S05.E11: James K's Story

[Ivylady]

11 minutes ago, Lizzie Jones said:

It is. I've had it 3 times in the last 7 years. The worst time put me in the hospital for 6 months.

I'm sorry you've had to deal with that. It sounds terrible.

[Lizzie Jones]

Just now, Ivylady said:

I'm sorry you've had to deal with that. It sounds terrible.

It wasn't the most fun time in my life but there were some good moments in there and I did meet a lot of super nice people who work in the health care field.

I also realized that things would have to change in my life if I did not want to end up in a grave that I was literally digging for myself one forkful at a time....and they have.  :)

 

My cellulitis may or may not come back again. I really hope it doesn't but I now know what it looks like when it starts so I can get medical care quickly.

[dahling]

A few weeks ago I posted that Nicole and her family were the most marginal group of people I'd ever seen.

That didn't last long. 

[Tabbygirl521]

4 hours ago, Maggienolia said:

And the  daughter actually telling the mom "he doesn't need that much" and mom just ignores it. Count me in on Team #saveBailey! That poor girl! And she's in need of losing a few pounds herself. But then look at what she's surrounded by!! OMG - train wreck to end all train wrecks. 

I have not yet had the pleasure of viewing this. Is Bailey HIS daughter?? 

4 hours ago, Brooklynista said:

Why ask them what they want to Eat? Why ask if they want seconds? 

Here's what I made. Eat it or don't.

In the words of my late mom, "Eat it or wear it."

[MrHufflepuff]

Did they have those scripted voice-overs in this episode?  I don't remember any, and I ain't rewatching.

[Tabbygirl521]

4 hours ago, 55Unicorns said:

OMG....should have used some Crisco...

This reminds me of one of my old children's storybooks, "The Cow in the Silo."  

[CarolMK]

I DVR'd this episode and only watched the first 45 minutes. James is going to die, I can just see it now. I'll watch the rest tomorrow as I'm home recovering from surgery but it's going to be a struggle. What a horror show this is. How much older is Lisa than him? She already had 4 kids and they met when he was only 20? I'm amazed he's lived to  age 46 in his condition. Totally shocked he hasn't yet already died.

I also saw a GoFundMe account from Nicole a couple of weeks ago. I do have to wonder if they get paid to be on this show or if just the medical stuff is covered. People were calling her out on it, telling her to go and get a job instead of begging on Facebook for money. 

[Carrie]

1 hour ago, hoosiermom said:

He could do over eaters anonymous and the 12 step program on line. It would appear he has a food addiction (no really) so he could work the program. BUT, you have to be willing to go to any lengths to get sober, change your eating habits etc. You also have to have the capacity to be honest so not sure what his chances are.The AA program has worked for me for 19 years because I was willing to go to any lengths. Unless the enabling stops, I'm afraid he is a dead man in bed.

I'm afraid this man-baby entirely lacks maturity, discipline - and self-awareness - so I can't see these programs which require personal initiative working for him.  All kidding aside - we watched in horror this evening as a man ( with a complete absence of inner development) slip closer and closer to death; We watched his last days.  Short of a miracle, I am convinced he will not live another year.  It's rather macabre and deeply disturbing.  A result of being raised with pity and zero responsibility & accountability perhaps:  Parents can truly make fatal errors with their children.

[Ivylady]

On rewatch, the change in his cellulitis from beginning to end was alarming. He is deteriorating before their eyes, yet Lisa keeps on feeding him. Incredible.

[gardendiva]

3 minutes ago, Diamond Dog said:

Geesh, that is the worst case I've seen -- he didn't even want to try. I could smell the decay, and the death around him. 

I'm traumatized. Seriously, My 600lb Life jumped the infected mothereffin' shark tonight. 

You know what is even worse? I had developed such contempt for this waste of oxygen that it would not have bothered me one tiny bit to watch him expire before my very eyes while it was being filmed.

Hopefully there is room in that handbasket to hell for one more heartless bastard with gasoline-soaked drawers.

[Muffyn]

Foolishly I was eating during this episode.  I decided to have strawberries for dessert.  There I was innocently putting a strawberry in my mouth when they showed Ow His Legs! up close and personal.  I recovered, tried again to eat the strawberry, then dad starting vomiting.  When will I learn?

