Half Ton Dad

Last night I watched a programme about a guy that weighed over 1000lb in the US, that is about 470kg.

They didn't dwell too much on how he got to this size, just more looking at what the hospital and famous Gastric Surgeon was going to help him with to reduce his size.

One area they breifly touch on was how he had got to this size when he could no longer walk? They never actually came right out and said that his partner was to blame but they may as well have, because she was the one bring him the food.

At the end of the programme it mentioned that the family, now that he was out of hospital, was now receiving nutritional support and therapy! They should have been receiving this the whole time he was in the hospital because every shot they showed you throughout the show was of them eating take aways - Burger King, Wendy's etc

His daughter had a baby whilst he was in the hospital and at one stage they showed you the mother letting her 4 month old baby try a Wendy's hamburger!

This family never sat at the table to eat their meal.

So many things were jumping out at me that was wrong, yet their worry was this guy and getting his weight down. He still wasn't totally mobile when he came home from the hospital 8 months later and I was afraid that as he was still dependant on his family to bring him his food that things may go backwards instead of forwards?

They also followed a 19 yr old who had got to the point of no return. He had one thing in his favour and that was the fact he could still walk himself to the bathroom. In fact he walked himself out to the ambulance when they came to collect him to take him to hospital.

His mother admitted that she was to blame as she mothered him too much and gave him what ever he wanted, but when ever he wanted food, she made it and brought it to him whilst he sat in his chair.

If he could move, even with difficulty, he should have still be attempting to walk to the kitchen to get the food, at least the moving around would have been doing him some good?

But no his mother spoilt him rotten, literally.

It was an interesting programme from the theatre nurse side as it is only in the last 3-5 yrs that we have started operating here on patients that are larger than the recommended 140kg weight for the operating table. To see them operating on this guy, who yes had lost a lot of weight by the time they did the first operation, he was down to 600lb / 270kg.

It was still amazing to comprehend it all, just the sheer size for the anaesthetics alone was amazing.

At the end of the programme their talked to one of the main ladies involved with this and asked her if this amazed her, the size the man had got too? Her answer was that sadly no, she expected to see larger people soon.