the past has caught me up

it was just another normal day, or so i first thought, little did i know of the disease inside of me i'd caught. it could have been there thirteen years or just a year or two, to tell the truth how long it's been there i haven't got a clue. all the time i'm working away, like the gaffer said, like a machine, and all the time i'm getting sicker inside, hidden away, unseen. i just thought i'd go to the docs and get the message 'all clear', three days later i get the call, bad news, and it's quite severe. you've contracted hepatitis 'c', and you really are quite ill, there is a chance of fixing you, a weekly injection and a daily pill. you may be out of action for upto two years, you won't be well, some people, they say, sail through it, some people go through hell. i'm just waiting to go through it, we'll see just how i go, either i'm going sailing for two years, or i'm going down below. of course there is a moral, it's quite plain to see, don't do drugs, or you'll end up sick inside like me. i was an i.v drug user for thirteen years and always thought i was a clean user but i must have slipped up at least once and now i've got to pay the price!? hopefully this poem will put off anyone stupid enough to even consider i.v drug use? please pass it to any schools or colleges or youth centres that you know of and if it deters just one kid from making the same mistakes i have my life hasn't been a complete waste of time. stevemac