person who only wants things from people to help her keep score, and to show off like medals.  When she says "I expected casseroles and sympathy", what she really meant was she wanted physical proof from people that her suffering is known, and people are worried about her.  A phone call is not enough, an empty-handed visit is not enough.  She probably wouldn't eat a homemade casserole, but she would damn sure Instagram a picture of it as evidence that her extreme difficulties and crosses to bear were acknowledged by someone.  It's beyond Vicki that when your mom dies in her 80's and you are in your 50's, no one is going to treat you like a little lost child who has just been orphaned and is about to become a ward of the state.  Everyone expected her to be sad but to also find a way to deal with her loss like an adult, whether that means therapy, grief counseling or whatever.  It did amuse me when she mistakenly referred to her grieving as "grievance", which is ironically accurate since her perceived lack of attention over her mother's death did become a grievance for her. Didn't Brianna say Vicki would call to tell her she had been laying on the floor screaming and crying about her mom dying? Enough, Vicki.  Just stop.

 

I found it interesting that it's always the women I despise most in the Real Housewives franchise that loudly describe themselves as smart, successful and a great catch, once they no longer have men in their lives, such as Shiree and Kenya in Atlanta, Ramona in NY and now Vicki.  Keep drinking your own Kool-Aid, ladies, because no one else is.  I don't even feel bad for Vicki that she is so lonely and can't stand to be alone with herself at all.  While I do think it must be terrible to be unable to just enjoy her own company, there's a reason she's alone, or with a piece of garbage like Brooks, and the reason is that she's AWFUL.  If she was less awful, she would have more romantic prospects and more genuine friendships than TV friendships that are gutted and shredded every season.  Her sadness and loneliness are directly proportionate to her awfulness.

 

PS:  For anyone who was heretofore unfamiliar with the casserole-giving process and are thinking of starting to bring food to someone going through a bad time, one word of advice:  Please purchase or use a dish that you don't want back.  The recipient can either keep it for  themselves, or use it the next time they take someone a casserole, or throw it out.  But it really peeved me to see "Return this dish to Mary Brown" taped to the bottom of something, because then the nice gesture becomes the burden of being sure to clean it perfectly and return it swiftly.  Tin foil containers are fine.  Plastic for non-heatables is fine.  Handing over a nice dish with a demand of return isn't the coolest.  It only seemed to be the older ladies, so maybe it's generational, but no matter the reason, no.

I agree with this except that Vicki was wanting/expecting casseroles months BEFORE her mother died. According to her, she told the Terry/IV lie, in October, to get these heartfelt casseroles. LOL 

[talula]

Where I live, giving homemade casseroles during hard times is pretty standard.  Major deaths in my family always = fridge and freezer full of homemade dishes, and my house full of more plants than a greenhouse.  One person paid for all the catering after my aunt's funeral, just told me not to worry about it because I had enough to deal with taking care of all the details after her shocking and unexpected demise, and sure enough a barbeque restaurant came and delivered a truckload of amazing food.  That was a huge help, and I will never forget their generous act of kindness.  Even right now, I have been down with a severe back problem, and while it's not a death and I don't have cancer (I hope), I've actually received numerous casseroles/meals from girlfriends because I can't stand up in the kitchen and cook.  I've made plenty of casseroles over the years for others who could just use a little help during a rough patch, because sometimes when you care about someone and they have problems you can't help them solve, you can at least feed them and their family for a couple of days. Food is love here among us regular old people, and maybe that's how it is where Vicki grew up, too, but that's not really the way things go down among the wealthy, fancy and hoity-toity.  Also, I don't go to church, but if I did then my house wouldn't have been able to hold all the homemade goodies, because churches typically have a whole committee of sweet older ladies who are assigned nights to bring a full meal to a member/family going through a loss or crisis.  Vicki talks like she's so involved with her church (she's the female Jesus, after all.  She should probably give herself the Best Christian of 2015 Award!), but either her church is so enormous that they don't have a committee for that, or she's not the beloved, valuable and active member she would have everyone believe.  Or maybe there is a meal committee, but they don't consider the circumstances of Vicki's particular loss to be one that gets the giant casserole machine cranked up.  I wonder if when she went to her mom's funeral there were people shoving dishes at her family from all directions, and when she got back home she was appalled by the blaring lack of casseroles at her door.  She wants to be Fabulous Vicki who lives a Very Successful Life in Orange County, C A L I F O R N I A most of the time, but when she feels needy, she misses the downhome comforts outside of the shiny "perfection" of her precious gated communities. 

