S04.E13: Lupe's Story

[aliya]

I never thought about the fact that she plopped down on the toilet, but with that being mentioned, I can relate. I'm not overweight but have multiple sclerosis and little strength in my legs. My toilet at home has handles, and if I'm out, I have to wait for a handicapped stall, or else I can't get down without collapsing on the seat, and they do shift. Getting up is a problem, too. 

 

When there are only a few stalls, of course the handicapped will be taken, and now they are putting the changing tables in them. Parents also often take their kids in because there is more room for two, but I absolutely hate it when I'm standing there waiting because someone went in there to talk on their phone. HATE! No conversation needs to take place on the toilet, and it happens all.the.time.  I want it brought up on a Presidential Debate! What do you plan on doing about people talking on the phone in the restroom, Mr. Candidate?

 

Sometimes, if someone comes in and I tell them to go ahead, I need the handles in the handicapped stall, people will come out. But sometimes not, and I get to hear stupid, stupid, conversations, and think up what the person on the other side of the line is saying, which is usually along the lines of, "Get a life. Why do you care that the person at a different table had pancakes AND French toast?" (A serious conversation overheard a few days ago.) Damn, now I want pancakes and French toast. Save those comments for PTV.  Also the person who ordered it was a 90lb 14-year-oldish? boy, who probably won't gain weight until his next hormone shift. It's amazing how much teen boys can consume; their insides must be hollow.

 

TL:DR Plopping down on the toilet and making the seat shift makes a lot of sense to me, and is likely what broke it.  Also, some people are annoying.

Thanks for your post. I wanted to repeat that not all disabilities are visible. The person using the handicapped stall may have just had a hip replacement, may be recovering from a car accident, or other illness. I use it because of not being as mobile as I used to be and finding the other spaces too cramped for the maneuvering I need to do sometimes. From parents with young kids, to the injured, to the elderly, many people are more comfortable in the larger stall. As I used to tell my students, when we design with different abilities in mind, we design for everyone. We'd all be better off if there were more such stalls, rather than the customary at the end of the row.

 

To get back on topic, OK, she broke the seat, but then couldn't lift herself off? How many times would you have committed suicide rather than have to call EMTs to get you off of a toilet? Jeez Louise. I know they make large size portable toilets, but haven't seen large porcelain toilets. Maybe Dr Now's patients know when not to use the regular facilities...

[stillhere1900]

 

 

 

 

To get back on topic, OK, she broke the seat, but then couldn't lift herself off? How many times would you have committed suicide rather than have to call EMTs to get you off of a toilet? J

 

 I'm guessing................ *once*    ; - p

[Christina]

I don't have a problem with anyone using a handicapped stall, regardless of if they need it or not. I used a reg-sized (for 6 year olds, I think) stall a few months ago at a restaurant when I couldn't wait, and I swear that thing was 3 feet across. I had my walker at the door, b/c it wouldn't fit inside, and to try and turn around was a very tight squeeze. I'm only 5'6" 120 lbs and don't know how anyone taller or larger could fit.

 

I HATE people using the stalls to talk on the phone, and they almost always use the one that is the only one some of us can use. My cousin had to help me up and down from the closet at the restaurant. And it is never a quick question like, "I just got to the store. What did you say you needed again?" It's "I'm killing time at Wal-Mart waiting for the movie to start. What are you up to?" (Other person, "Was that a toilet flushing?" seriously, do people on the other end not hear bathroom noises?) Or, right after a movie, "Yeah, we just saw movie." which they then explain in detail when you know damn well they were live-tweeting it the entire time. I'm just a cornucopia of general annoyances. : )

[aliya]

On 4/16/2016 at 5:44 AM, RCharter said:

I just wonder if they don't have a restroom specifically for super obese clients, but they didn't ask about it so they just assumed there was only the normal sized one.  Or are super obese people usually in an adult diaper situation, because the mechanics of the toilet are too difficult so there is not really a demand for a different restroom?

I've been thinking about toilets for the obese for a while (no life). In re-reading this thread, I finally remembered I wanted to look up whether there wee large toilets (as opposed to large portable toilets, which seemed likely) and found this:  http://www.bigjohnproducts.com/seats.htm  We're a creative people; I kniew someone had addressed this problem. I don't know why Dr Now's office doesn't have, at the very least, one of the wide portable toilet things. 

[aliya]

On 3/25/2016 at 9:36 AM, Barb23 said:

Why did she even bother to check her blood sugar? I'm not too familiar with diabetes, but how does the insulin get to where it needs to go when it has to go thru inches & layers of fat? Can someone explain?

The insulin just goes under the skin. You don't need to find a vein or anything.

[RamonaSenomar]

I just recently watched this episode of My 600 lb. Life and I was on the fence with my sympathy-turned-anger-turned-sympathy at Lupe and Gilbert.

I was sad that Lupe's dad walked out on the family, but I was angry that she expected Gilbert to fulfill that caretaker role.  I was sad that her addiction got the best of her, but I was angry that she had a lot of tools to help her beat that addiction.  I was sad that Gilbert got suckered into a relationship (and marriage, if one can call it that), but angry that he felt it was okay to cheat rather than walk away.  And I'm still on the fence about giving him a pass for cheating ...

Anyway, one of the (many) things that I was in awe of while watching this calamity was the amount of food Lupe was shoving into her mouth.  I feel like what she looks like when I overeat and that feeling of wanting to be all Jabba the Hutt on my bed after eating a large Thanksgiving meal, for example, is what she must've felt like all. the. time.  That uncomfortable need to just exist until the feeling passes because you're too full to breathe kinda feeling.  

