'My 600-lb Life': Joyce fakes a heart attack after Dr Nowzaradan questions her about her weight gain
Joyce Del Viscovo has struggled with her weight ever since she was a child. However, she now realizes that it is important for her to lose weight if she wants to survive. Weighing at 758 lbs, Joyce knew that if she did not shed some weight, she will soon be losing her life.
One of the reasons that she felt scared about her weight was because her father died of a heart attack the cause of which was sourced back to his weight.
Joyce worried that if she continued to eat in the way she does, she would end up with the same result as her father. To make sure that she is not following his path, Joyce decided to meet Dr Younan Nowzaradan in the hopes that he would be able to help her with her weight loss.
Dr Nowzaradan made it clear that if Joyce wanted to get approved for the surgery, she would have to lose a considerable amount of weight. To make it happen, he put her on a strict diet and motivated her to work out how much ever she could. In terms of diet, she was asked to eat only the required calories to make sure that her body starts shedding weight automatically.
Dr Nowzaradan's first goal was to make sure that Joyce does not have to take the support of the oxygen tank to intake oxygen and can manage things on her own. His second goal for her was to make sure that she can walk without using the help of the crane. Spending nearly two months in the hospital, Joyce was under the observation of the medical staff and was able to lose 205lbs.
Dr Nowzaradan felt extremely positive about the weight loss but he wanted to see if Joyce would continue to lose weight when discharged from the hospital and is taking care of herself on her own. In some time, he advised her to come back to the hospital to get her weight checked. He even refused to offer her medical transport as he wanted her to lose enough weight that would allow her to come to the hospital by herself.
Unfortunately, Joyce missed her appointment as she thought she would not be able to make it. Despite requesting Dr Nowzaradan for medical transport, he refused to help her. Joyce tried explaining that she needed to change her diet because she had a feeling that she was putting on weight. However, Dr Nowzaradan assured her that the diet is right and she needed to come to the hospital to make sure that she hadn't put on a lot of weight. Two days after their conversation, Joyce finally made it to the hospital on her own. Getting on the scale, this time, Joyce weighed 611lbs and had gained 58lbs since she left the hospital.
Joyce assured Dr Nowzaradan that she was following the diet he had given while also working out. She tried to justify her weight gain by stating that it might be the water weight. Dr Nowzaradan dismissed this by saying it wasn't realistic. Upon hearing this, Joyce stated that she wasn't feeling well and felt like she was dying.
She further added that she felt like she was having a heart attack and needed medical transport to take her to the hospital. Dr Nowzaradan decided to take Joyce to the hospital to run some tests. As he had predicted, Joyce was fine and Dr Nowzaradan thought that she faked getting a heart attack to get out of the situation.
Dr Nowzaradan told Joyce to seek therapy. Joyce stated that she would agree to do so if she got a medical transport. Dr Nowzaradan agreed to do so and asked Joyce to also lose 50lbs before he sees her next time.
Joyce managed to go for therapy and shared with the therapist what she felt. The therapist asked Joyce to bring her mother for the second session and the pair was able to resolve their issues and move past what had happened before.
Finally, it was the day when Joyce had to meet Dr Nowzaradan. Ahead of her getting on the scale, Joyce thought that the scales last time were wrong and she must have weighed lesser. However, she was shocked to find out that this time, she weighed 623lbs and had gained 11lbs.
Dr Nowzaradan was disappointed and did not approve of her for the surgery. He told her that he was giving her three months more and if she was able to lose 50lbs, then he would go ahead and approve her for the surgery. Joyce was left shocked and stated that she was trying her best. Dr Nowzaradan told her that they were ready to be there for her in case of emergency but before that she had to lose more weight.
Joyce was left disappointed and said that she just wanted to go home. Dr Nowzaradan stated that he had given her various chances and hoped that the ultimatum would do her good. Despite this, Joyce thought that Dr Nowzaradan wasn't being fair and questioned if she wants to continue the program.
Luckily, she had her mother and caretaker, Dawn to help her and encourage her to keep losing weight. Joyce decided to work on her weight but felt that the three-month duration that he gave her was less. Even though she was not able to go to the hospital for her consultation, Joyce decided she won't give up on herself and work towards making herself healthy.
'My 600-lb Life' airs on Wednesdays at 8 pm ET on TLC.