 

The thing about Vicki, though, is that I feel that she is a person who only wants things from people to help her keep score, and to show off like medals.  When she says "I expected casseroles and sympathy", what she really meant was she wanted physical proof from people that her suffering is known, and people are worried about her.  A phone call is not enough, an empty-handed visit is not enough.  She probably wouldn't eat a homemade casserole, but she would damn sure Instagram a picture of it as evidence that her extreme difficulties and crosses to bear were acknowledged by someone.  It's beyond Vicki that when your mom dies in her 80's and you are in your 50's, no one is going to treat you like a little lost child who has just been orphaned and is about to become a ward of the state.  Everyone expected her to be sad but to also find a way to deal with her loss like an adult, whether that means therapy, grief counseling or whatever.  It did amuse me when she mistakenly referred to her grieving as "grievance", which is ironically accurate since her perceived lack of attention over her mother's death did become a grievance for her. Didn't Brianna say Vicki would call to tell her she had been laying on the floor screaming and crying about her mom dying? Enough, Vicki.  Just stop.

 

I found it interesting that it's always the women I despise most in the Real Housewives franchise that loudly describe themselves as smart, successful and a great catch, once they no longer have men in their lives, such as Shiree and Kenya in Atlanta, Ramona in NY and now Vicki.  Keep drinking your own Kool-Aid, ladies, because no one else is.  I don't even feel bad for Vicki that she is so lonely and can't stand to be alone with herself at all.  While I do think it must be terrible to be unable to just enjoy her own company, there's a reason she's alone, or with a piece of garbage like Brooks, and the reason is that she's AWFUL.  If she was less awful, she would have more romantic prospects and more genuine friendships than TV friendships that are gutted and shredded every season.  Her sadness and loneliness are directly proportionate to her awfulness.

 

PS:  For anyone who was heretofore unfamiliar with the casserole-giving process and are thinking of starting to bring food to someone going through a bad time, one word of advice:  Please purchase or use a dish that you don't want back.  The recipient can either keep it for  themselves, or use it the next time they take someone a casserole, or throw it out.  But it really peeved me to see "Return this dish to Mary Brown" taped to the bottom of something, because then the nice gesture becomes the burden of being sure to clean it perfectly and return it swiftly.  Tin foil containers are fine.  Plastic for non-heatables is fine.  Handing over a nice dish with a demand of return isn't the coolest.  It only seemed to be the older ladies, so maybe it's generational, but no matter the reason, no.

Reading your post Irritable was more enjoyable than watching this miserable season of RHOC.

Side note--we can all rest easy now that Vicki has proclaimed herself as "going to heaven" a few times after Meghan announced Vicki was "going to hell!"

[talula]

I hate to be maudlin, did you hear Briana had a two hour conversation with her grandma the day before her grandma's sudden death? I know I shouldn't even go there...did any of you think it could have included talk about Vicki & Brooks and RHOC cancer faking concerns? If I was the mother of Vicki and heard what was happening it would have had a very negative impact on me. Mothers want to be proud of their children and what Vicki was involved in covering up was about as low as you can go, especially in light of the "public aspect" of the whole thing.

Edited to add I'm sending myself to the corner.

Edited November 5, 2015 by talula

[Bebecat]

Imo, Icky is a sociopath. So is Crookes. Falling out between sociopaths can be especially ugly. But their sociopathy might bring them back together in the end, for self-protection.

[quaintirene]

 

More interesting to me is - are the drugs and other medical work described typical for the cancer he claimed to have?