I do have one very important question.  I'm typing from bed.  Does this mattress make me look fat? 

[happy2bhere]

The most jarring moment for me was to hear James outrage over Dr. Nowzaradan's "disrespect".

I've wondered this during past shows, and it's an even clearer issue for me tonight:  This is clearly a personal emotional/psychological/mental health issue... Why not address that earlier in the process?

Honestly, right after the show, I went on line to search for details of James' death.   Nothing there, yet, and for all I know, it goes on.

[gardendiva]

How can someone gain 158 pounds in 2 months and actually believe that they lost weight?

"I feel looser" he has the nerve to tell Dr. Now. Really?

[Tabbygirl521]

3 hours ago, mmecorday said:

I have always had the highest regard for the men and women who provide emergency services, and the EMTs in this episode really deserved special citations for what they had to put up with. They displayed such patience and kindness to this man who did nothing but whine and complain the whole time they were trying to help him. If there are any EMTs replying or lurking in this forum, my hat is eternally off to all of you for what you do.

That said, my GOD this guy! When your father loves you so much that he refinances his home that has probably been paid off for decades, you shut your trap and start dropping lbs like the lead singer of Sexual Chocolate drops a mic. His immediate family members must have been born without gag reflexes. If I had to touch those yellow oozing blisters on his legs, I would need someone to hold my hair until I puked up everything I'd eaten since sixth grade. I'm not quite sure why James is even still alive. Did you see his feet? They were like overfilled water bottles and they were purple. He must have a diet high in fat, calories and Keith Richards' blood. "Wow, how did I gain so much weight?" Lying in bed eating Chinese take-out is not the path to a Soloflex bod, dude. Once again I'm left wondering, what exactly did James think Dr. Now was going to do for him? I don't see a Hogwarts diploma on his walls so he's not a sorcerer. I will not be watching the "supersized" edition of this show unless someone autotunes James' constant "Ow, mah legs!" into a catchy downloadable ditty.

Oh Jesus. I almost just choked on the many chocolate chips I am enjoying as part of a healthy diet. Oh god!!! Hahahahaha!!!

[SouthernCross]

So what was his trauma/excuse for his eating?  I admit to fast forwarding through much of this episode because it was just too ridiculous. 

I'm also curious if anyone has an explanation of wobbling tire = eating out everyday.  

They seemed to have a plethora of new toys once they got to Houston  I assume some of the cash received (either from the show or Dad) went towards decking out the new pad.  Interesting priorities  

[NeitherSparky]

You guys.

You guys.

James is the Amy's Baking Company of My 600 Lb Life. :|

[SouthernCross]

6 minutes ago, gardendiva said:

How can someone gain 158 pounds in 2 months and actually believe that they lost weight?

"I feel looser" he has the nerve to tell Dr. Now. Really?

No shit. I gain 5-8 lbs from Oct to Jan 1 every year (multiple birthdays, holidays and annual cruise) and I can definitely tell. You have to be oblivious to not know you have gained another human beings weight. 

[Tabbygirl521]

2 hours ago, Toaster Strudel said:

I sure wondered how James ate during his EMT ride.  Did he make everyone stop so he could stuff a dozen Big Macs and as many fries?  It was a long trip, surely he shat himself, who cleaned up?  So curious.

I must have latent dyslexia because for a second I read this as, "...how many EMTs did James eat..."

Edited March 16, 2017 by Tabbygirl521

[Muffyn]

9 minutes ago, Tabbygirl521 said:

I must have latent dyslexia because for a second I read this as, "...how many EMTs did James eat..."

Some of them qualify as beefcake so, I'm sure they were tempting.  MMMM . . . beef . . . cake.  I'll let myself out. 

[DC Gal in VA]

3 hours ago, mmecorday said:

I have always had the highest regard for the men and women who provide emergency services, and the EMTs in this episode really deserved special citations for what they had to put up with. They displayed such patience and kindness to this man who did nothing but whine and complain the whole time they were trying to help him. If there are any EMTs replying or lurking in this forum, my hat is eternally off to all of you for what you do.

 

Well said mmecorday!  I totally agree.

