Survival of the half-ton teen

Keep up the good work Big J. Looking forward to seeing you a skinny man!

 This show is like a train wreck--I can't tear my eyes away but yet I'm afraid to look.  I did fall asleep while watching, so I'll have to watch the rest soon.

Scott, this airs on TLC and I have it on DVR.  Of course I don't know how to get it OFF my DVR and onto a DVD.  Check the listings, as it'll air again.  Otherwise, if you're up to a mauling by a rabid pack of corgis, you and Beth can come over and watch it.

I think the biggest message is this:  these SMO boys are children and it is painfully obvious that neither of them were ready for the emotional commitment of life after surgery.  I don't even think that had any kind of grasp of what was going to happen after and what changes should happen.  That is why they are eating hot dogs, cake and hamburgers right after surgery.

Billy (the main character) is hopelessly immature.  More on that later.  The other boy (I don't know his name) was arguing with his surgeon--the surgeon said your liquid diet starts NOW.  The boy said, "No, I'm eating tomorrow."  I guess he had plans or something, but he was bickering back and forth with the surgeon about how he was not going to start that liquid diet yet.  It just showed me that this kid really had no idea of the seriousness of what he was getting himself into.  Perhaps surgery for teens is not the best idea.  At least assess them on a case by case basis to determine their level of emotional maturity.  Maybe for these two boys, it's a matter of surgery or imminent death and that takes  precedence over mental status.  I have no idea.

Billy, who was featured in the original documentary on TLC Half Ton Teen, is a product of his environment.  His mother lost her first child at 18 months (I think).  When she had Billy, she wanted so badly to protect him from a similar fate that she just went over the top.  Coddled to his every need.  He cannot do anything on his own, and why should he?  Momma's there, baby!  Momma's there.

It just nauseates me to see the extreme codependent nature of their relationship.  She's turned him to a prisoner of his own flesh, which assures to her that he cannot survive without her.  He will always need her.  Even though she feels like she is helping, she's not.  She creates a lot of problems for the hospital staff and enables his whiny, demanding behavior.

Obviously I cannot tell you what it feels like to live in an 800 pound body.  He definitely has some right to whine and complain about pain.  But I suspect if he were a normal weight, he'd still whine like that.

I'm also not sure what surgery he's having/had.  They keep talking about the two portions, so I think it is a duodenal switch, even though the surgeon keeps calling it gastric bypass.  They showed surgery scenes before I fell asleep discussing his sleeve gastrectomy.

If he is having the switch, I'm REALLY worried about him.  He has to be committed to taking his supplements because of the high level of malabsorption.  I have a hard enough time remembering to take my band supplements and I'm a semi-responsible adult.  A child of his emotional maturity (the therapist said he is about on the level of an 8 year old) is not capable of that!  Will his mother remember to give them to him?  Or will she subconsciously sabotage him?

It's just sad.  I want him to do well, but without serious, serious psychological counseling (in which both his and his mother's head would have to be in the game), I don't see it happening.  They're too wrapped up in their co-dependent game.  I don't think either one of them can see it.  If you don't perceive it as a problem, how can they change it?

The show is very thought provoking and eye opening.  Is it a good idea for teens to have WLS?  Are they capable of being emotionally ready for it?  Are these clinics focusing enough on the mental health of surgery candidates?

Here's an article on Billy to give you a basic idea of his story.  I can't seem to find a blog or website by him, specifically.

I wish him the best and emotional peace and healing for his family.

WOW!  I appreciate the info and the invite.  I'll look for it On Demand and then again on thier website!

Thank you for this background. I only caught the most recent episode so I didn't know the full history. It was sad to see the 17 yr old lay in bed with the half eaten hamburger and jars of candy next to his bed. He was living in filth in a house full of other children, and a mother who didn't even take the time to visit him in the hospital until 4 days later!

The 20 yr old had no desire or ambition whatsoever. There was a hurricane during the filming and the city of Houston was evacuated, yet the family stayed home so the son could play Xbox 360 and watch tv. As the mother went to get emergency water and drove through the various neighborhoods that had been destroyed by the storm, he called her cell phone and said "stop at Blockbuster and get me a video game."

He was so out of touch with reality that he had no clue that Blockbuster was either closed (or no longer existed due to Hurricane Ike!).

Very very sad....

I too watched this program last night and was equally amazed. Billy is being enabled by his mother and this is sad. Also the other John Wayne I think his name was has no support. I remember during one time when they showed the house one of the other children was talking and made the comment that he (Wayne) would only be there until he sould get better. Where was he going and Why? Then the way the "mother" was picking at him about his weight when she should be concerned with her own, ie: diabetes, hypertension, etc. I was bothered by the show and was glad when a storm brewed and the satelitte went out. But I thought about it too much before drifting off to sleep.

I truly miss conversations like this, so let say thanks for the topic.
As was said I'm not perfect.
I tried to prepare myself before WLS to the best of my ability, this board help on so many levels.
Before I under went WLS a drastic life changing event I was going to make a promise to myself, my family and the insurance company who footed most of the bill, that I would do what it takes to be successful.
 
Recognizing those trigger foods, take the time to retrain myself on nourishment. Now I'm 15 months out I've been maintaining for 10 of those months.
 I still document my food, I stay away from those trigger foods (for me bread), I stay away from fried food and soda.
 I stay involved in support groups which helps you stay accountable.

I'm going through a rough patch right now as so many are but by really changing those bad habits to good ones I have not resorted to food as comfort I stay the course.
I'm not trying to pat myself on the back because I could not do it on my own prior to WLS taught me that.
So thanks to all of you who encouraged me, educated me and kept me
accountable.
C'ya Bob 

I think the younger guy had the gastric bypass, but the older one with the helicopter mother had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy.    The doc who did it said it was the first step for his gastric bypass, but I wonder if he might be going to have a DS?

But the guy with the sleeve has a bigger stomach than the gastric bypass.   I had the sleeve about a year ago.   I couldn't eat a hotdog with bun that soon after surgery --of course, I woudlnt' have even considered it - I fought too hard and long to get surgery to ruin it with carbs.      But like everybody says all the the time:   "they operated on his stomach, not his mind."     He obviously has a lot of issues and his mother has a lot of issues.   I wonder if he, specifically, isn't really depressed.   I'm not sure about his accent, but his affect seems very very flat.   It just might seem easier to lie in his bed and eat himself to death than to go out and learn to be an adult and get well, or even to take steps to end it all.

I obviously watched most of this show.   It was depressing.   I thought *I* didn't have a very good support system.   I'm going to have to remember to thank everybody for not being screaming morons.

Dennie