I think so.  The treatment my husband had was apparently the absolute standard for DLCBL and it's called R-CHOP:  Rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and prednisone. I don't see prednisone on that bill but that was given orally the 1st week after the chemo in any 3-week cycle.  (That's the other thing.  Brooks spoke of chemo every 6 weeks or something.  My DH had it every 3 weeks and I think that's standard.)  I've seen oncologists on other boards spitting mad and absolutely sure that he does not have what he claims to have.

[cherry slushie]

I think by the time Heather filmed her TH that she knew the resveratrol Dr had spoken in depth about her treatment to Brooks and that Brooks/Vicki were spreading that information around to the other HWs. Even though Heather did not directly question Brooks cancer claim she didn't cut it off when the others did and IMO, it was because Brooks/Vicki had no problem telling the others about Heathers private medical information that she, herself, had not chosen to share with anyone or use it as a storyline. Shortly after the CUT scene was filmed, I think Heather found out and that is when we see her hesitation when Tamra/Meghan questioned Brooks cancer claim disappear.

 

I think that is the reason why Heather aggressively jumped on the oust Vicki bandwagon with Tamra. Usually Heather remains neutral (publicly, that is), but if you piss her off or cross her in any way, she'll stealthily hang your ass. Tamra wanted Alexis gone pretty much from the moment Alexis was cast, but nothing worked until Alexis called Heather pretentious (and other stuff I can't remember) to her face. Like Vicki said to Tamra when Tamra started targeting Heather in Season 9 "You don't want to fight with the Dubrows", or something to that effect.

 

IMO, the Tamra - Heather duo is pretty powerful right now.  In fact, I still believe that they only befriended Shannon because they needed all the women to refuse to film with Vicki. Shannon will eventually be targeted again.

Edited November 5, 2015 by cherry slushie

[pasdetrois]

Returning casserole dishes: I've experienced many a casserole - church potlucks, funerals, neighborhood events, supper at friends' houses. In my experience, putting your name on the bottom of a container isn't a command that someone wash and return your dish to you. It's simply in case your dish gets lost in the hubbub.

[zoeysmom]

After the luncheon at Heather's Vicki wrote a blog (her second to the last for the season) in the blog she throws out the CASSEROLES theory.  Yes the word was capitalized.  http://www.bravotv.com/the-real-housewives-of-orange-county/season-10/blogs/vicki-gunvalson/vicki-meghan-is-just-being-mean   It makes me feel like Vicki wanted to make CASSEROLES a new buzzword for her television persona.

[WireWrap]

I think that is the reason why Heather aggressively jumped on the oust Vicki bandwagon with Tamra. Usually Heather remains neutral (publicly, that is), but if you piss her off or cross her in any way, she'll stealthily hang your ass. Tamra wanted Alexis gone pretty much from the moment Alexis was cast, but nothing worked until Alexis called Heather pretentious (and other stuff I can't remember) to her face. Like Vicki said to Tamra when Tamra started targeting Heather in Season 9 "You don't want to fight with the Dubrows", or something to that effect.

 

IMO, the Tamra - Heather duo is pretty powerful right now.  In fact, I still believe that they only befriended Shannon because they needed all the women to refuse to film with Vicki. Shannon will eventually be targeted again.

IMO, Heather never got aggressive and she never attacked Vicki or even Brooks. The only one that was aggressive towards Vicki was Meghan.  As far as last season when Tamra AND Vicki first tried to fight with Heather, it was Heather that refused to take the bait from either of them in Hawaii and Vicki was smart enough to realize that Heather never would. 

[cherry slushie]

IMO, Heather never got aggressive and she never attacked Vicki or even Brooks. The only one that was aggressive towards Vicki was Meghan.  As far as last season when Tamra AND Vicki first tried to fight with Heather, it was Heather that refused to take the bait from either of them in Hawaii and Vicki was smart enough to realize that Heather never would. 

 

No, I meant behind the scenes she aggressively joined up with Tamra - without the cameras. Hence the word 'stealthily' when you piss her off or cross her.

 

As for Tamra targeting Heather, I was referring to the scene at Shannon's dinner party when she was calling Heather all kinds of names behind her back and throwing the double bird in her direction.  Heather heard something going on and began to eavesdrop, then nipped it in the bud right then and there.  IIRC, it was at that party that Vicki told Tamra that it wouldn't be smart to fight with Heather.

