arthritis little stories - Arthur the artist

Arthur the Artist

In 1981 while in Madras,I got to know Arthur
who was an artist. Arthur was the worst friend
anyone could wish for. He was plain bad luck.

Since that morning after getting to know him, I
came down with body and joint pains so excruiciating,
that I stayed in bed until noon before I could summon
the strength to go see a doctor. If I had known then
that my acquaintance with Arthur was to forever change
my life for the worse, I would have left Madras on the
first available plane and head back home.

But then, I did not associate my pain with Arthur or
his bad luck. I had thought it was the flu, which was
then going on its rounds in Madras. I took aspirins
of for the body ache. For a while the aspirins did
give splendid relief.

After a few days, having completed what I came to
Madras to do, I returned to Singapore. That stupid
Arthur, well, he decided to accompany me back to
Singapore. If there was one more persistent, it would
be my friend or should I say my enemy Arthur.

Back home in Singapore, I went to see the doctor, for
the residual slight nagging ache at the shoulder joints
which had refused to go away. The doctor prescribed
some more pain killers after viewing the X-Rays he
had asked me to take earlier on. The X-Rays were normal.
He said that sometimes these aches takes a little bit
more time to clear and not to exert too much on the
shoulders. With the prscribed medication, the pain would
go off but to come back when I stopped it atogether.

Thinking that it might help me recover, if I should improve
my fitness level, I embarked on a running program and Arthur
ever so stubborn, would stick with me, sometimes joining in
the run. A friend, who saw me with Arthur warned me to be
careful of Arthur. But alas, although he's familiar with
the likes of Arthur, he couldn't show me an effective way
to deal with him.

Arthur got to know my sister-in-law briefly. I remembered
it was after the birth of her first-born. My sister-in-law
must have sensed Arthur's bad aura for she quickly shooed
him off. Looking squarely into Arthur's eyes, she told Arthur
in no uncertain terms to get lost. With my sister-in-law's
no nonsense approach Arthur had to beat a hasty retreat and
it look like my sister-in-law may have hurt his feelings for
as far as I know he never visited her again.

Arthur however kept on his nuisance with me for years on end.
He insised to be around during the day time and sometimes at
night. When I leave for an overseas trip, he insisted that
he tag along. Such loyalty, some may think but I can tell
you I really find him a pain. He is really 'a joke from
hell'. I have consulted many a person from China to the
Middle-east of my problem with Arthur and tried the countless
ways suggested by them to get rid of him. Their methods
do worked but only for a while. Arthur would leave for a
short period but finally would still return to taunt me.

Finally, after two decades I surrendered and told him:
"My dear Arthur, you win, you win, you win. I think I have
come to terms with you. Henceforth, I will not be bothered
whether you are around or not."

This seems to be the best strategy to date for now I am
rarely perturbed with Arthur the Artist also known as
"Arthritis".

/faizhai


brain cognition
is just proxy
for reality