This show was tough to watch for so many reasons, many of which have already been commented upon here. Although I watched most of it, I had to step away for a few minutes just gather up enough strength to see this episode through to the end.

Your praise for those EMTs brought up a question for me that I hope someone here can answer.

After James was denied insurance (Medicaid?) to cover the cost of his trip to Houston and the GoFundMe was a bust, didn't the local fire department donate an ambulance and the time and great patience of both firefighters and EMTs to haul his massive, whiney, complaining ass, first out of their home and into the ambulance, then drive him to Houston? I mean those guys deserve many thanks and shiney, diamond studded platinum halos for what they did for him. We don't see or hear everything of course because of editing and he may have said it, but I don't recall hearing him say "thank you" to them even once.

If that was the case then, does that mean that his dear father who refinanced his home to cover the estimated $15,000 cost of the trip is not financially in the hole?

Edited March 16, 2017 by DC Gal in VA
To correct that damned autocorrect and clarification.

[BojanglesStar]

Ow, mah leg. Well, ow my ears you big fat f whiner.  He is the nastiest person I'd ever seen on that show. They can't even hose him off in the backyard.  Leave him, Penny & Pauline alone in a room & see who eats who first.  I bet he's on disability, she gets gov assistance as a single mother & care giver, that's prob why they aren't married, food stamps & his housing is prob gov assistance too.  His "insurance" is prob Medicaid. I wouldn't give him a dime, he did absolutely nothing to help himself, he never even accepted responsibility for his condition.  I have all the compassion in the world for folks that try.  But if they don't "give" him the surgery they're giving me a death sentence. YOU GAVE YOURSELF A DEATH SENTENCE. "What's the point of being on a diet if they aren't going to give me any help."  Give me give me give me. What a load of BS he tried to sell Dr Now at the end - he has to get his body trained to be on a diet from all the cheeseburgers, he's just now getting resources he's needed from the beginning, he asked for a nutritionist & didn't get that, I needed home health care & didn't get that.  What did YOU do James?  Yes folks, he didn't get - that's his problem.  He wasn't given enough.  Loved Dr Nows response. How self absorbed can a person be to allow their child to be taken out of school to take care of you when your problem is ALL of your making?  What about having to have you friends come over to roll your lard a** over so your butt can be wiped & a wash cloth run over your nasty legs?  I have zero sympathy for either of them, just his daughter.   She over fed him then lied to cover it up. You get home from almost dying of CHF & have to eat bc you're stressed???  Too busy laying in bed to go to the Dr. Now, how about another slice of cheesecake, just eat the whole thing.  But he's sceerrrddd!  I just love "if I don't bring him the food he'll get mad". Who cares?  What's he going to do, chase you down the street?  Make you leave?  I think my dogs were cowering under the bed by the time this episode was over I yelled at the tv so much.  

[crazycatlady58]

3 hours ago, MsVixen said:

I'm just starting to watch this episode as I had to catch "Major Crimes" earlier.  

Right off the bat, I can't get past James' legs.  No way could I wash them much less clean his bottom and deal with a catheter.  I now know why I'm single......  :D
 

  Hide contents

,

Msvixen, Now I too know why I am single also, men  look  at me and tell themselves  " no way  she is going  to wipe my butt when I hit 600+ pounds  ".  That is a good  thing.

[Seattlegirl]

6 hours ago, Threnners said:

"rushed".

Exactly what I said, haha.

[Seattlegirl]

6 hours ago, Spooneroonie said:

I'm wondering if James is the first patient that Dr Now essentially kicks to the curb.

It's not.  I've seen him turn away one other patient that failed to even try.

6 hours ago, Ms. Bubba said:

New tagline - "Does this mattress make me look fat?"

OMG...you made me almost spit out my water.  Yeah, I think that that excuse is a first, haha.

[Seattlegirl]

1 hour ago, SouthernCross said:

So what was his trauma/excuse for his eating?  I admit to fast forwarding through much of this episode because it was just too ridiculous. 

I'm also curious if anyone has an explanation of wobbling tire = eating out everyday.  

