For Melissa Rowe, eating has become a daily battle.
The 25-year-old Moose Jaw woman has been diagnosed with gastroparesis, a condition which reduces the ability of the stomach to empty its contents. It effectively means her stomach is paralyzed.
Rowe is now living on a liquid diet, consisting mainly of baby food, but still struggles to keep food down and get the vitamins she needs.
Since October, she has dropped from a size 15 to a size five.
"I am sick five to six times a day and it's really painful," she said.
Rowe was diagnosed with the condition about a year and a half ago.
"I went to the hospital with stomach pains and I was not keeping any food down. Originally they thought it was my gall bladder but it was gastroparesis."
Rowe has been taking medication but it has now stopped working and she is allergic to one of the main treatment drugs, erythromycin.
She now feels her only option is to go for treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
"They will do surgery for a gastric neurostimulator.
"It is like a peacemaker for the stomach. It forces your stomach to contract and push food through," Rowe, who has a six-year-old daughter named Emily, said.
Rowe has an appointment on March 8 but just recently she was told Sask Health will not pay for the $50,000 surgery.
She is currently appealing the decision.
Read more in today's Times-Herald edition.
