S05.E07: Diana's Story

[Tabbygirl521]

I saw that, too - I believe she put it back untouched. 

[AZChristian]

I thought I heard her say it was for one of the kids.  

[Dianaofthehunt]

This particular grammar nazi was surprised and delighted by Diana's episode. Use one double-negative, and you deserve to fail, in my world.

I would not have like to be "counseled" by someone who looked half-an-hour out of graduate school. I would assume you've got to have some miles on you to have  any credibility in that field. 
After such a good weight loss, why did Diana still use a walker, all hunched over? Why can't they make those damn things taller, so users don't have to hunch so much to walk with them? I wanted to run up behind her and forcibly straighten her out.

Nice work, Dr. Now!

[AZChristian]

56 minutes ago, Dianaofthehunt said:

After such a good weight loss, why did Diana still use a walker, all hunched over? Why can't they make those damn things taller, so users don't have to hunch so much to walk with them? I wanted to run up behind her and forcibly straighten her out.

Most of them are adjustable . . . or a medical professional (like a Physical Therapist) will make sure a person has the right size.  When I was recuperating from my knee replacement, they made sure the walker was adjusted so I could walk upright.  So it's more likely user error.  If she pulled it closer to her, she'd walk straighter.  Maybe she's used to not being able to have it close enough to walk upright.

[Ocean Chick]

4 hours ago, Dianaofthehunt said:

After such a good weight loss, why did Diana still use a walker, all hunched over?

She's ruined her knees, being so overweight all that time.  I think she mentioned that the one knee was bone-on-bone.  She'll need to have it replaced in future, once she's a size where other doctors don't fear to operate on her.  I would suspect that other joints are going to need looking at as well.

[lyceumhq]

Hi, I just signed up to the forum since IMDB forums closed.

 

Was wndering if anyone knew where I could watch this online?I'm in the UK and usually download episodes but can't find this one anywhere.

[fonfereksglen]

On 2/27/2017 at 1:01 PM, Dianaofthehunt said:

This particular grammar nazi was surprised and delighted by Diana's episode. Use one double-negative, and you deserve to fail, in my world.

I would not have like to be "counseled" by someone who looked half-an-hour out of graduate school. I would assume you've got to have some miles on you to have  any credibility in that field. 
After such a good weight loss, why did Diana still use a walker, all hunched over? Why can't they make those damn things taller, so users don't have to hunch so much to walk with them? I wanted to run up behind her and forcibly straighten her out.

Nice work, Dr. Now!

A Bariatric Surgeon has absolutely nothing to do with her walker.  The hospital post op social workers and staff help prepare a patient for life after surgery.  They are the ones who deal with all the insurance issues. 

After my brother, who suffered a catastrophic medical event with multiple traumas, had his dominant arm amputated just below his elbow, the hospital therapist and staff built a walker with an extension on his right side where he could rest his elbow while he learned how to walk again.  In fact, at his release from his subsequent rehabilitation facility stay (where they also built him an identical walker,) he had to PAY, IN CASH, prior to his discharge into our home,  for yet another new walker with the elbow rest and all the rest of his subsequent canes once he became more mobile while living in our home.  Life can be an absolute bitch for people who don't have a giant nest egg built up before they become disabled.  Insurance doesn't pay for as much as you might think.  Including physical therapy.  And it takes a minimum of 10 months to receive any SSD money.  

On a happy note, that disgusting walker is gathering dust in a corner of our basement, while my brother eventually recovered enough to move back into his house and is living a tenuous though independent life.   There are happy endings.  Something I hope Diana is able to achieve.  

Edited March 4, 2017 by fonfereksglen
I will never win a spelling bee

[DNR]

I liked Diana and hope they do a where is she now episode on her and she's at goal.  Her niece obviously loved her and the feeling was mutual 

[noveltylibrary65]

On 2/16/2017 at 3:00 PM, Armchair Critic said:

My mother today is still a beautiful, popular social butterfly and I know it embarrasses her that I am overweight and don't run in her social circles.

Maybe attractive is a better word for her, she's not beautiful if her own daughter's appearance embarrasses her!

[aliya]

I've seen this a few times and had to comment on something. At one point, when talking about her relatives bringing her food, Diana says she'd starve to death if they didn't bring food.  I lived in Seattle. Even back in 2001 you could get Albertson's to deliver food. That's #1.

#2 is, maybe if your relatives didn't bring you all that garbage, you would lose some weight. You wouldn't starve (as Dr Now says, "You've got 800 pounds on you." Love ya, Dr. Now). She has her relatives bring food because she likes being waited on. I liked Diana, but in many ways, she was no different than the rest of them. They cry, moan, rant, or whatever to get others to do what they want because they just don't want to do the work themselves. Are there any 600 lb people on this show who don't have enablers? As bad as being morbidly obese is for these folks, they like where they are and having people wait on them and they have found people who will do it.  Sean liked his mother waiting on him and never pursued treatment for his foot. James K liked Lisa and Bailey at his beck and call that he was fine with having Bailey leave school (because, God forbid he should be looking out for her future and her education. He's only her father). Others have whole families so entwined in their need that they all leave home and go to Houston just so they can wait on the obese-ee there. 

I find all of this fascinating. The show is about so much more than the surgery.