Edited November 5, 2015 by cherry slushie

[Satchels of gold]

"Oncology rehabilitation has long been a part of the management of cancer, but with increased survivorship, these efforts have evolved from simple supportive and palliative care to now include complex rehabilitation interventions designed to restore the integrity of organ structure and function, to remediate functional loss, and to adapt to the environment so as to allow full participation in daily activities and life roles."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2967778/

"Oncology rehabilitation has long been a part of the management of cancer, but with increased survivorship, these efforts have evolved from simple supportive and palliative care to now include complex rehabilitation interventions designed to restore the integrity of organ structure and function, to remediate functional loss, and to adapt to the environment so as to allow full participation in daily activities and life roles."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2967778/

Trust me a man who's driving himself to chemo and independent with ADLs is not getting a level 3 PT eval.

[WireWrap]

No, I meant behind the scenes she aggressively joined up with Tamra - without the cameras. Hence the word 'stealthily' when you piss her off or cross her.

I do think Heather/Tamra talk off camera but they all do. I don't see Heather plotting against Vicki or Brooks, even when she found out about the Terry/IV lie towards the end of filming and I think she was mad at the resveratrol Dr but not Brooks/Vicki at least initially. Tamra plots, Vicki plots, Meghan plots but not Heather IMO.

[ebkitty]

::::::sheepishlywavinghand:::::: me. total lightweight. however, i am still more animated then vicki was on her half.....

Me three, I started with breaking one square off and that would knock me out, lol, I was shocked Vicki didn't fall a sleep.

[Beden]

 

Yeah, the too tight clothes really do her a disservice. If she would wear the proper size insead of 2 sizes too small she would actually LOOK 2 sizes smaller than she does now. A good support bra and more coverage in that area would help too. Hanging out those sagging breast give her an overall lumpy, sloppy look.

All too true and I have this vision of Vicki going to her favorite boutique or Channel or Saks or wherever, finding her idea of dress perfection (white, boobs hanging out, fitted to death) and the salesperson/manager/owner trying to steer her to the size 12 or 14 or whatever would actually fit her as she strains the seams and zipper of the size 6 she insists on buying and demands compliments on as she twirls in front of the 3-way mirror.

 

Then I imagine the store/designer tags being quietly cut out before it's packed into a bag or box so no one will know that probably nice enough garments, which fit like a sausage skin, aren't credited to wherever it was bought.

 

This is not the kind of publicity Valentino or whomever wants.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Beden

[Booger666]

She probably wouldn't eat a homemade casserole, but she would damn sure Instagram a picture of it as evidence that her extreme difficulties and crosses to bear were acknowledged by someone. 

Now I'm concerned. Y'all have been discussing sending Vicki casseroles and if you do please, please, please do not cover them with shiny plastic wrap. No one, absolutely NO ONE, wants to see Vicki's boobs reflected in a casserole on instagram. Thank you in advance.

[Duke2801]

Oh see I just assumed that "making casseroles" or sending over food to somebody's house was a standard protocol everywhere during times of severe illness/death...  or even when somebody has a new baby or is on bedrest during a pregnancy or something.  It never occurred to me that some people or cultures don't do that.

 

But casseroles for Non-Real Hodgkins?  Nope!

 

Bebecat, on 05 Nov 2015 - 06:33 AM, said:

Imo, Icky is a sociopath. So is Crookes. Falling out between sociopaths can be especially ugly. But their sociopathy might bring them back together in the end, for self-protection.

 

I see Vicki as more of a narcissist than a sociopath.  But point taken and I agree that their paths will ultimately converge again.  Probably sooner than later.

[Juliegirlj]

Brooks is not only a liar but a very stupid ine at that! The photos of him getting "chemo" are of simple blood or plasma donation. His chemo bill- which is very easily copied, is fake. Someone above mentioned that he should have received Prednisone- there was Hydrocortisone Sodium Succinate instead. Pretty sure someone undergoing that particular regime would have a lot of side effects such as hair loss, fatigue, nausea, weakness, swelling of the face, etc.. Brooks is vile!

