(my experience on return from a Bali holiday)
I went to see my doctor
My doctor said to me
What can I do for you good sir
You look so terribly
I then said to my doctor
He listened patiently
I’ve just come back from Bali
I’m suffering you see
I seem to be unable
To walk a nice straight line
I wobble here and wobble there
It happens all the time
I think you’ve got a problem sir
(To which I did agree)
We’ll have to rush you off right now
To the emergency
I check into the hospital
The nurse she says to me
It’s good you liked your Bali hop
A wobbly now I see
She takes me to the wobbly ward
And tucks me in just right
Then after mealtime dinner
Adjusts me for the night
Now nurses are the greatest thing
In hospital healthcare
They coddle you and pamper you
Forget why you are there
When surgeons came to visit me
They told me what they’d found
That all my wobbly problems came
From being Bali bound
They drained my blood for umpteen times
(Which still had them perplexed)
All my platelets were intact
(I asked please could I text?)
(text perplexity update to family)
They put me in big noisy things
That whizzed around my head
And all it really showed them was
My head it was not dead
(still perplexed they were)
The tropical medicine surgeon came
And said to me, we thinks
You have encephalitis
Which causes walkers kinks
I said is this contagious?
It sounds nasty to me
I wouldn’t want those ’round me
Becoming wobbly
The surgeon in charge of strokes then came
Said no to ‘cephalitis
We think a little mini-stroke
By gosh! next Dance St Vitus?
Then all three surgeons fronted up
They all had changed their mind
We think it’s dengue fever
An extremely wobbly kind
It’s nice to have a name at last
From medical textbook
No longer am I in the dark
I’m dengue fever, look!
I stayed in there for several days
In tender loving care
By all the lovely nurses
And hospitalic fare.
When leaving Flinders FMC
I walked a nice straight line
I put it down to loving care
By nursie Caroline
Endnote: Although the diagnosis was dengue fever, I think the doctors couldn’t really pin it down. My excuse is the good life in Bali and R&R with nurse Caroline.
-DON MATTHEWS
Don is an Australian writer who focuses on humour. He runs the ‘Flippant, Comic, and Serious’ website.
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MasticadoresIndia // Editora: Terveen Gill 
Don’s poems are bursts of fun often harboring serious experiences and deep meanings. Being unwell is troublesome enough, not knowing the reason and continuing to suffer can only multiply the aggravation. It seems that the doctors were hitting and missing, and they eventually settled on a condition that appeared more tropical in nature. I’m glad nurse Caroline was a kind soul during this harrowing time. Good health is the best blessing.
Congratulations Don!
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It’s, always, quite difficult, when we experience the symptoms of illness that we can’t, identify, and, until what we have gets, identified, correctly, we will, never, have the, correct, treatments we required, to, get ourselves better… sometimes, we just, need to, keep on, searching, for answers we need, until we finally, find it.
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I was going to put this in as an endpoint but didn’t. As Terveen said, I think it was just hit and miss. Oh, you’ve been in Bali Don? Gotta be dengue boys. All nod heads. Just come back from Antarctica. Gotta be not-thawed-out-legs. Boys? All nod heads.
This was 6 years ago. Since then it has occurred 3 times. So not dengue. Sorry boys. I have been on lithium for many years. GP said it can cause gait ataxia. So am off it and will see what happens. But nurse Caroline was nice. She even gave me massages. I liked her. Not like Gertrude. She was a ……….
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Don I am so glad to know that you are alright. I did not know you were ill. It is very scared to have a diagnosis that keeps changing. This write is both entertaining in how you present what happened but a kind shout out to the nurses who took care of you. Bless you and everyone who took good care of you. I always enjoy your drawings too. Hugs, Joni
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Hi Joni
Look at my response to TAURUSINGEMINI . Explains everything.
Terveen is responsible for the artwork. She be a good net drawer,…..😜
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Nice poem and love that picture of mosquito.
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Thanks HAOYANDO . Terveen is a mosquito fan. She even collects them as pets. Molly is her favourite……😛
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Thank you for sharing. Mosquito fan? Haha, that’s soooo quirky and interesting and exotic and …I once watched a documentary about mosquitos and there’s a scientist there who’s obsessed with her favorite creature–mosquitos…
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Thankyou for presenting a rare long poem of mine with such breakups for relief. Well done……
‘Don’s poems are bursts of fun often harboring serious experiences and deep meanings’ …….thanks.
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Whoa what a story Don! It’s good to hear the health care experienced was top quality.
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Thanks Cassa. Thanks to Nurse Caroline I’m back in top form…..
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👍
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I loved this poem! It’s so terribly funny! I thought you were just joking, but apparently, you really were ill. I hope you’re fully recovered now!
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One thing about me Dawn is always the question is he real or just joking? Yes, this was real gait ataxia needing hospital. I always seem to make light of serious situations. They say Australians are known for making fun of themselves. I seem to be in that mold. Yep, fully recovered now thanks…..
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I’m so glad!
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So am I…….
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Reblogged this on Flippant, Comic, and Serious.
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