Seven or eight years ago, the pain of arthritis descended upon my back and legs. I sought advice from the Summit Medical Group, which has a staff of renowned physicians. After a time, I visited the orthopedic department and saw Dr. Corona, who listened to my symptoms but who did very little else.
I told Dr. Corona that when I retired, a blackthorn cane of Irish ancestry was given to me by Althea Scheller, a lovely person with whom I had worked. The blackthorn cane permitted me to navigate enough so that I could keep my appointment with Dr. Corona. Corona was a man of few words. The translation of what he had to say was essentially that “You’re screwed.” He declined to give me cortisone shot just as he declined to prescribe a pill. I found that the effects of that arthritis attack could be lessened by the extent to which I used my stationary bicycle. In a period of perhaps two weeks, the pain tended to dissipate.
Now, seven or eight years later, the mother of all arthritis attacks occurred on July 3. This of course was a long weekend which celebrated the Fourth of July. Once again, the Althea cane was pressed into service. But there was some difficulty in doing so. My white cane, which tells people of my blindness, offers no support whatsoever, so I have no choice but to maneuver the two canes to get around.
I have learned my lesson with Dr. Corona so this time I selected the orthopedic physician who also works for the Summit Group by the name of Dr. Mirsky. Dr. Mirsky was considerably better at communication than Corona had been and had taken care of a case of bursitis last November. One shot of cortisone and the bursitis seemed to be taken care of and I wandered about pain free. When the second mother of all arthritis attacks occurred on July 3, I hoped that Dr. Mirsky would perform the same miracle. Mirsky is a brighter guy and a more modern man than Corona was. But after a series of X-rays took place, which Mirsky examined, he in effect told me to go home and sweat it out. He had no magic bullet. He had no cortisone shot that would fix arthritis nor did he have a pill to take care of it. As I dictate these lines, the last of the mother of all arthritis attacks has dissipated so that I can exercise and move about a little bit more freely.
What concerns me at the moment is that I am certain that other older people also have severe cases of arthritis which break out from time to time. Yet in all of the debates now taking place before the Congress of the United States about health benefits, the pharmaceutical industry has not moved to produce a magic bullet or a magic pill. Those of us who suffer from periodic arthritis attacks are left to get along as best we can and, in my case, it is done with the use of the Althea blackthorn cane. My guess is that arthritis is a wide-spread ailment that afflicts thousands or perhaps hundreds of thousands of American citizens. Yet there is no shot or pill to contain it.
When the AIDS epidemic happened a few years back, the pharmaceuticals were intent upon going to work upon it and solving it. From what I now understand, several years later, the AIDS epidemic has been contained and there are drugs that can treat the disease. May I suggest that in this civilized country, there are more people suffering from arthritis than from AIDS. That last statement was a gamble on my part but I think it is well worth while.
On the other hand, glaucoma is a disease of the eyes which eventually almost always results in blindness. The pharmaceuticals have done very little to produce a drug that will eliminate glaucoma. I suspect that some of it has to do with numbers. According to L. Jay Katz of the Glaucoma Institute in Philadelphia, there are about three million people who are under treatment for glaucoma. He suspects that there are perhaps at least three million more who have not yet been diagnosed. I suppose it is clear that this small number of people makes it un-worthwhile for the pharmaceuticals to invest major amounts of money to cure the curse of glaucoma. But I understand the cost/benefit analysis and while I may not like it, I understand it. But what I do not understand is that if millions of Americans are suffering from arthritis, so little seems to have been done about it.
Before leaving the glaucoma story, I must say that the pharmaceuticals have produced some drugs that relieve the pain and postpone the blindness which eventually occurs. It is not a cure, and perhaps there will never be a cure for glaucoma, but any attempt to put off the day of blindness reckoning is greatly appreciated.
So in the final analysis, I offer these thoughts. When the mother of all arthritis attacks is visited on your frame, then get a blackthorn cane and, if you want to see Dr. Corona, you will find out that he will put it succinctly, “You are screwed about doing anything about it.” On the other hand, if you suffer such an attack, you can visit Dr. Mirsky and receive a much more thorough examination, but the outcome will be the same as with Dr. Corona.
My parents many years ago used to tell me of people who had been crippled by rheumatism. I am reasonably certain that rheumatism and arthritis are identical diseases. And if you have a position of influence with the pharmaceutical industry in this country, it would be greatly appreciated if you would encourage them to develop a shot or a pill to alleviate the pain. I regret bringing this bad news to other people suffering from arthritis, but all I can offer you is the blackthorn cane, the stationary bicycle, and the words of physicians who say, in essence, “If you get the mother of all arthritis attacks, you are essentially screwed.”
E. E. CARR
July 18, 2009
Essay 399
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Kevin’s commentary: Seems like developing an effective arthritis disease is a no-brainer. I guess that the industry has tended more toward general use painkillers? I see tons and tons of painkiller ads on the TV; maybe those have gotten strong enough for use in combating arthritis. Hopefully something useful has cropped up in the last four years.