[pamme64]

As far as the duplicate bill why would Brooke's have had a PT EVAL done? He was ambulatory and not deconditioned at all, that doesn't make any sense. Secondly it's hard to believe the treatment regime was actually the same and cost the exact same given that the Google image one was from 2012. Well Brooke's proves my belief still stands , if a man will cheat his kids he will cheat anyone.

That's the clincher.   Can't wait for him to try and weasel out of this OR he finally disappears because he's gone too far with the bullshit.  I don't see how or why Vicki would continue on with him other then he's her obsession. 

 

Homage to Vicki & Brooks....... 

[zoeysmom]

Here is what is interesting-Brooks and this final showing of his lying ass has all been self-inflicted.  He could have walked away after breaking up with Vicki and never answered his doubters.  Vicki would have  been  left with the mystery that is Brooks and instead their has been this suicide by media with the flood of forged documents.  Very few are still supporting Brooks' right to medical privacy.   

 

I have to say I agree with Heather -when did Vicki know?  Did she and Brooks concoct this claim so that Vicki would not be expected to film with Brooks?  Did she bring  up last January because she was out of storylines?  It is all very suspect.

[cherry slushie]

I do think Heather/Tamra talk off camera but they all do. I don't see Heather plotting against Vicki or Brooks, even when she found out about the Terry/IV lie towards the end of filming and I think she was mad at the resveratrol Dr but not Brooks/Vicki at least initially. Tamra plots, Vicki plots, Meghan plots but not Heather IMO.

 

Hmmm, she played it cool when she made sure to point out that Vicki and Brooks told others about her visiting a cellulite doctor, but she definitely wasn't cool with it, and in IMO, I don't think she wanted anyone to know about it. She plays her part well as the voice of reason, but I don't think she's lily white in all of this.

[OhGromit]

Here is what is interesting-Brooks and this final showing of his lying ass has all been self-inflicted.  He could have walked away after breaking up with Vicki and never answered his doubters.  Vicki would have  been  left with the mystery that is Brooks and instead their has been this suicide by media with the flood of forged documents.  Very few are still supporting Brooks' right to medical privacy.   

 

I have to say I agree with Heather -when did Vicki know?  Did she and Brooks concoct this claim so that Vicki would not be expected to film with Brooks?  Did she bring  up last January because she was out of storylines?  It is all very suspect.

 

I think it was all a complicated tumble of events, mostly within Vicki.  At last year's reunion, Brooks tried to lay the foundation for moving in with Vicki and claiming part of the equity in her house when she sold it.  She immediately didn't go for that, shut that down.  I imagine that caused a little iciness between them.  

 

I think that Brooks then concocted the cancer recurrence to get back in Vicki's house and get in her good graces.  Vicki is a DESPERATE woman who does not want to be alone, who wants to be loved, and she does not want to think she's being conned, and certainly doesn't want to think her whole relationship with Brooks was a con.  

 

So she believed him.  At first.  But then it slowly dawned on her that it didn't seem right.  But she didn't want to admit it was a lie-- because if Brooks was lying to her, that would mean she's have to break up with Brooks.  I think she was a huge ball of inner conflict, with the not wanting to be alone side of her fighting with the part that suspected he was lying.  And if she could get the ladies to believe-- even if she got them to believe through pretense-- on some insane level, that meant she could keep Brooks.  And at some point, way way too late, she finally lost the battle as things got way too messy with everything going on in their lives (lawsuits, fake cancer), and for whatever reason, the breakup happened.  

 

Brooks must have realized he wasn't going to get money out of Vicki.  So maybe he did break up with her.  I think, fundamentally, Vicki is driven by a desperate fear of abandonment, and Brooks is driven by a desperate desire ... I don't know, for material support?  I have to admit, I don't understand what's at the core of con men, cause it's equal parts the need for money plus the need not to work for the money.  Anyhow.

 

It's insane.  She's definitely got a personality disorder.  I suspect narcissistic personality disorder plus histrionic personality disorder.