IN THE COMMENTS: Pogo tells a vivid story:
I have taken care of a few men like this. One weighed in at over 700 pounds. He was also immobile, and admitted to hospital for a number of related concerns, but they had to cut out the side of his house to get him out (no longer fitting through the door) and transported in a delivery truck (he needed a hoist and didn't fit in an ambulance).
His wife and mother brought him food at home and, despite orders to the contrary, as an inpatient. He would whine and plead like a three year old for food; all guilt and manipulation.
New Year's Eve, 3 months into the stay, he begged to have "just a few pieces of shrimp" to celebrate (exceeding his then 5-to-600 cal diet). I came in the room at midnight to see him holding a huge tray from Red Lobster up to his face, using his arm to shovel the food as fast as possible into his mouth, not even chewing, like in a pie-eating contest.
After we took it away from him, he threatened to kill himself (his frequent ploy to gain sympathy, one that worked on many many caregivers). I was so angry I yelled, "Go ahead. But tell me, how are you going to do it?" I opened up the window. "You can't move, except your arms. You can't walk to this window and jump. You can't even fit through the opening. Frankly, aside from choking on food, I can't even imagine how you'd commit suicide. So be my guest; let us know what you figure out."
His mom started it, it seems. His wife learned to continue the family ritual of feeding him, even long after he quit moving from his bed. I can't explain it, I'm afraid. Some people just can't behave as mature adults, but remain children forever, with appetities insatiable, like Prader Willi syndrome without retardation. C.S. Lewis explains it better than Freud, I think.
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And he has to fly from Mexico to Italy for the surgery -- imagine sitting next to the only open seat in coach and he is wheeled onto the plane!
Post-op care better include some remedial diet info. Whomever is feeding him now will be taken off the case, I hope.
I have taken care of a few men like this. One weighed in at over 700 pounds. He was also immobile, and admitted to hospital for a number of related concerns, but they had to cut out the side of his house to get him out (no longer fitting through the door) and transported in a delivery truck (he needed a hoist and didn't fit in an ambulance).
His wife and mother brought him food at home and, despite orders to the contrary, as an inpatient. He would whine and plead like a three year old for food; all guilt and manipulation.
New Year's Eve, 3 months into the stay, he begged to have "just a few pieces of shrimp" to celebrate (exceeding his then 5-to-600 cal diet). I came in the room at midnight to see him holding a huge tray from Red Lobster up to his face, using his arm to shovel the food as fast as possible into his mouth, not even chewing, like in a pie-eating contest.
After we took it away from him, he threatened to kill himself (his frequent ploy to gain sympathy, one that worked on many many caregivers). I was so angry I yelled, "Go ahead. But tell me, how are you going to do it?" I opened up the window. "You can't move, except your arms. You can't walk to this window and jump. You can't even fit through the opening. Frankly, aside from choking on food, I can't even imagine how you'd commit suicide. So be my guest; let us know what you figure out."
His mom started it, it seems. His wife learned to continue the family ritual of feeding him, even long after he quit moving from his bed. I can't explain it, I'm afraid. Some people just can't behave as mature adults, but remain children forever, with appetities insatiable, like Prader Willi syndrome without retardation. C.S. Lewis explains it better than Freud, I think.
I saw a Dr. Phil with some dangerously obese people on once (yes I'm admitting to having watched Dr. Phil) and they were basically able to just bully their families into bringing them food all day long, go to the store for donuts when they had cravings, etc.
(Remember the 600+ pound woman who had fused to her couch a few yearts back? Same situation... she had a live-in boyfriend who just shovelled it in.)
obviously the two sides to this. one is the disordered eater and the other is the enabler. i wouldn't be surprised if the same root forces as alchoholism or some other "ism" isn't at play here.
surgery may be the only answer. certainly when (not if) cardiac arrest hits the sheer bulk makes life support or evacuation impossible (ohhh where is my vhs of gilbert grape).
and Knoxgirl...its perfectly ok to watch Dr. Phil. Well not perfectly...but once a week at max or I'll take your clicker away from you and no matter how much you whine and beg I won't give it back.
Madison Man:
Experienced that twice ina way.
Once at a freezing Army/ Navy game. It was great the lady was huge so she blocked the freezing wind from hitting me.
And the next time was at a 100 degree day at Camden Yards- not so good, it was like sitting next to an oven and he seemed to suck all the oxygen and air out of our section.
- shade in the summer and heat in the winter,eh?
Doc Russia's treatment of choice:
"gunny therapy"
http://bloodletting.blog-city.com/mama_dont_let_your_babies_grow_up.htm
surgery may be the only answer. certainly when (not if) cardiac arrest hits the sheer bulk makes life support or evacuation impossible
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to be around for, er, evacuation.
I like fried food, but not that much.
I feel better about my butt hurting after my stint on the exercise bike this morning, that's for sure.
i wouldn't be surprised if the same root forces as alchoholism or some other "ism" isn't at play here
I was thinking that, too, like a reverse form of anorexia or some sort of OCD thing. Some people are compelled to wash their hands a thuosand times a day, others to shovel in food.
But I had been wondering how people who can't move from their couch happen to be able to obtain copious amounts of food.
I wonder what his favorite food is, or if the compulsion is so strong that he has no favorite? I wonder how many pounds of food he can consume at one lying? We have a mild fascination with the grotesque. I wonder if the family sells tickets to the more affluent to come view him? Let's say a $3.00 entry fee and $4.00 if you want to ask him a few questions. They must have sufficient means, somehow, to feed an appetite equal to that of 5 people.
Along those lines Goesh, I can't help but wonder at what point did the fat man realize that he can't even get up to use the bathroom and think, "I am now sitting in my own feces. Well, I guess that's not so bad." That to me would be the tipping point. When you prefer eating more food to being able to not sit in your own crap, that's the point that you don't want to get to.
I'm glad Jeremy brought that up, I didn't want to. Ewwww! After eating 10 lbs of pickled bolgna with jalepenos washed down with a 6 pack of beer, one can only imagine the disgusting horror this fellow would enact on the entire neighborhood. My god! Such an image makes necrophilia the lesser evil.
Re: "...paraplegics can't move either and thus their bathroom needs have solutions different..."
The difference being one of volition, lacking in one, irrelevant in the other.
Pogo-
The only other take-away I can find from that is perhaps morbidly obese folks anticipate the coming day when they'll no longer be able to access the bathroom and so preemptively engage the alternative solutions.
Man, that's even weirder.
You can pickle bologna?
Can you batter and deep-fry it after it's pickled?
How about frying it then smothering it in gravy and cheese curds like bologna poutine?
Just in case you needed motivation to hit the gym tonight, that won't be a problem after reading this.
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