If you were at the HCC Patients Christmas party last December you might remember Jenni who gave a wonderful reading of her poem ‘How to Heal Broken Blood’. The poem imagines Jenni’s treatment as a recipe, and with Jenni’s kind permission we’re adding it to our blog here. Thank you very much to Jenni and if you’d like to see more of Jenni’s writing she has a blog and website here: https://jennielbourne.wordpress.com/
How to Heal Broken Blood
by Jenni Elbourne
Ingredients
Three high-intensity chemotherapy cocktails
Plenty of first-line antibiotics – or allergen free alternatives
One human body, otherwise fit and healthy
A pinch of madness, dissolved in a teaspoon of hope
Intravenous paracetamol (lots)
15-20 units of donated blood and platelets
One large carton of trust
Several litres of patience
Eight short doses of radiotherapy, avoiding vital organs where possible
Two dozen nutritional milkshakes
Two small infusions of stem cells, extracted no more than 48 hours prior to infusion, from a magical blooded sorceress.
Immune-suppressive agents – various
Steroids and anti-sickness to taste
A jug full of medical expertise, sifted
A gallon of luck
Method
Prepare the area and wash your hands.
Grease and line your receptacle with a layer of stoicism. (Denial will do if that’s all you have to hand.)
Trim off and discard any immediate plans.
Read all of the instructions carefully before you begin. But start quickly.
Pour the cocktail directly into the veins. Watch the mixture closely; allow it to simmer but be careful it doesn’t burn. Apply antibiotics as necessary to ensure the temperature stays below 37.5.
Stir.
Keep stirring. Do not let it settle. Especially at night. Add anti-sickness if required. Continue stirring.
Infuse for one week, then allow to rest for five before repeating the process.
Monitor blood counts two to three times per week. transfuse as required.
Meanwhile, prepare your stem cell donor: inject them four times with fast-acting growth serum. Set aside until needed.
Returning to the patient: Repeat the cycle of cocktails one or two more times, until the mixture is free of lumps.
Combine the trust and patience in a bowl with the sieved results of the best research you can find.
Keeping the body as still as possible, apply the radiotherapy. At this stage everything will look extremely unappetising. Try some protein shakes, if nothing else. As a last resort, use a gastric tube.
Add the mixed trust and patience, a little at a time – be careful not to use it all at once.
Insert two needles into the donor’s arms. Extract the magical blood, sieve out the stem cells and return the remainder to the donor. Weigh the sifted material to ensure you have harvested sufficient cells. Refrigerate until needed.
Transport the chilled stem cells to the patient. Infuse via a syringe, watching closely for any immediate reaction.
Wait for ten days for the cells to engraft. This may feel like ten thousand years. But all you can do is wait, and watch, and calm, and soothe, and trust and hope, and pray, and cry, and love and wish the days away.
Ten days.
Slowly release the immune suppression into the bloodstream. Keep waiting.
The newly engrafted body may have a pale complexion and a weak or watery appearance. Add anything you can find that doesn’t taste awful, to try and restore its strength. Top up with protein shakes daily, for as long as it takes to recover an appetite. This may be weeks, or months. Apply steroids sparingly, particularly after the first twelve weeks.
Wait.
Rest.
Wait some more.
Hope.
The procedure is considered successful when a skewer inserted into the bone marrow shows only healthy cells. Remember this can change. Check often, to be sure.
For an interesting variation on this recipe, add one global pandemic.
© Jenni Elbourne ( https://www.instagram.com/elbournej/ )