PHASE THREE by Arnold Bornstein: Pain in the neck, tooth and elsewhere

PHASE THREE by Arnold Bornstein: New Years is good a time to count blessings and if you can’t think of any, try harder.

   Two weeks ago, I went to my dentist because of a toothache that only ached when I pressed the gum above the tooth. He told me the old joke about the man who goes to his doctor complaining, "It hurts when I move my arm back and forth like this;" to which the doctor replied, "So don’t move your arm like that."
   That afternoon I spent two hours in the dental chair of an endodontist, one who specializes in root canal therapy. Drilling and treatment located and evidently took care of one canal, but the second canal could not be found. I was told to wait a month and, if there is no pain, then I could have a new crown made and installed. So far, so good….
   A week later, I went to an orthopedist for a pain in the neck, and this week I began four weeks of physical therapy, three times a week.
   You are familiar with the old sayings about a pain in the neck and elsewhere in the human anatomy, as well as the innumerable pains and aches involved in the course of living, which include your figurative heart, mind, emotions and personal and world events.
   With the New Year not too many hours away, coupled with the repeated refrain of "Healthy and Happy New Year!," our reflections also focus on the general relativity of happiness and health, and general satisfaction with our lot in life…or the luck of the draw.
   Getting back to the dentist’s chair, I recall an old cartoon in which a kid is vigorously brushing his teeth, while next to him is a dental tray and dental drill, installed as a reminder by his parents.
   A number of people view a visit to their dentist as an unpleasant or even fearful experience. I have been fortunate in that the visits do not bother me and my teeth are in relatively good shape for a person my age.
   My earliest recollection of a dental visit was when I was about 9 or 10 years old and I had to have six temporary or baby molars extracted at one time because they were not shedding off by themselves. In those days, gas was used as an anesthesia in the dentist’s office. Our dentist and his wife were good friends of my sister and brother-in-law, so I did not feel uncomfortable going to the office.
   There was a separate room for the anesthesia, and the memory has stayed with me because of the unique experience of my body feeling bloated and vibrating, and hearing a muffled grinding noise in the distance. Afterwards, my sister had me lie in bed for the afternoon, where out of boredom and drowsiness from an apparent painkiller, I recall tying my ankle-high shoes together in a continuous series of knots until there was no lace left. My sister and brother-in-law chuckled when they saw it.
   My first dental visit in the Navy reminded me of those movies of an assembly line in an auto plant, but my dental care in the Navy was generally good, except when we were at sea, of course.
   While working as a reporter for a wire service in the Midwest, my landlord’s son was a dentist and I went to him with an enormous toothache. He treated it and said to wait a few days, but the pain continued, and I recall awakening in my apartment and, while half-asleep, imagining that there was a creature inside my tooth or gum using a hammer. Shortly thereafter, the tooth had to be extracted.
   My wife and I have an apparent rarity these days — a good dental plan that was part of my retirement package.
   This week’s visit to a physical therapy facility brought back memories of two earlier episodes. For many years, I have followed an exercise regimen that includes stretching, running, racewalking and light weightlifting.
   In Central Park one time, about three miles from the finish line of the New York City Marathon, I heard a brief and faint grinding sound in my lower back. It did not bother me and I made it to the finish line. Several days later, a pain in my lower back became increasingly worse. I recall walking hunched over into the orthopedist’s office. Physical therapy resulted in seemingly normal recovery.
   Several years later, when visiting my wife’s mother in Florida, I worked out with light weights in the building’s exercise room, and I remember always helping my mother-in-law in and out of the car. Back home in New Jersey, I suddenly experienced sharp pain in my lower back, relieved only by lying down.
   A couple days later, I had to lie on the floor to relieve the pain, and suddenly I was unable to stand up without severe, constant pain. An ambulance crew took me out on a stretcher and then to the hospital’s emergency room. Visits to an orthopedist and then a round of physical therapy resulted in seemingly normal recovery.
   My pain in the neck does not compare to the cases of back pain, and it only bothers me when I turn around to look behind me. The diagnosis indicates it’s part of the aging process, and the prognosis, with physical therapy, appears to be very good.
   In any event, "Count your blessings!" Bing Crosby sang a variation of those words in the 1954 movie, "White Christmas," with the song by Irving Berlin:
   "When I’m worried and I can’t sleep
   I count my blessings instead of sheep
   And I fall asleep counting my blessings."
   The song was preceded many years before by the hymn, "Count Your Blessings," which was written by Johnson Oatman Jr., born in New Jersey, near Medford, and considered one of the most prolific hymn and gospel writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a businessman and later an administrator of a New Jersey insurance company.
   (A Healthy and Happy New Year to All!)
Arnold Bornstein is a resident of Greenbriar at Whittingham in Monroe.