[aliya]

On 3/3/2017 at 5:09 PM, lyceumhq said:

Hi, I just signed up to the forum since IMDB forums closed.

 

Was wndering if anyone knew where I could watch this online?I'm in the UK and usually download episodes but can't find this one anywhere.

It looks like no one has responded. You can buy an episode on amazon (not sure if amazon UK carries American shows, but I certainly see a lot of UK shows on what they offer me in the States). The other option is YouTube, but sometimes the quality is poor or you only get a bit of the episode. It's trial and error, which is why I ended up buying what I wanted. The standard download on amazon for these TV shows is $1.99, maybe around two pounds in the UK.

[auntjess]

I rewatched Diana again, an again I can't imagine that many nephews-in-laws, and nieces too, would be will to put up with this for so long.
It was her sense of entitlement that got to me, Diana said something like "I know they've sacrificed so much to help me, but then again, it's my LIFE."
As if they couldn't not do it.

[BooBear]

I just caught this and was blown away. This one was so different:

• Diana is so lucky to have a family like her's. They deserve an award. 
• I didn't like Dr. Now's attitude. Perhaps a little sexism there? He sure doesn't seem to like a woman who is assertive and isn't begging for his assistance / a mess.
• The last second -- I don't know if your family is doing the work or you are -- was low.  Perhaps the niece dropped a dime on Diana but, it was uncalled for.  You were fine with that before.
• Though.. when Diana lost the 100 lbs she said she was so proud of herself and there seemed to be NO recognition of her nice... I hope that was the show and not reality. 
• Diana was someone I didn't think needed the surgery.  I think she could have made it all the way back on her own. She lost 100 lbs in two months. She was motivated and disciplined (or her nice was)
• That therapist was horrible. At one point in the episode Diana said you can only really rely on yourself. With regard to therapy... that was true. 
• That trip to Houston was horrible.  Surely Dr. Now can come up with a better solution for extremely large people.

[auntjess]

5 hours ago, BooBear said:

The last second -- I don't know if your family is doing the work or you are -- was low.  Perhaps the niece dropped a dime on Diana but, it was uncalled for.  You were fine with that before.

He always wants to make sure they can keep up the diet when it isn't being forced on them, so I think that was a fair call. 
The trip's often a trainwreck, but maybe it's partly to see how badly they want it.

 

[OoogleEyes]

This  was on this afternoon. How refreshing,  but Dr. Now was so tough on her, considering the other poundticipants on this show

[Ralphster]

On 3/31/2018 at 4:18 AM, BooBear said:

• I didn't like Dr. Now's attitude. Perhaps a little sexism there? He sure doesn't seem to like a woman who is assertive and isn't begging for his assistance / a mess.
• The last second -- I don't know if your family is doing the work or you are -- was low.  Perhaps the niece dropped a dime on Diana but, it was uncalled for.  You were fine with that before.
• Though.. when Diana lost the 100 lbs she said she was so proud of herself and there seemed to be NO recognition of her nice... I hope that was the show and not reality. 
• Diana was someone I didn't think needed the surgery.  I think she could have made it all the way back on her own. She lost 100 lbs in two months. She was motivated and disciplined (or her nice was)
• That therapist was horrible. At one point in the episode Diana said you can only really rely on yourself. With regard to therapy... that was true. 
• That trip to Houston was horrible.  Surely Dr. Now can come up with a better solution for extremely large people.

Dr. Now definitely has a history of sexist behaviour. Making Rena base her surgery around Lee's mood swings was absolute and utter bullshit. And he wiffle-waffles about how he wants patients to interact with their families. He told Jennifer's daughter (can't remember her name) that it was her fault that her mother gained weight, which was gobsmacking, and then turned around and told Jennifer that no, it was her fault after all. He accused James's girlfriend Lisa of getting him to 800 pounds and bedridden, when in reality James got himself to that state. Lisa was maintaining it for him, but Dr. Now was 100% wrong about who got James into that bed. Then he turned around and told James that he was actually responsible. I have a lot more examples, but basically Dr. Now does a 180 on patients all the time. I would guess they find this horribly confusing and given their longstanding severe emotional issues, I doubt they see him as someone they can fully trust. He should find a way to transport people to Houston safely and with a consistent pricing system, but maybe that's asking too much of him. I do think it's ridiculous to expect everybody to move to Houston to participate in his "program." There isn't really a program. Just follow his diet and get weighed by a local doctor. It isn't brain surgery. I seriously think he owns or has some kind of financial stake in the units we see the contestants move into. Dr. Now is all about the money.

I don't think anybody needs bariatric surgery. If you can lose the weight required prior to surgery, then you can keep losing weight that way. I lost 150 pounds on my own; I had considered the surgery, but chose to go my own way after seeing so many people come out from surgery looking haggard, with thin faces and bloated bodies. The entire reasoning behind the surgery is illogical. If you want to keep eating, you'll do it whether you've had the surgery or not. As so many contestants on this show have demonstrated.

All the therapists on this show are horrible. Dr. Paradise is less horrible, but he seems rather ineffectual overall. Diana was 100% correct about needing to depend on yourself. True change comes from within. If I were Diana, I wouldn't have been able to take the therapist seriously. I've been through a lot of shit that relatively few people have been through and I would need a grizzled veteran, so to speak, to take seriously and to trust.

Edited August 24, 2020 by Ralphster