Febricitantem Neutropenia

Poetry Kevin Ackerman

Febricitantem Neutropenia From the bed in the room at the end of the hall The days can go by at a slow crawl Hearing the early morning nursing station chatter And the student asking all about the bladder Here for the care and the chemo infusion Appetite, energy all are losing As the lymphoma hopefully starts to shrink The immune cells all begin to go down the sink Before checking to see the amount of saliva The student notes the pale conjunctiva As skin becomes color of the bracelets Out the window also go the platelets Skin dots appear you know the name I betcha Why yes this is a classic purple petechia But the whites that drop and all but disappear Is the reason for writing about this nadir

One moment sitting calm in the armchair Watching the TV without much of a care The next it comes so sudden as a flash It happens so quick to give whiplash The temp in the room seems to plummet As if one walked up to a high summit Without warning the body begins to shake As if deep inside there is an earthquake And soon the face is covered in sweat Something inside is surely a threat And people come running from the station To begin their urgent interrogation Not knowing what part of the body’s affected Blood, urine, swabs, x-rays all are collected

Within minutes the drug stops the shaking It already feels as though the fever is breaking As fast as it came it quickly ceases This one’s a rollercoaster of all the diseases No bug, no virus, no fungus, no worm

The cause of the fever they cannot confirm Each morning the group all surrounds To say your nadir is quite profound Though days pass and counts are only slipping The team is content with vitamin Z dripping

The days are so very dully simplistic But then the student arrives optimistic He is excited that the labs that morning they drew Show white cells went from point-one to point-two! And soon the number rises over one And the stay in the hospital is now finally done Before leaving the student comes for a chat Not because it’s part of the discharge format But for these few days, even through all the strife The time spent together left an impression on his life “I wish you the best and hope you be well” And adds with a smile the joke they tell, “Though getting to know you has been a delight I hope I don’t see you here by day or by night” The patient replies maybe we’ll have the pleasure to meet Someday, outside, passing on the street.