They seemed to have a plethora of new toys once they got to Houston  I assume some of the cash received (either from the show or Dad) went towards decking out the new pad.  Interesting priorities  

I missed the first part too.  I was desperate to find out what his reason was too.  All I found was that his mother was an alcoholic.  I have to hope that there was more to it than that though.  Plenty of people come from homes where one or both parents are alcoholics (or where they have endured worse) and they do not revert to being a delusional, over morbidly obese person that demands everything and gives nothing like this whiny guy.

[Doingmybest]

This is so depressing.  I watch these to remind me to watch what I eat so I don't gain weight, but this episode made me want to eat at first. So i was out of the room when the horrible cellulitis showed up on his legs.  I threw the popcorn away as soon as I saw it.  Dr. Now is usually pretty mild-mannered, but he came close to losing it with this patient.  Why is it the girlfriend and daughter's responsibility to take care of him? If the taxpayers are paying for his treatment, they might as well ante up a little more for in-home care.  If he has to figure out how to clean up his own waste, I suspect he'll be more motivated.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Doingmybest

[EtheltoTillie]

39 minutes ago, Seattlegirl said:

I missed the first part too.  I was desperate to find out what his reason was too.  All I found was that his mother was an alcoholic.  I have to hope that there was more to it than that though.  Plenty of people come from homes where one or both parents are alcoholics (or where they have endured worse) and they do not revert to being a delusional, over morbidly obese person that demands everything and gives nothing like this whiny guy.

The mother was an alcoholic but he was getting to know her in later years, and she died suddenly, then their house burned down. Still nothing can explain how this occurs only to some people who experience trauma.  

I don't think there has been an episode before where it could have been so simple to keep someone on the low-cal diet, he was that dependent and immobile. So it all has to be laid at the feet of the girlfriend, who totally failed to stick to the parameters. What a broken pair of people. 

He looked like that famous guy from Mexico who was on the mothership of these shows, the world's fattest man. He weighed over 1,000 pounds and had his legs spread out in the same way. He later died. That's why James looked heavier to me at the start. James is on his way to the same fate soon. 

Edited March 16, 2017 by GussieK

[Thriftykins]

6 hours ago, kjackson106 said:

I have not seen all episodes but I have never seen Dr Now so angry.   Have any of you?

I don't care what anyone says about Dr Now, I.love him.

 

I have seen every episode and I have never seen Dr. Now so angry either.  Not even with the infamous Penny.  Marla and her follow-up episode come in at a close second though.

 

6 hours ago, Barb23 said:

Why couldn't they put a Tshirt on him?  At least it was better when he had the gown on.

I am of the opinion that if you're so fat that you lie around in bed naked all day, you are basically no longer a human being and actually an animal.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Michael Stabosz
Fixed formatting.

[Thriftykins]

2 hours ago, Seattlegirl said:

It's not.  I've seen him turn away one other patient that failed to even try.

Who was that?  I know that Pauline was dismissed from the program.  Marla was also kicked out during her second year.  However both of them were kicked out after surgery.  James K. was the first patient who never even made it to the operating table.

 

I really feel for Lisa though.  The people of this forum are being unfair to her I think.  She went from one abusive relationship to another.  James kind of framed himself as the guy who saved her from the previous relationship, but I think there's no doubt about it.... he was another one.  That poor woman.  People here say that she should have worked harder or left him or been more strict.  They're right, but you need to remember that's easier said than done.  There is something about abused people that makes them psychologically broken.  They can't leave their abusers.  They can't stand up to them.  The reasons are obvious in a physically abusive relationship; the abuser controls through simple physical superiority and can chase them down if they flee.  It's less clear why the emotionally abused are so reluctant to leave.

 

This episode reminds me of Ricky from the documentary "The Man Who Ate Himself to Death".  Ricky was a lot like James.  He was huge, he wanted to lose weight, but would put in absolutely no effort.  He whined incessantly.  His wife enabled him and you could just see the misery in her eyes.  She also said that Ricky would become verbally abusive if not given what he wanted.  He also had trouble with the transportation logistics, although his case was worse because he lived in Guam which is an island in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean.  The whole thing is out there on Youtube if anyone wants to watch it.

[mamadrama]

45 minutes ago, Michael Stabosz said:

I have seen every episode and I have never seen Dr. Now so angry either.  Not even with the infamous Penny.  Marla and her follow-up episode come in at a close second though.

