Pain

Pain is something to which I am allergic, and unfortunately as the years pass I seem to have more and more little niggles with which to contend.  There is my lower back, caused mostly by living to sedentary a life, and there is my upper back, caused by my sedentary life, and there is my overall back that is caused by my sedentary life.  This is all well known by those in our circle, and of little consequence because:

• I sit on my bum for a living
• I do not do sufficient exercise
• I am tall and I am getting on a bit

Some of this, as LO is oft to tell me, I could choose to do something about, however some of them are, in the words of Fletcher, an occupational hazard.  The mitigations are back exercises, standing up from time to time and getting off my fat @rse to do more sporting endeavours.  Time is, however, another unfortunately limited resource, and having a good excuse for every occasion is also in the mix.

Of late, I have been getting a new, more keenly felt pain, in my tooth.  The history of our dental provision is fairly checkered, with us having trouble finding a suitable National Health dentist for the Maggots, the elder who has OK teeth, the younger who does not.  This difficulty led us to what A&E call the best dentist in the area, and to get the Maggots with him meant LO and I going private.  This seemed OK since we have very little teeth problems.  Very little until we went private, that is.  Since going private a couple of years ago, we have had more treatment between us than in the previous ten years.

Anyhow, that is the history of dental provision.  My current pain is on a tooth where I have already had a filling replaced, which we thought was the cause of the pain.  It isn't, however I also had an x-ray and that did not reveal further decay or a crack in the tooth, however apparently cracks are very hard to see, so it may still be that.  This means I am faced with making an appointment for a checkup that will, inevitably, lead to expensive and painful remedial work.  I can sort of handle the pain to my wallet, but the pain to my head is something with which I really do struggle.  The cheapest option may well be to remove it, and while that is LO's worst nightmare, it is fairly well down my list, with the pain of any other of the options featuring higher in the list.

So, should I book an appointment or not.  Hmmm.  I will come back to you on that.