TIA

Shipwreck Salvation ~ sea shanty ~ with audio

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 28 Comments

Shipwreck Salvation

The waves are high
this time around
Let’s hope this ship don’t wreck
The last one out
has run aground
Don’t let this damn ship wreck

We’re headin’ out
for one deep dive
Let’s hope this ship don’t wreck
Just let us all
come back alive
Don’t let us join those wrecks

The captain says
with seas this rough
Let’s hope this ship don’t wreck
Let’s batten down,
stash all your stuff
Don’t let this damn ship wreck

The captain’s mate
has long passed out
Let’s hope this ship don’t wreck
We’re going down
without a doubt
Don’t let us join those wrecks

We’re donnin’ gear,
and givin’ thanks
Let’s hope this ship don’t wreck
With half a chance
and full air tanks
We might just dive this wreck

But lookit there,
it that blue sky?
Let’s hope this ship don’t wreck
It looks like we’re
not gonna die
So let’s go dive that wreck!

This is my response to Day Ten at napowrimo.net,
where the prompt is to write a sea shanty.

Shared with Open Link #340 at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.

Go with the Flow

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 12 Comments

Go with the Flow

Blood flows,
knows
where it should go,
sometimes goes
where it wants. Take my PFO.
Please.
That hole in my heart
that lets blood flow
where it shouldn’t
sent a clot to my brain,
the strain minor.
This time.

Or the bruises
on my arms.
Everywhere.
Spatial orientation
gone to hell
since that TIA.

The blood thinner
to stop those clots?
It whispers to my blood.
There’s fresh air
beyond that skin.
Go for it!

And minor cuts, or
just plain scratches?
Let’s just say
I’ve used more band aids
in the last year
than I have
in the previous 69.

Like I said,
blood knows
where it wants to go.

 

It’s been a busy day, and this is a last minute post for a-poem-a-day for April. I wrote it earlier today and read it at a poetry reading this evening at Barb’s Books in Belle, Missouri.

Special Thanks to Osage Arts Community, Jason Ryberg, & John Dorsey.

Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO)

Shared with Day Eight at napowrimo.net (off prompt)

Frosted Window View ~ haibun

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 24 Comments

Frosted Window View

Distracted by all manner of things in the non-digital realm during this past week, from health to, well, health, I missed the deadline for Pure Haiku’s translucence theme.

My poem “Hold That Thought” (10 January 2020) was in regard to an incident I had a couple of months back, with minor symptoms that may have been a transient ischemic attack (TIA), or mini-stroke. In early January, I had an echocardiogram and a scan of my carotid arteries. The latter showed minor plaque buildup without any obstruction to blood flow, but my doctor now has me on 81mg aspirin as a precaution.

The echo showed that I have an atrial septal aneurysm (ASA). The incidence in the general adult population is about 2%. This aneurysm is not the same as the extreme circumstance of a weakened blood vessel. The wall between the upper chambers of my heart bulges to one side, a condition that I’ve likely had for all of my life. I just had to wait until my sixties to find out that it exists. Since it also has the potential to cause a stroke, my doctor referred me for an additional echocardiogram.

A transesophageal echocardiogram is just what it sounds like. Yesterday, I was sedated, and a device was placed down my esophagus to get a much closer echo of my heart. Rather than a technician, as with my first echo, this procedure was performed by a cardiologist. The results showed that, in addition to the ASA, I have an atrial septal defect, an opening in the septum separating the upper chambers of my heart. It’s a condition common to 30% of the population, often with no ill effect. There is no urgency to the situation, but I’ll receive more information from my primary in the next few days. I’ll be seeing a neurologist in September, so I suspect any decisions will be delayed until then. The cardiologist was less concerned by the results than my primary care physician was by the initial prospect. In fact, he didn’t see any issues with my level of activity. Time will tell.

Imagine how different life would be if our skin and tissue were translucent and medical diagnoses were as simple as peering into our bodies.

sparrow clings to perch
snow swirling around feeder
frosted window view

Hold That Thought

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 15 Comments

Hold That Thought

What is a thought?
Is there a pulse in the waves,
when they’re transient?

One beat skips.
And another.
How can you know how many,
when they fill a moment?
A string of moments.

There, and gone.

Is there a difference between what you know
and what you can’t remember?

Balance is attained when it returns.

Or is it?

 

A first for me: Today I had an echocardiogram and a carotid artery exam.
On can never be too careful.

Image source: Scientific American