I feel like there were some scenes missing. Dr. Now kind of came into this one pretty angry. As soon as he met the family at the hospital he looked put out with them. Not that I blame him, of course, but I wonder what all was said on the phone and via Skype? James must have really chapped Now's ass to have him coming in with guns blazing. 

This is the Go Fund Me page that they referenced in the episode. They raised around $450, which is nothing-especially considering that every news station in the state carried the story (including the ones where I live and I am several hours away). It's interesting because there was recently a local lady raising money for surgery for her cat and SHE reached $3,000. Oh well. 

I find it ironic that in the Go Fund Me picture you can see an Ensure, bag of Doritos, and bottle of Coke on the bedside table. They could belong to someone else but in a picture where you're trying to get people to donate money so that you can lose weight, I wouldn't be surrounding myself with junk food. 

https://www.gofundme.com/h974k26s

 

ETA: Actually the one above was for a different Go Fund Me. Same guy, different money-raising venture. THIS is the one from the show. It raised $320. https://www.gofundme.com/james-medical-transport-funding-2tzjnh55

Edited March 16, 2017 by mamadrama

[Patty T]

10 hours ago, 55Unicorns said:

And the mother pulled her out of school to take care of him?!?

How selfish can parents be. I hope to God someone with Child Welfare Services saw this & places their daughter with a foster family who's priority will be HER EDUCATION. SMH!

[Patty T]

10 hours ago, Kid said:

Oh my god.  12 minutes in.  What a mess this family is. His daughter doesn't stand a chance. They pull her out of school to take care of that piece of work.

And the girlfriend's job is to keep him fed all day and what goes in his mouth comes out the other end and then she's got to clean that up!  

And the question always is, where does the money come from for all that food, for the roof over their head,  and for the car that they're driving.  

This season's stories are hard to take.

Hopefully the producers of the show have contacted Child Welfare Services about these idiots pulling their perfectly healthy daughter out of school to take care of his lazy, selfish ass.

[mamadrama]

6 minutes ago, Patty T said:

How selfish can parents be. I hope to God someone with Child Welfare Services saw this & places their daughter with a foster family who's priority will be HER EDUCATION. SMH!

The daughter is an adult, around 19 years old. She was pulled out of college, not high school. 

Not that it makes it any better...

[Patty T]

10 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

I am cringing just thinking of the whining we are going to hear from this manbaby.

IKR... I can't tell you how many times I wanted to jump through that TV and slap his whiney, selfish a$$. 

[Armchair Critic]

6 hours ago, Barb23 said:

 At least Penny & the others were able to sit up & do things while being bed ridden. (Not condoning, just saying).  But he was in a semi reclined position the whole time.

You would think when you cannot even sit up in bed that would be a wake up call that you have hit rock bottom. 

[Miss Ruth]

8 hours ago, WhitneyWhit said:

I'm a bitch, but I laughed when no one donated to their online fundraising campaign.

 

        I thought it was hilarious when Lisa decided to add five thousand dollars to the ten thousand they were asking for so they would have money for    incidentals.

[IOU Payne]

Quote

The daughter is an adult, around 19 years old. She was pulled out of college, not high school. 

Not that it makes it any better...

In a way, it makes it even worse, because the opportunity to learn professional skills that would allow her to support herself and give her some upward mobility was yanked away so she could tend to her father's weeping pustules.

[poeticlicensed]

I'm guessing that one reason that insurance ( I.e. Medicaid) denied the request is that he was not under a doctor's care. Dr now made the request to Medicaid but he was probably not under a doctor's care in Kentucky. So Dr now can't speak to his medical history. I have a hard time believing that he has been getting any kind of care until they contacted Dr. Now, who they probably saw on TV . If he was under the care of another doctor no doubt that doctor would have tried to intervene, even to suggest institutionalization. 

Has anyone figured out if James is still alive? It looks like summer when it was filmed. That's more than 6 months ago. 

The other thing I don't understand is this. They clearly are depending on govt assistance for everything. I assume food stamps are part of it. Can you buy fast food with food stamps? If not how do they afford it? I just don't get it. The only thing I can figure is that Lisa is getting paid to be his caretaker, hence the reason they are not married. 

