When Melinda was three years old, her parents and doctors could not figure out why she only weighed seventeen pounds. She ate handfuls of butter and anything else she could get her hands on. Unfortunately, nothing worked. Doctors conducted exploratory surgery, and determined that her bowels shut down. Melinda was diagnosed with pseudo obstruction of the small bowel, a motility disorder. Digesting food is extremely difficult for her body. The amount of food an average person digests in a few hours may take her body over a day to digest. If she eats, her stomach hurts – the type or quantity of food is irrelevant. It helps if she doesn’t eat every day, but it is difficult not to eat since our culture revolves around food and meals. Since she cannot eat, Melinda receives her nutrition through intravenous feeding with a catheter that goes through her subclavian vein.  She recieves a fluid called T.P.N. (Total Parenteral Nutrition), which contains the majority of her nutrition.  Melinda says that she could not have made it through her hard times without the help of her dedicated family and friends.