I have to assume that was her norm.  
I can't wrap my head around that one.  

[Armchair Critic]

Not to get too deep here, but reading about Lupe eating until she is stuffed made me think of this. When the people on this show have the surgery and they can no longer fill themselves with food I think it leaves a big empty spot for them both physically and emotionally and that's probably why some of them get depressed. I can relate to that. I have been dieting the last few months and the hardest time for me is late at night after everybody else is in bed, that's the time I like to relax online or watch tv and when I would snack. Some nights I miss eating all I want and it can be a downer, and I too need to find pleasure in other things besides food.

[RamonaSenomar]

11 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

When the people on this show have the surgery and they can no longer fill themselves with food I think it leaves a big empty spot for them both physically and emotionally and that's probably why some of them get depressed. 

I totally agree.  I'm an emotional eater myself, and struggle often with not "eating my feelings."

About 10 years ago I attended a bariatric surgery seminar at a local hospital, just to learn about the procedures and their differences and if it could do something for someone like me (about 50 - 60 lbs. overweight).  I just knew that the really, really skinny woman who was sitting at the table was going to be the spokesperson for this doctor and be his success story.  

When her presentation was over and it was time for Q & A, I complimented her on how fantastic she looked and that obviously, the Roux-en-Y procedure was a success in regards to shedding the excess weight.  But then I asked what she did to fill the emotional void since eating for comfort was no longer really an option.  She simply said "Therapy.  And a lot of it.  I mean, I'm calling my therapist often because of that."

No shame in admitting that I would (still do) occasionally stalk her facebook page to see what she looks like now.  She's not back up to the weight she showed us in pictures of her "before" look, but she's also not anywhere near her "after" look.  And I've often heard bariatric patients admit that they still struggle years later because the surgery is done here (whilte they point to stomach) but not here (while they point to head).  

 

[LuciaMia]

They repeated her two-hour episode today, and like a lot of you, was looking for a little more follow up or update. There was the same attempt at some kind o f happy ending. Positive sounding music and picture of Lupe and Gil outside, tho she's still in a wheelchair. Lupe: "Gilbert and I are trying to spend more time together."   More time?  He's her 24-hour caretaker as it is!

[steff13]

They aired this episode again today.  I have to say, I'm fat (I can take care of my own needs, and I don't require the fire department to leave the house, but I'm legitimately fat), and I am not nearly as lazy or whiny as most of the people on this show.  It's a mind-boggling amount of laziness.  And Lupe gained over 80 lbs in one month!  That's verging on impressive, IMO. 

[Pringlescan]

On 2/21/2017 at 6:03 PM, steff13 said:

They aired this episode again today.  I have to say, I'm fat (I can take care of my own needs, and I don't require the fire department to leave the house, but I'm legitimately fat), and I am not nearly as lazy or whiny as most of the people on this show.  It's a mind-boggling amount of laziness.  And Lupe gained over 80 lbs in one month!  That's verging on impressive, IMO. 

It's always the ones that have enablers around them that pretty much just let them get that way. It's just like the addiction shows where the parents keep giving them money and they keep buying the drugs or booze. 

[Yolo]

I'm watching this episode right now and let me tell you something, Gilbert was a good one!!!!! CONSTANT Whining, neediness, blood, urine and can't get out the wheel chair for 2 secs just to get in the front door. FUCK THAT!!!!!!

But hope all is well for her and Cletus?

[MillieSparklepants]

Why did she do interviews while wearing a dingy pink onesie? She looked like an off-brand M&M.

She claimed she had no one to help her and was alone enough that she prayed for a caregiver. What about the dozen or so people who came to chow down in her driveway at the goodbye party and made a big show of telling us how loving and supportive they are of her? Where were they during the past ten years?

I think it was Gilbert's family who brought the birthday party in Texas (correct me if I'm wrong). What kind of idiot brings cake to a woman on the verge of death due to obesity? I read through the thread and now you've all got me wondering if there is a big life insurance payout if she dies and Gilbert's family is trying to hurry that along.

That road trip had so many ickies! I could barely watch. Gilbert carrying a dripping pee pad to the garbage, the whining and crying, Lupe cramming food into her mouth, and seeing in the cramming closeup that her nails are caked with dirt and other things I don't want to think about. *shudder*

Speaking of the cheating, I watched this episode with Mr. Sparklepants and when Gilbert started stepping out, he turned to me and said, "If I'm ever 600 pounds and bed bound and you have to change my diapers and give me sponge baths, I hope you WILL find yourself a real man and have some fun." I gave him the same permission if the situation was reversed. I'm not excusing Gilbert's cheating, because clearly it hurt Lupe and she thought they both took their vows seriously, but let's be realistic - that's a pretty grim life to lead, especially if he was essentially tricked into it.

Edited March 21, 2017 by MillieSparklepants
I keep thinking of more things to say.

[Toaster Strudel]

I just noticed in a rerun, the very first time they show her house, there is a stray shopping cart decorating the dried up front lawn with a sign that warns of the end of times!  Supported by a bible quote, if memory serves.

[Thriftykins]

It looks like Lupe is going to be on the show again on April 12th.  The show mentions "Lupe and Ashley D.", which makes it sound like a followup episode.  But they usually do those in a "where are they now" spinoff episode.