"How to Survive Sickle Cell," A Poetry Post

The first thing is to know,
know,
if it's Thalas Beta Zero or
Thalas Beta Plus or
whether you carry a trait or
the whole shebang.

The whole shebang
could be the end of your
lineage, your
livelihood, your
life.

But if you got it,
the shebang,
you best get the
Hydrea--
Hydroxy-U-rea,
to stabilize your
blood count and
limit your need for
transfusions

which lead to
iron poisoning over
time

and if you have iron poisoning,
it could be the end of your
lineage, your
livelihood,
your
life.

But if you got it,
iron poisoning,
you might have to get the Ferriprox,
Defer-I-Prone,
to get the iron out and
save your liver

because losing your liver
could be the end of your
lineage, your
livelihood,
your
life.

But back to surviving,
which might include
Hydrea to avoid
transfusions to avoid
liver failure which does not stop
crisis.

Oxycodone is supposed to stop
crisis,
but it only does for
six hours or
four hours or
not at all if you're at pain level
eight.

If you're at pain level eight
you have to
ease your way
down the stairwell
to the nearest transport
to the nearest hospital
where they can give you
intravenous saline to
move the clot of puzzle pieces
in your blood stream

and it's got to drip
slowly
to move the whole grouping
of sickled cells
out of the path of your
blood flow and
allow you
two minutes of peace
while they inject you with
a narcotic

like a Morphine
which was used to
mercifully kill soldiers
in days without antibiotics or
Hydromorphone,
Di-Laud-id,
which can quietly carry you
into your last sleep
at the wrong dosage.

But back to surviving,
which might include
Hydrea to avoid
transfusions to avoid
liver failure which does not stop
crisis which requires
Oxycodone and
saline and
Morphine or
Hydromorphone.

Over time
crisis may hinder bloodflow
to key extremities and
organs and joints which
can result in
death in the
tissues...
or which can cause issues with the
hips and knees and shoulders,
which might require replacements
because of Vasc-U-Lar
Ne-Cros-Is,
which are fancy words for
crumbling bones attached to
low-flow veins

which can lead to
pain which leads to
pain, since Sickle Cell is
trigger-a-ble.

So then you need a specialist that
can replace your joint(s)
perfectly to
save you from
paralysis and
infection that
can result from botched
joint operations.

And when they save you from
paralysis, you feel alive!

But back to surviving,
which might include
Hydrea to avoid
transfusions to avoid
liver failure which does not stop
crisis which requires
Oxycodone and
saline and
Morphine or
Hydromorphone which
can result in premature
death and cannot keep
your veins from
failing and leaving your
joint bones to crumble
which will require
specialized surgery from
blessed hands.  

This piece
is not
permission to
wallow in
pity,
since in this country,
there is access to
Hydrea and
Oxcodone and
Morphine and
Saline and
Specialists.

This piece is a
clarion designed to
SHOUT OUT to the
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE
in the world with a disease that
nobody knows about
nobody cares about
nobody advertises.

If, in your country,
nobody has found out
what to do with you,
hook up with someone who
has lived through enough
suffering to say
what to eat and
where to go and
what to take and
how to live and
if there is help to get,
where to get it.

This is not permission to give up!
After all,
this is a piece about
SURVIVING a
TERRIBLE ONSLAUGHT
of dying and
LIVING to tell the story.

Look at how much is
stacked against you.

And yet,
here you are.

-T. D. James-Moss