[Guest]

About his cellulitis: the man was in a hospital setting for months. I don't know why that horrible infection, let alone his Where-the-Wild-Things-Are-monster toenails, weren't being treated medically. It's not like a doctor could say that no one noticed. 

I guess that they disposed of the boilerplate "let's meet with a therapist and work out your issues" segment of this show because that would have taken a whole other two hours of TV time. 

I'm still chuckling over Dr Now's, "No, you don't HAVE to eat something...you have 800 pounds of food in you!" line. 

[Hana Chan]

I had to stop watching last night and caught the rest this morning. This was one of the most difficult episodes to sit through.

What we have here is a perfect storm of awfulness. On one hand, you have this lump of a human being who takes absolutely no responsibility for himself and cannot tolerate the least bit of deprivation or discomfort in order to achieve what he said that he wants. He bullies everyone around him into doing what he wishes and manipulates them rather mercilessly. After all, they'd help if they really loved him. So his girlfriend gives up not just her life, but their daughter's life, in order to provide daily care for him. His father is clearly not well (and suffered a stroke that I'm sure was partly a result of the stress over his son's situation) and mortgages his home in order to get his son to medical help. But James will do nothing for himself, including denying himself a single meal. He apparently believes that the weight will just magically disappear because they managed to cart him down to Texas and it will take absolutely no effort on his part.

And on the other, we have a woman who comes from a history of being abused by her former spouse. Her behavior is very typical of a battered woman - rather than face anger or an argument, it's better to appease the other person than have a confrontation that only ends up badly for her. I agree that there is nothing that James could physically do if she denied him the food he wanted, but she is so emotionally beaten down that his lashing out (and we saw how he can verbally attack those trying to care for him) is more than she can stand. She tells everyone what they want to hear in order to avoid being the target of criticism. James struck absolute gold when he found her to be his enabler, because she is completely incapable of standing up for herself. It broke my heart when she spoke about her not having a life because all she does is care for him. And she's sentenced her daughter to that same prison. They can't get a job or go to school because this lump needs 24/7 care and just can't be left alone because he's so physically helpless. 

I don't know what kind of resolution can come of this because we've seen this over and over again. If James is unwilling to do what he must in order to save his own life, he'll continue eating himself to death. No medical intervention will change that. My only hope is that it happens quickly so that those around him can bury him, mourn and then move on with their lives that seem to be on permanent hold.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Hana Chan
correcting a typo because i'm a riter and not a spiller

[operalover]

8 hours ago, Lizzie Jones said:

You have to have intravenous antibacterial meds to get rid of the cellulitis or very, very strong antibacterial meds in pill form. 

I've been there and done both.

It is. I've had it 3 times in the last 7 years. The worst time put me in the hospital for 6 months.

Explain to me then how it can be on his legs and not in his whole system where you need antibiotics? I thought it was a medical emergency and you need to resolve it with heavy duty antibiotics because you have a high fever and will die otherwise. I thought cellulities was a bacterial infection of your whole system so I don't understand how he has "cellulitis ON his legs".  Shouldn't he be dead by now?

[operalover]

2 hours ago, mamadrama said:

I feel like there were some scenes missing. Dr. Now kind of came into this one pretty angry. As soon as he met the family at the hospital he looked put out with them. Not that I blame him, of course, but I wonder what all was said on the phone and via Skype? James must have really chapped Now's ass to have him coming in with guns blazing. 

This is the Go Fund Me page that they referenced in the episode. They raised around $450, which is nothing-especially considering that every news station in the state carried the story (including the ones where I live and I am several hours away). It's interesting because there was recently a local lady raising money for surgery for her cat and SHE reached $3,000. Oh well. 

I find it ironic that in the Go Fund Me picture you can see an Ensure, bag of Doritos, and bottle of Coke on the bedside table. They could belong to someone else but in a picture where you're trying to get people to donate money so that you can lose weight, I wouldn't be surrounding myself with junk food. 

https://www.gofundme.com/h974k26s

 

ETA: Actually the one above was for a different Go Fund Me. Same guy, different money-raising venture. THIS is the one from the show. It raised $320. https://www.gofundme.com/james-medical-transport-funding-2tzjnh55

Wow HATE comments on that first GoFundMe from disgusted viewers.

