The speaker was wonderful. Her hubby is the new neuro in the big city up from me, and he is sorely needed. The old guy is grouchy, and dismissive to MS patients.

The topic was bladder, bowel, and sexual dysfunction related to MS. One woman had her whole large intestine removed due to Chrons disease years ago, and its a mess. The other has such a slow paced intestine she can actually got 12 to 15 days without pooping. Said "I get busy and dont notice till I start vomiting, and then I know there is a problem" WHAT?! How do you not poop for 2 weeks and not know you dont have a problem? anyway, we spoke of how the intestine has an intelligence all its own. its nerves and signals work independantly of the brain and body until it comes time to open the exit door. if the exit door signal cant get thru to the brain, then the door can either stay stuck open or shut. She talked about pelvic floor exercises are useful to keep the floor strong, but if the signal cant get thru, it doesnt matter how strong the floor is.

She spoke of how many woman get a UTI after intercouse because the urethra isnt as tight and closed off as it used to be, and bacteria can wash upwards into the bladder. Since MS patients tend to not flow as strongly as non MS patients we dont get to flush all the bad stuff away after. We have to become extremely well hydrated in order to keep the fluids moving.

She touched on urinary retention. How the gate simply cant get the signal to the brain to empty. The gate stays closed, and urine can remain trapped in our bladders which causes them to over stretch and ruins the signal process even more. The woman who runs the group retains about 300cc of urine before she becomes painful. We spoke of self cath options and ways to do it.

So, the speaker was well prepared. she was good with her message and had everything timed wonderfully so that at 12 on the dot, she was ready to leave. After all was said and done, the woman who runs the group was gathering up all of her avon books, avon flyers and some MS pamphlets and had quite a load. I said "do you need help?" and she said "yes, if you could grab this stuff for me" and pointed to a large pile of Avon stuff that had been unseen till then. I said "hang on a sec." and I went to the front desk of the library. I asked if they had anyone that could "help that woman with MS" up on the 2nd floor. She called to Randy a big strong teenager and asked him to go up to the 2nd floor to help carry stuff. I got in my car and left. I am NOT good at carrying things. most stuff ends up on the floor and me with it.

So, there ya go.