Chairs and Obesity

Kathy brought up the topic of chairs and I remember lots of funny moments and horror stories over the years. My whole family is obese or morbitly obese except for the 6 who have already had WLS. Others are looking into it. One of my friends said she dec ided to have WLS the day the chair in her office broke in front of a client. Oh how I hated them white plastic chairs. Ever see a leg bow when you sat down? I have many times in the past. The funniest thing I have ever seen with one of them was at my brother's house. First let me tell you I was sitting on a brick wall at 368 lbs at the time. Boy that was safe . That was my favorite place to sit. Here is why !!! One of our friends came over and sat in one of them famous white plastic chairs. When she went to get up the chair was stuck to her hips. My brother being the obese clown he was said " Just leave $5 and take it with you "  I also remember my brother sitting in one of my cheap metal chairs. He went to lean back and give me a glass and the chair bent to the floor. Isn't it a WOW MOMENT when you don't have to worry about your hips getting stuck or chairs bending? Lets hear some of your funny stories or wow moments about chairs. See all lighter. Joanne

OMG, I went to a Luau in Waikiki and bent the plasrtic chair. I was so embarrased, The waiters quietly brought me a hard chair. I vowed I would stand  rather than sit in 1 ever again. LOL. Thank God I can sit in them now, but not comfortably. The memory never goes away, does it? ((HUGS)) Elissa

Elissa, It is embarasing at the time but isn't it nice that we can look back at it now and remember where we came from? Our memories will never go away but I think that is a good thing. I never will forget where I came from. Take care. See you lighter. Joanne

I hate the white plastic chairs!  When we were in Cancun 2 years ago, I went to sit on one of the white plastic chaise lounge chairs, and once my weight was on the seat it the legs bowed and my butt ended up on the ground!  Very embarrassing! Can't wait to go on the next vacation, I know i'm not gonna have any problems.

Judy, Ok you have to tell us what you did when that happened. I can't wait to hear about your next vacation either. Bet it will be filled with WOW Moments !! See you lighter. Joanne

Well Joanne, prior to this surgery I would have never told anyone about this chair thing.  Now, I can look back and laugh about it.  After I sat down, all the way down to the ground (mind you I'm at the pool with all these skinny *****es) and in my bathing suit, I had to roll off the chaise like a beached whale because I couldn't get up!!!  Can you imagine keeping this low key. HA not so much!  All my husband could do was laugh.  Bad, very bad.

Ok I remember one time I feel tru the porch of an old house we lived at. It was on a main street and school just got out. Only one leg went thru. I had to stand there and watch all the school buses go by before I could climb out. My hubby laughed too.All the kids always waved to us. I don't think they noticed but they would of if I tried to get out. I'm sure we all have had these moments. See you lighter. Joanne

Picnic tables were a nightmare for me too.  I would pray like all heck that whoever was sitting opposite me would NOT get up, for fear the table would tip to the ground on my side.  The "Water Log" rides at amusement parks...Oh My God.  These things seat 5 or 6 people and when I went with my sister and her family, they put ME in first...at the very back.  Of course, the front of the log came flying up and there I was with the ride attendants trying to get the front end of the Log Ride car back into the water.  I was mortified.  Once everyone else got in, the ride was fun.  At the end, I was allowed to get out first so it wouldn't happen again.  That was one of the only rides I could actually enjoy because I didn't fit in most anything else...the restraints weren't big enough to go around me.  I can look back on some of those times and get a good chuckle but there are some things that were truly hurtful and life changing.  My paramedic training as a flight medic...there are weight restrictions and no matter what your skills are, they can only allow so much weight on the helicopter.  I couldn't even sign up for the training flights.   Jumping off the ambulance with all the life support gear around your neck and running to the patient...I almost -became- the patient.  The gear was around 70 pounds all by itself.  Trying to maneuver around the back with the patient inside the ambulance was difficult too.  I had to give up the training only 5 months into the 10 month class.  Being obese wasn't the only reason I had to quit but it played a major role.  I could have chosen something in the emergency medical field that was less physically demanding and didn't require agility or stamina, but the training hours required and having to also work full time and take care of 3 small kids amounted to more hours than anyone could tolerate and still function. We won't even approach the subject of trying to jump on a trampoline with the kids.

K athy, Oh Picnic Tables !!! Let me tell you. Have you ever been to Holly Lake Campsite to play BINGO ? Well if you have you know they play on picnic tables in the shed with dirt floors. Everyone puts on pretty table cloths, beach towels or whatever. My neigbor had never been so I ask her to go with me and the kids one night. We get there, put on our pretty tablecloth,spead out our nichols and cards with corn for markers and everyone has a drink sitting there. Everyone looks so happy until I sit down and the table flips. My neighbor  was wearing white pants.When the table flips everything goes on her. Coffee, the kids chocolate milk and all . Don't forget dirt floor/ white pants !!!. BINGO STOPS !!! I wanted to die but we pick everything up with everyone's help and Bingo goes on. That was the last time my neighbor went to Bingo with me. Who can top this one ? See you lighter. Joanne

How about a story about those dang sleeper sofas. It's been more than 10 years, but it still haunts me.  When my father was put on life support in Arizona, I had to fly out and help my mother for a couple of weeks.  I decided to use the sleeper sofa.  Being 345 pounds it was probably not a wise decision.  Well the first night I was out there I must have turned sideways in my sleep, because I woke up wedged between the sofa and the bed.  The bed was sticking straight up in the air.  I didn't dare make any noise, because I didn't want to wake up my mother since she was having such a hard time.  Needless to say, it took me 3 hours to work my way out from in between that sleeper sofa.   Boy it was terrible being so big.  From then on, I just used it as a sofa and slept a lot more soundly.  I did share the story with mom a few years later, and she did get a good laugh out of the story. Rob