inbetween

My mother seems to have dislocated her shoulder. Nobody's quite sure when it happened.

She hasn't had the use of either of her arms for, perhaps, a year. Multiple Sclerosis is a very slow, degenerative disease. She's slowly becoming less and less able to function, move, or (sometimes) think. Eventually her respiratory functions will just cease.

According to National Multiple Sclerosis Society - What is MS
MS degrades a person's central nervous system, by slowly removing a fatty tissue around the nerve fibers called myelin. Scars are left in place of the myelin, hence the name. The scars are similar to lesions that a person with HIV might have on her skin. Myelin protects the nerve fibers and helps conduct electrical impulses between individual nerves.

My mother's MS started in her spinal cord. Moving her legs gradually became more and more difficult, until she could no longer stand or walk. Without any active use, her muscles atrophied. She has no muscle tone in her body, and often falls to the side of her chair.

Not being able to move means that she can't go to the bathroom. She's been catheterized for several years, and is prone to infections. At the moment, she has at least two. I count more than twenty bottles of varying antibiotics, antivirals, anticonvulsants, antinauseants, and other medications. One is strong enough to treat anthrax!

A doctor will be by the house later today to check on her shoulder, and maybe put the joint back together.