{"id":6209,"date":"2021-01-08T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/townhouse\/articles\/man-of-steel-gives-blood-finds-metaphor\/"},"modified":"2021-01-08T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T13:00:00","slug":"man-of-steel-gives-blood-finds-metaphor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/man-of-steel-gives-blood-finds-metaphor\/","title":{"rendered":"Man of steel gives blood, finds metaphor"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you know, I have about a million kids and they spend half their lives treating me as a climbing frame. My eldest daughter likes to climb on my head. I\u2019ll quite often have one child on my lap, one on my head and one sliding down my shoulder.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, in the course of this, parts of me get squashed, stepped on, or generally bashed about. When the kids ask if any of this hurts, I tell them, no, of course, not, I\u2019m a man of steel. My younger girl takes that seriously enough that when I went swimming in the sea once, she was alarmed. Steel and seawater: even five-year-olds can see that\u2019s bad.<\/p>\n

Anyway. A month or two back, my missus decides \u2013 sensible woman \u2013 that we should both get broad spectrum blood tests. The sort of thing you do to check your general health, rather than to investigate a specific condition.<\/p>\n

My tests were basically OK. Heart, fine. Vitamins, fine. And so on.<\/p>\n

Except \u2013 ferritin.<\/p>\n

My iron levels are through the roof. My transferrin saturation level (an indication of my remaining iron-absorption capacity is) stands at 91%. It ought to be somewhere between 25-30%.<\/p>\n

Or, to put it another way, MEDICAL SCIENCE HAS PROVED I AM INDEED A MAN OF STEEL. At the very least, I am exceptionally \u2013 nay, dangerously – ferrous. Since learning the news, I have stayed well clear of industrial magnets and, during thunderstorms, I hunker down indoors beneath a rubber blanket.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more investigation to follow, but it looks probable that I have haemochromatosis, a genetic condition, common in those with Celtic ancestry.<\/p>\n

The bad news is that the condition is incurable. I\u2019m just going to continue collecting iron forever, like a Soviet era tractor plant that never gets decommissioned.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the solution is simplicity itself. Eighteenth century, in fact. I just need to bleed lots. If I lose my iron-excessive blood, the body makes fresh blood that has no iron in it. Easy.<\/p>\n

Now you can lose blood in any number of ways. You can do it eighteenth-century style with cupping and leeches. Or any competent nurse can draw blood and discard it. Or I can just donate blood to any blood bank. It\u2019s win-win. My blood will strengthen anyone who doesn\u2019t have my specific iron problem. And I get stronger from giving it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And that, my friends, is your metaphor for today.<\/p>\n

Almost every kind of writer-to-writer exchange is enriching for both parties. It makes you both stronger. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n