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About Haemostasis
Written by Summer Pan
Edited by Kyren Lavan
There was an empty,
Aching,
Hidden
Hole in my heart,
And somehow or another,
Someone has found it
And haemostasised it for me.
I. Vascular Spasm
It starts with a conversation
(it always does),
Question and response,
Sending curiosity-stimulated
Nerve reflexes into
Overdrive.
Vascular spasm;
Sudden, involuntary;
I didn’t know it then, but we had lit a spark.
Chemical factors;
Thromboxane, serotonin;
Bring me to life at the onset of dawn.
The sun plays centre-stage at the sternal angle,
Yet all I can watch
Are the colours it revives
And your silhouette against them
On the beach.
And all I can sense
Is the empty,
Aching,
Hidden
Hole in my heart,
Contracting,
Constricting,
Reducing blood flow.
II. Platelet Plug Formation
My focus is disrupted,
Akin to endothelium.
My sympathetic nervous system,
Overrun, and I can’t help
Checking for a word or two
From you every second.
Every second,
Platelets swell,
With radiating pseudopods that
Attach to exposed collagen,
Like how I’ve become attached to you.
Proteins contract and release
Adrenaline, more serotonin,
When you make a promise to me,
When you minimise my blood loss,
When you say goodnight,
Sleep well,
Sweet dreams,
I drown in ADP.
The platelets accumulate,
Layer after layer.
ADP and thromboxane,
Molecules that you leave,
Linger with every glance we sneak.
And finally,
We take the metro home together,
My head on your shoulder,
My heart in your hands.
And that empty,
The apex beat at the midclavicular line,
Aching,
Discovered
Hole right there,
Has been sealed with a platelet plug.
III. Coagulation
But wait!
That’s not enough,
That’s not enough to stem the blood,
That’s not enough to end this poem.
You stimulate
The coagulation cascade,
Wrecking my sleep schedule when we
Stay up late,
Texting Factor XII, Factor XI,
Factor IX and Factor VIII,
Activating Factor X
To form a prothrombin activator.
When that catalyses
Prothrombin into thrombin,
And thrombin catalyses
Fibrinogen into fibrin,
You accelerate our reaction with
Calcium,
And a smile that strikes
My favourite chord(ae tendinae).
Fibrin monomers polymerise,
When I realise how often you check
That I reach home safe.
Stable,
The fibrin meshwork
Of platelets, red blood cells, and plasma
Adheres to the
Hole in my heart.
And within it,
A new song pulses.
IV. Clot Retraction
I have a dream,
I hope will come true (Murphy, J. F. (2015). Lava [Song]. Walt Disney Records.)
That when we compare
The sizes of our hands,
You’ll fold down your phalanges,
And let actin and myosin
Contract.
You ask to go together
To something that suits
Neither of us.
And that pulls the edges of
My damaged vessel closer,
Leaves me light-headed with
Anticipation,
And the blood clot shrinks
Like silk in the wash,
Exuding serum.
I ask you to be my muse,
And laugh when you
Don’t know what that means.
We tiptoe around
The obvious,
Watching how gradually,
Gradually,
Blood loss ceases,
Gradually, gradually from the
Hole in my heart.
V. Fibrinolysis
You tell me you’re not good with words,
But the ones you say
Risk dyspnoea
Because you take my breath away.
Sitting under the shade of
An Australian banyan tree,
Tissue plasminogen activator is released;
Plasminogen becomes plasmin,
And, SOCA,
Plasmin lyses fibrin.
You know I’m good with words,
But I haven’t told you
I’m not good with compliments –
Yet I doubt that will stop you because:
You’re genuine;
You make me feel safe;
You make me laugh;
You stimulate haemostasis,
So that gentle,
Quivering,
Physiological
Blood clot in my heart
Marks the entire organ as
Yours to keep.
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