I had nightmares about these two. I do think that their situation was horrendous and their pattern of her enabling was so ingrained that just saying "go on a 1200 a day diet" was not going to work! The way she would shove a gigantic plate of food under his chin- she seemed to get a baby voice "is it gooood?" like she got great pleasure from making him happy with food. She is completely co-dependent. This pattern is so ingrained in both of them that obviously they could not break it easily. They needed something more, I don't know what, possibly round the clock therapy or something - he wasted tons of Public (taxpayer and volunteers) money and manpower being hospitalized on the forced diet and that didn't teach them anything either.

what killed me was when he didn't want to go to the hospital - I think he thought he'd have more time to try to lose some weight after all the Chinese food- that he actually said "this isn't a good time for me to be away from my family" as if his family NEEDS HIM for anything! 

[fonfereksglen]

10 minutes ago, operalover said:

Explain to me then how it can be on his legs and not in his whole system where you need antibiotics? I thought it was a medical emergency and you need to resolve it with heavy duty antibiotics because you have a high fever and will die otherwise. I thought cellulities was a bacterial infection of your whole system so I don't understand how he has "cellulitis ON his legs".  Shouldn't he be dead by now?

Perhaps you are thinking of sepsis?  

My entire knowledge of cellulitis comes from the clerk behind the desk at the dry cleaners I've used forever, but she explained it is an infection of the skin both externally and internally.  She is also overweight and a diabetic which makes the leg issue even worse.  She spend three weeks in the hospital extremely ill.  It is awful.  

That said, this man obviously has multiple health issues and I'm not sure why they featured him on a weight loss journey.

[SunnyBeBe]

When Lisa threatened to leave, I said to the tv, "PLEASE LEAVE and let the man have a chance to live!"  Apparently, she feels her work on earth is not done until they put James in a coffin. (No, they can't put him in a coffin, because, there would not be one large enough.  I doubt he would fit into a cremation device either.  What would they do with him?)  She's doing nothing but helping him die.  I really wish Adult Protective Services would get involved.  LIsa is is as sick as James is. If Lisa would just walk away, the county would be required to place James in a nursing home and there he would get proper care, proper diet and he could complain all he wanted, but, they wouldn't provide all that junk.  And since Medicaid would be paying for the Nursing home, he'd only be able to keep a small monthly sum for his personal use. That would not be enough to fuel his fast food/take out food habit, so, it would be a win win situation.  I wonder what her background is and if she's harmed other disabled people this way. 

I suspect he gained so much weight once they moved into the apt, because, he had easier access to delivery places, that they may not have had in his rural KY home. I still wonder why the program doesn't teach coping skills.  James needed coping skills. He also didn't seem to have much to occupy his mind all day. Food was his amusement.  I would think that motivation tapes, books, health based informational videos could have been tried.  But, I'm prone to agree with many that James has very little chance of success.  I do feel for his dad and daughter.  

Gotta hand it to Dr. Now. I've never seen him that demonstrative before.  It was needed and then some. 

[operalover]

14 minutes ago, fonfereksglen said:

Perhaps you are thinking of sepsis?  

 

No Im not thinking of sepsie, my best friend and my dad had cellulitis 3 times. It started with a purple spot, looks like a spider bite on the lower leg. Then you get very very sick with a high fever, you need to get IV antibiotics or heavy duty antibiotic. My friend has excema in his feet- cracked feet so the staph gets in and causes the cellulitis ..most people don't know that if you see a quarter sized purple spot on your leg and its sore that you need to see a doctor that is the first sign. Once they got thru their antibiotics they felt better and it went away. It's common in people who are hospitalized because it is a type of staph that is around all the time but if your immune system is compromised or you have open wounds the staph can get in and give you this cellulitis infection.  That is my understanding of it so I was confused about how someone has it chronically on their legs.

In fact, one of the woman featured a few years ago had a set back because she contracted it after skin surgery, which is one of the risks with those big stitches, the bacteria can get in and give you cellulitis.  

I guess in James it just lives on his legs, I don't know.

