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By Heather Foster 

My husband and I moved to Edmonton in July 2007. For more than 10 years prior to this, my husband had been suffering from severe digestive problems. The doctors he saw back home, and he saw many of them, diagnosed him with a variety of afflictions from lactose intolerance to numerous food allergies that changed with every doctor. He was even tested for 4 or 5 types of cancer. We started changing and restricting his diet, which was of no use as his food allergies continued to change like the weather in Edmonton. At one point his appendix had been removed as a culprit. Every doctor had the same outcome; eventually they would run out of answers, get frustrated and give up. He had reluctantly been put on a waiting list for a colonoscopy when there were no more ideas; it was 3 years long.

Time moved on, Chris kept getting worse, and eventually he was eating nothing but rice and Cheerios and drinking nothing but water. This was hard for me to watch because Chris loved food, like no one I have seen before. Still, much of his life was spent in the bathroom with excruciating lower stomach pains. He was not able to sleep for more than a few hours during the night and was usually interrupted by terrible night sweats and uncontrollable shivering. The rest of the symptoms I cannot even mention. Working every day became more difficult and his employers did not believe, nor could they truly understand, the extent of his illness.

I finished college and a year later we moved to Alberta! We had family to stay with so we were not living in tent city and we both had multiple job offers every day. Chris found an amazing job, which he loves to this day. This was an opportunity he would have never received back home. Life was great for us both but soon after, Chris’s stomach problems came back, and with a vengeance. He was now throwing up almost every morning, his dinner from the previous night had not been digested, and if you can believe it, he was spending even more time on the toilet or lying on the floor of the bathroom. He started calling in sick again.

Chris was worried that his boss would become upset as his employers back home started reacting poorly when he got sick. Instead, his boss and another lady took it upon themselves to seek out help for Chris and find him a doctor accepting new patients. This was a turning point in Chris’s life. He met with another new doctor but was quickly referred to a specialist. The doctors were actually listening to Chris, and being proactive.

During the following 12 to 15 months Chris underwent a barrage of tests; I think I remember two colonoscopies, two barium exams and two CT scans. I am sure he is still on that waiting list back home. Early this year (2009) his condition became very serious and surgery was needed quickly. In February Chris underwent major bowel surgery and came out, well, healthy. He is no longer in excruciating pain all the time or throwing up everyday, he has a life outside the bathroom, and he isn’t calling in sick once or twice a week anymore. For Chris, Edmonton means he got his life back, for me it means I got my husband back. I cannot thank you enough and I will never forget the people responsible. You have no idea what you and this city have given us!