chapter 18

Simon was quite happy not to change his lifestyle. He was enjoying being off work and lazing around all day. It felt good to cheat the system and avoid the everyday stress at work. He had no relatives asking him awkward questions. No arguments with machines that refused to work properly. No one watching him with distain as he picked up yet another chocolate biscuit. Anyway, he was too big to drive his car anymore and he definitely was not getting the bus! That was too much like hard work and he would have to get up at half past five to get to work on time.
No, he was quite happy sitting at home all day, doing nothing but eat and watch the telly.
Since being off work and taking minimal exersise, his weight had ballooned to his target of thirty stones. But he was not ready to stop yet!
Oh no!
The thought of going back to a lifestyle where he had to be careful of what he ate every day did not fill him with joy. He liked to challenge himself to see how much rubbishy high calorie, high fat and high sugar food he could get through. He still liked that overful feeling. It didn't come very often these days because it took so much for him to be full. He liked his soft wobbly body. He had to compensate for the wobble when he was walking these days or he might lose his balance.
His empty belly now hung halfway to his knees. It got in the way often, but he didn't care.

He was disappointed Jennifer didn't want to 'play hookie' with him, but he understood why. He had noticed her plumping up too in the last few weeks.
She served him his food making sure her beautifully newly plumped up breasts were right in front of his eyeline. She provocatively bent over so that he had the best view. Her tops were sometime so low and so tight that one of her nipples would pop out to say hello.
He couldn't ignore something like that. Even though there was food to eat distracted him. He would take hold of her breast and pull it free from the rest of it's binding. He would kiss it, knead it, suckle on it. He would send shockwaves of pleasure throughout her body.

Simon had to attend several appointments to justify his time off. He had one monthly with the GP for his sick note. The doctor had noticed the time off was having a negative effect on his weight. He gave him the usual lectures about heart disease and the like. The way he was going he would never get back to work.
Simon gave him all the appropriate nods and smiles, but had no intention of following any of his advice.
The doctor referred him to the practice nurse for weight monitoring and some support in losing weight. He mentioned programmes he could try: weight watchers, slimmer's world, lighter life.
Simon left with a sick note for another month in his hand and rang for a taxi to take him home, where he ignored all the advice and stuffed himself into a stupor.

He had appointments every two months with his employers, who also noticed his enormous weight gain. Indeed, everytime they saw him they were more shocked!
Was there anything they could do? Was it the stress? Was he depressed? Was he suffering from burn out? Would counselling help?
Simon smiled and nodded throughout the meeting. He agreed to what they suggested, got a taxi home and had a binge session on cakes and cream.

He had appointments with the occupational health doctor. He smiled and nodded in the appropriate places yet again, but had no intention of following advice.

So he got bigger.

He reached thirty stones and continued to grow.

The counselling took two months to come through. Simon listened, but was not prepared to discuss anything with a stranger, in his first session. In his second session, he claimed that his weight gain was a stress related reaction. He claimed it was all work related stress... he had been pushed to the absolute limit...
It was a very elaborate claim and all of it was a complete fabrication. He realised he had to engage in conversation with her. He knew she wouldn't believe him if he told her he was gaining weight deliberately. They he would have to explain why he was doing that. Why was he jeopardising his career, his health and his whole life by putting on so much weight that he couldn't do normal things anymore. Would he not want to go for a walk in the park with his girlfriend? No! He wanted his girlfriend to feed him croissants with her chubby rump, pert belly and rounded breasts falling out of her top.
So he invented an alternate reality for the counsellor. One full of stress and anxiety. One that had led him to take comfort in eating.
He exaggerated emergencies to impress her. Incidents that had happened on other shifts to other people he claimed had happened to him. Incidents that had occurred on other wards had taken place on his ward got re-worded and re-moulded to suit his situation. He was quite pleased with some of his stories! He was impressed with them himself!

They were the stories of his patients who lived often very tragic complicated lives. Young women and men who had died too young. Older patients who had tried every mode of treatment. Lost babies, teenagers lost youth, who had learned to manipulate their parents through non-compliance and their ill health. Patients who had been through so much for years and years and who now wanted to stop and be allowed to die. Cardiac arrest situations, patients who bled post operatively, doctors who would not get out of bed to see a patient when asked. Severe rejection. Aggressive immunosuppressive drugs that made the patients ill.

The stories filled in the time. Impressed the counsellor with their details. No wonder Simon was struggling psychologically! Nursing people that Ill in that environment for so long was bound to have an effect! He had learned to cope by eating. Others coped by drinking too much, or resorted to drugs, or exercised too much.
She gave him alternative coping strategies to practice. Simon appeared to listen, but was really only paying her lip service.
He attended because he had to. It looked better on his records if he did. It looked like he was undergoing proper therapy, when really he was paying no attention to it whatsoever.

He attended one appointment with the practice nurse. Her scales did not go up far enough to weigh him. She gave him the same advice he had heard over and over. Eat less, take more exersise. Be more proactive.
He was more proactive. He ate more and did even less.

After six months off work, his pay was halved and he stayed on the sick. He was too big to return to his former role now. He was too big and too unfit. Simon thought it was a great snap he was playing. Here he was lazing around every day, stuffing his face and still getting paid!

Jennifer had to do a lot more for him now. He struggled to shower himself because he couldn't lift his leg high enough over the side of the bath.
She had a wet room installed downstairs instead. In there, he could sit down and shower himself, then she would come in and help him wash in all his folds and nooks and crannies.
He often had to wait until she came home from work before he got washed. That didn't bother him. He was a lazy slobby gluttonous pig anyway!
He struggled with the stairs now too. It was too strenuous for him. He struggled to get his great big fat belly out of the way when he went upstairs and he struggled with his centre of gravity and balance coming downstairs as he belly shifted from side to side.
Jennifer had the dining room converted into a bedroom for him and installed a king sized bed. Their double bed upstairs was becoming too small for them both now that he filled most of it.
She was also concerned that the little walking he did was too much for him, so she invested in an electric disabled scooter for him.
With this, he was no longer confined to the house. He could attend the supermarket himself. He'd get an assistant to push his trolley and place his purchases inside it. He loved to watch the shock and horror in their faces as this greedy enormously fat man chose the most inappropriate foods.