Poetry Corner: Highly Infused Veins (H.I.V.) 2

By Kwesi BISSUE

Labour pains ran all over her anatomy

Lowering from her upper, down her lower abdomen

Announcing her place among fertile women

Her labour noise travelled along the lobby

Registering her voice around the ward of maternity

Calling her nurse to attend to a delivery

 

So her nurse hurried to calm her noise

Calming her not to make labour noise worse

 

Her vital stats taken stated a healthy status

But her blood count could not be counted upwards

So her nurse made a dash to consult her supervisor

She returned with an order from her superior

To seek another’s blood to transfuse

Before birthing could be granted a safe berthing

But a quick glance at the blood bank got her confused

For there was no matching blood to use

 

Her husband was the first to offer blood to donate

But hardly did his blood grouping prove a duplicate

Many others lined up for a pint to donate

But hardly could any offer up compatible blood to donate

 

So a search team was sent around

Uptown and downtown

For that rare blood grouping to donate a pint

 

One they brought from town

One who was a gentleman of no mean repute

A fact no one would dispute

No infectious disease could anyone impute…to his blood

No debilitating defects could the routine tests detect…in his blood

 

Husband and wife and family had reason to jubilate

To shower tons of praises on the generous donor

Therfore, a bouncy baby was added to the family number

 

II

Many years passed

Many years passed for daily signs to turn into symptoms

For symptoms to tell their own story

For mother and child

It was a stern warning issued each morning

For mother and child

It gave them a serious cause for worrying

 

Each morning was a wakeup call to welcome a chain of malaise

A back pain, or a neck pain

A headache, or a stomachache

A bout of malaria, or a round of nausea

A pound of diarrhoea, or a mound of pneumonia

 

Each symptom served a reminder to visit a lab

For a thorough body test

Each body test

Recommended an advanced test

Many tests crossed paths for diagnosis to tell the real story

For prognosis to paint a medical history

A history filled with the story of a transfusion of blood

 

Years ago when a blood donor of repute

Dispensed blood full of of impurities…without knowing

Years ago when a routine test recommended infected blood…without knowing

 

III

Rife but reliable rumours from the grapevine had it all

And all heard it all

That the donor they pulled from town

Pulled many years ago

That donor of no mean repute

That donor was now a patient in the Intensive Care Unit.

That donor was wasting away in the Isolation Unit

And his Human Immunodeficiency Virus credentials

Were absolutely not in dispute

Where he had been sentenced by Acqured Immune Deficiency Syndrome

…a death symptom!

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