14 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

When Lisa threatened to leave, I said to the tv, "PLEASE LEAVE and let the man have a chance to live!"  Apparently, she feels her work on earth is not done until they put James in a coffin. (No, they can't put him in a coffin, because, there would not be one large enough.  I doubt he would fit into a cremation device either.  What would they do with him?)  

Piano Box- I swear this is what they did with the obese in the olden days. I'd hear that growing up "she is going to be buried in a piano box"

Edited March 16, 2017 by operalover

[Hana Chan]

2 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

James needed coping skills. He also didn't seem to have much to occupy his mind all day. Food was his amusement.

Speaking as someone who went through something similar to this, there are absolutely no coping skills that one can teach to someone who is determined to stay on a self-destructive path, no matter what. My grandmother had a number of medical issues (Type 1 diabetes and a heart condition that required open heart surgery), but what was really her doom was her smoking. She loved to smoke. Kents was her brand of choice (though she would smoke Cools when Kents wasn't available). She just refused to quit smoking, even when it became obvious to everyone around her that it was slowly killing her. She went from being a vibrant woman who loved to go to our beach club and play tennis to having to sleep in a recliner chair because she couldn't breathe. She would be coughing up a lung and still lighting a cigarette. And as her health continued to decline, she claimed that smoking was the one pleasure she had left. And in the end, it did finally kill her. I was thirteen when she died.

James has options. It's not like he can't amuse himself and read, or watch movies or even cat videos on YouTube. He chooses to make food his source of entertainment. And he blames everyone and everything around him for not helping enough. Even when his girlfriend is wiping shit from his ass, he cries about how horrible his life is. That they didn't provide him with a nutritionist or that he needed to work up to being on the plan. No blame for himself for being completely unwilling to tell himself "no" even once.

[Guest]

It was interesting to see the Physical Therapists towards the end of this spectacle.

Poor Jordan (the intern or assistant) looked completely confused as if to say "what the hell?...this wasn't in any of the lectures".

[Kid]

11 hours ago, Threnners said:

 

Stop it, just stop it you lying motherfucker.

 

What kills me is why they even bother to lie! Can they be in such denial that they actually think that, although they have been shoveling it down their gaping maw, the scale will show weight-loss?

And the reason someone like him wants weight-loss surgery is because he believes that, if they cut his gut, he can continue to shovel it in and still lose weight. He and the others like him think weight-loss surgery is magic because,  after all, being fat is not their responsibility -  their mother caused it, their father caused it, their family is continuing to cause it by making them eat what they want. Therefore, if they take no responsibilty, the fix is outside their resppnsibility as well - magical surgery will cause them to lose weight. Either the surgery will let them continue to eat and still lose weight or the surgery will make them stop eating.  Either way, it's not their responsibility.

[Crazy Bird Lady]

I only have one good thing to say about them dedicating 2 hours to James K's story: it proves, once and for all, that Dr. Now is a Saint to put up with people like that!!

[islandgal140]

Lisa and Bayley's revenge hopefully comes in the form of my favorite Warner Bros cartoon: "This time we didn't forget the gravy"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH7bEytedtE

Penny who? Suddenly vagina reaching and Sealy PosturePedic wontons ain't looking so bad.  I think this is the 1st time I have ever had to avert my eyes during an episode. I have such a thing about growths and skin ailments that every time his part came up in the intro I wanted to hurl. By the end of the show, his leg was like something out of Quentin Tarantino's Planet Terror but worse. This was just staggeringly awful and ridiculous. The man GAINED over 100 lbs in what 2/3 months all while claiming to only cheat a little.

I couldn't even at the diagnosis of chronic heart failure was treated like something episodic. It is not like an appendix that you go on have treated and removed and you go off and live your life as before. I should know, my dad was diagnosed suddenly and to our surprise February 2016. His life has never been the same, but he is still with us and doing fair to okay. He actually lost close to 60 lbs and is at his ideal weight.  Still, he is on medications and most importantly he has to watch his salt intake and be on the lookout for edema. So it kills me to see James eating salt laden Chinese food like it was nothing. 

Lisa went from one abuser to another. 

Edited March 16, 2017 by islandgal140