What's Your Thing?

Have you ever...acquired something, as a gift or whatever that you really didn't want and thought would be totally useless but ended up being something you couldn't live without now? This is mine.



I KNOW! Sexy, isn't it. I didn't get this because I'm a professional boxer or am involved in any type of sport that requires dental protection, I got it because my dentist told me I was grinding my teeth. At first I was all like, "Sure dude, and I hope that helps pay for your family Christmas in Maui or Whistler." And he's all like, "Dude, your insurance covers it 100%." And I was all like, "Whoa! Sign me up!" Ok, that conversation didn't actually sound like that but you get the idea.

DAMMIT! I ran out of creamer. Coffee sucks with 2%. Sigh.

Ok, so where was I? Oh ya. And now that we're there, let's back up a few years. I used to wake up everyday with really nasty neck and back pain. Like everyday. These caused delightful headaches and made me an all around lovely person to spend time with. Back in 2005, my first week into my new job, my neck seized up so bad I couldn't move. It was horrible. Horribly horrible. It happened again in July of 2007. I make fun of it now, but really, I've never experienced pain like that, ever. I could not move without intense pain. I couldn't lie down, first because it was excruciating to try and second, it would take 15-20 minutes just to get up the nerve to try and get out of bed. It took almost a week of drugs and physio for it to subside and having to sleep sitting up did not help matters. Both times it happened the doctors couldn't really pinpoint why it was happening or what caused it, only that it obviously was.

Then along comes my dentist telling me I'm grinding my teeth and offering me this $1500 mouth guard that, THANK GOD! I didn't have to pay for. And guess what? Pain gone. Gone gone. I started sleeping normally. No neck or back pain. If my dentist was more attractive I damn well might have kissed him.

When I get stressed by anything, like a lot of men, I box it up and ignore it. Unfortunately, I box a little more than the average bear and in the last few years the warehouse has started running out of space. And when you're sleeping, the warehouse doors open. My stress was manifesting itself in the teeth grinding, amongst other things. But the grinding was so bad it was effecting my neck muscles which in turn tried to hand off some work on my back muscles, and so on and so on and so on.

Losing my job recently has put some serious chew marks into the other side of my mouth guard, but all in all, it's still doing its job. And to think that if my insurance company hadn't paid for the damn thing I probably wouldn't have got it and still been suffering. Crazy. So what's your thing?