Arthur Itis (aka Arthritis)

Arthur Itis came to visit a while back. He has decided to have an extended stay. Presumably, until warm weather comes back. The thing is.........nobody likes him. Especially me. I did not invite him, and to be honest, he's quite annoying.


This annoying visitor has been hanging around my husband for many years. But, the hubs never really complains about him. He follows the hubs around everyday. Always there. Always. The man never complains about it. He must be a saint.


Apparently, I'm not a tolerant individual. Or, maybe it's my lack of humility. Someone I greatly respect pointed out my lack of humility at times to me recently (hangs head in shame). Pray for me about that. I don't want to be one of those people.


At any rate, our "visitor" has been popping in to see me specifically over the course of the past couple of years. I could usually expect his visit to coincide with some rainy weather. Rather, I could predict the rainy weather by my visitor's arrival. Annoying to say the least, to have him lurking about on already gray, gloomy days. But I always knew he would leave when the wet weather left. So, while the visits were annoying, I could always see the light at the end of the tunnel. I knew he would leave eventually.


"Arthur", as we will call him, is a well known visitor to older generations. His visits to me at such a young age were puzzling to me. I'm sort of "young", after all. I mean I'm no spring chicken, but I have a child under the age of 10, for Pete's sake! Nevermind the fact that I have a child that will be 20 *gasp* in a matter of days. But, he became a constant companion to my husband at a very young age (explanation to follow), so I tried not to be too offended.


My sister lives on the Gulf Coast. I think I have mentioned that before. The first time I went to visit her was in May of last year. It's a pretty long drive from here and I had volunteered to do all the driving. We were in my vehicle, after all. No sense endangering my baby to anyone else's possibly dangerous driving. Plus, my mother - we were going there together - has a lead foot. She does not observe the speed limit. EVER. And......I love you, Mom......I sometimes actually get car sick when I ride with her. It was all interstate and highway driving, so that shouldn't have happened, but I wasn't taking any chances. Who wants to ride 7-8 hours with a sick tummy? Ok, back to the point....After driving for a large number of hours, we were approaching the coast. I think we were about two hours out from our destination when, *POOF*, you know who shows up right there in the car! He landed right on top of my right hip and IT HURT! I voiced my complaint. My mom suggested Arthur's arrival was due to the fact that someone else needed to drive. I needed a break. Surely, that could not have been the reason, I stated. Arthur stayed with us the entire week visit. And, strangely enough, he left right about the same spot on the highway that he had first appeared - a couple of hours away from the coast. Strange. Maybe he likes humidity too. That must be it! But, if that's so, then why in the world would older people retire to Florida?!?!?!


Enter in our current season. The fall came. He visited a few times. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then the cold came. I had never really expected him to come just because it was cold. Shows how much I know. Had I simply done a little research before the cold weather came, I might have tried to prepare myself. How, I'm not sure. But, I would have tried. My visitor is actually quite abusive on really cold days. I medicate myself to try to drown out his incessant and irritating ways. After a few hours, the meds wear off and I feel him begin to poke and prod me yet again. It's exasperating. Actually, it's worse that exasperating. I used to really love the cold weather. I love snow. I love the crisp air. I love the drastic difference in scenery in winter. I love coming in and snuggling to get warm.


Arthur's cold weather visits last the entire cold season, apparently. That is why older people retire to Florida. They would rather put up with occasional visits than a season long camp out. Incidentally, I returned for a visit to my sister's in July of last year. Arthur never once interrupted that visit. He didn't come along for the ride and he didn't show up at my sister's house.


So, how do you get rid of Arthur? No amount of moaning and complaining works. Trust me on that one. Once he decides to come, he is here until he decides to leave. Trying to make his visit unbearable for him doesn't exactly work either. Arthur likes to make it difficult for the object of his visits to get around. He grips you unbearably to keep you from doing much. But, the more you move, the further he lags behind. "There's the answer!", you exclaim. "Not so simple", I quickly reply. Since he usually on visits when it's rainy and/or cold, he kind of makes it difficult to get out and get active. His visits always come with this double whammy. The little devil.


I don't like medicating myself just to tolerate his visits. I don't like taking medicine of any kind. The answer seems to be: Get out and get moving! He has a hard time keeping up. He clutches on HARD when you start, and boy does it hurt, but his grip loosens the more you move, and eventually he starts to lag so far behind you almost forget he's there. OR.......move to the gulf coast region.


I find myself dreaming of palm trees and warm breezes.


I'll leave you with something I saw on facebook the other day. A highschool friend of mine made a post that went something like this:
'Played Barbies with my daughter tonight. She chose one for me.
Daughter:"This one can be yours. Her knees crack like yours."
Mom: "Oh great. Arthritis Barbie?"
Daughter: "...and look! Her hand is on her hip and she says 'Oh, my hip hurts!"'


I laughed so hard at that!


OH! The hubs. I almost forgot. He broke his hip in a bad fall when he was a teenager. The break was so bad that it required surgery to insert a rod into his leg that was screwed to his bone from his hip almost all the way down to his knee. I met him right before he had surgery a year later to remove the rod. He was told when he had surgery to expect to start seeing Arthur at a young age. Again, I will mention that though he has had Arthur as an almost constant companion for more than half his life now, he does not complain. He's one tough fella. I, on the other hand, apparently am quite the dramatic. I announce Arthur's arrival quite loudly at times. The hubs listens to my complaints and never once suggests that I am being overly dramatic. He's a saint, I tell ya.