In the great game of baseball, if a fielder lets a ground ball go between his legs or if an outfielder fails to catch the ball and the runner winds up on third base, it is called a three-base error. Errors of this sort are to be avoided like the plague.
But I am involved in such a situation, which has to do with the state of medicine in this country. In previous essays I have told you about error number one, which is the failure of the pharmaceuticals to provide a cure for glaucoma. Glaucoma blinded my grandfather, my father, my elder brother, and myself, and because it is a hereditary disease I have passed it on to my daughter. I regret the last step immensely. On the other hand, it is a hereditary disease and there is no cure for it, so there is little that I can do about it.
The second part of the three-base error has to do with the failure of the pharmaceuticals to provide a cure for arthritis. In a recent essay I went to some lengths to describe the mother of all arthritis attacks that descended upon me over the July 4th holiday. In the end I was told by a well-known orthopedic specialist that I was essentially screwed. There is no shot to take care of it nor is there a pill.
So I returned to my basement gymnasium and with great difficulty mounted my stationary bicycle and began to ride it. It was painful but over a period of time the pain tended to diminish. The mother of the last arthritis attack lasted a bit more than two weeks.
The final star in this crown of three-base errors is night sweats. Clearly, the medical community simply has no idea what causes them. But it does no good to lower the temperature in the bedroom because night sweats will appear when they want to, regardless of the temperature. They may descend upon my body at any time of the year. On other occasions, I will go for several weeks without the night sweats. The fact is that night sweats are going to do their thing and nothing can be done about it.
Over the years, I have consulted with nearly every profession in the medical community. I have consulted with primary care physicians as well as specialists in neurology and diseases of the heart. The fact of the matter is that those physicians with their expensive training simply do not know what causes night sweats. Some will not admit that fact but others, when you get to know them, will quickly concede that they do not know what causes night sweats.
Some nights the sweats happen only once. There are other occasions when my pajama top will have to be changed on as many as four times during the night. Curiously, the night sweats do not occur during the day time and are confined to the hours when one should sleep. There are times when it is a matter of the night shirt becoming simply moist, and there are other occasions, rarely, when the night shirt becomes drenched. These sweats started when I was in my 70’s, but here I am, staring at 87 years, still suffering from night sweats.
So here I am telling you about arthritis, glaucoma, and night sweats. I am afflicted by all three and if any of you have an idea as to the solution to my three-base error problem, it would do my heart good to hear from you.
But life goes on. I rarely mention my complaints to the medical professionals any more because I know that they are helpless to do anything about them. About all that I can ask of you is that the next time you witness a baseball game and a fielder blunders and permits a three-base error, you will send sympathy and warmth toward him. He knows that he has made a grave mistake and will do everything in his power to atone for that blunder.
But in the final analysis, you should not extend wrath toward him or to the physicians who have failed to provide cures for arthritis, glaucoma, and night sweats. Instead of anger, I suppose we should all take the Biblical injunction that “a soft answer turneth away wrath.”
Well, I am not going to compete with the Holy Scripture which tells me that this essay has come to an end.
E. E. CARR
July 28, 2009
Essay 401
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Kevin’s commentary: So the top question on my mind, especially coming off of the email that Pop just wrote me today, is this: when blind people dream, what is that like? I imagine this answer is much different for people who are born blind versus those who become blind much later in life. I ask because I have only woke up sweating at night once or twice, and in both instances it has been because of a vivid dream. It sounds like Pop’s condition is separate from any dreams he might have had, but the question remains: can he see in his dreams? What does the world look like?
Bonus note: I heard that when people who have been deaf all their lives think, they SEE themselves signing in their heads, instead of having a voice in their heads. I find stuff like that fascinating.