Gaius

Hello! I'm here again~
I just realized how beautiful these would look in a book. Like on a page in a solid book somewhere.
So "gaius" doesn't mean anything else in a different language ("aius" means "pins" in Lithuanian, apparently), but it reminds me of "gaia" which is mother earth. So, that's always interesting to go into a poem with.

...wow. I just read though that and I gasped at the end because I didn't realize I was holding my breath. Now my chest hurts.

So I was gonna get angry at you for that first "Sentence" that is so run on that it was a bit painful. But this poem is a bit painful, and you're not catering to grammar, so I think it could be okay. It is a bit hard to understand though.
So, just in that first sentence:

work my entire body

The way this is in italics, it makes it sound like these are THE EXACT words that the doctors say. But they wouldn't say "my," they would say "your." If you took away the italics, I think that would make this make more sense (and I think you should also get rid of the comma and add a "to" before "work"). But I like the italics, so I think just changing "my" to "your" would be better because when you have those little changes in the font (like the italics, or those ampersands, or all the whys, or the backstrokes), it's easier to pay attention to your poem. It's easier to figure out where you left off. But of course you don't have to do that.

I think you should have a comma after "swimming" because I thought the sentence read "I took up night swimming and seventeen pounds." So long as we're changing this, I think the 900 breast-strokes should come before the pounds. And if you're going to add the first comma, you may as well add one after "later" because that would also add to the clarity.

When you said

and he's like, so many freckles...

I thought you were describing him the way I would say something like "And he was like, so cool."
So I would suggest adding some quotes around what the guy said. Or at least change the words somehow to make it not sound like that.

You taught me a new word with "vasculitis," and I'm glad I looked it up, because now I know what you're talking about with the freckle/scar thing.

I don't think "waded" is the right term for doing like 900 breast-strokes. But that's up to you.

...and your mops and my laps

I didn't know we were addressing the janitor...? We refer to him as "the janitor" but then it goes to "you." That confused me. If you wanted to address him at the beginning, you could say "you, the janitor" so we still know he's a janitor. But if "you" is not the janitor, sorry, but it sure sounded like they were, with the mops and such.

I love love love love love the part with the stars trading secret. Like, that's the prettiest thing I've ever read. Especially "cricket-tongues" and "we have answers" and the part about wristwatches. I also love the "metal" lines. It was all just so pretty ;-;

Now, I love the way that part with the ampersands looks, but I'm not sure what it's talking about exactly. The way metal melts and molds in our stories. The way metal melts and molds in our heroes. The way metal melts and molds in our millions of miles and years of stars. I'm just not sure what you're trying to say. At all.

The next paragraph-y part just fits like a glove. I have no particular praises or complaints.

And the ending is just perfect. It is paced perfectly. It has implemented parts from the rest of the poem.
One thing "I've had forgotten" sounds a bit... strange.

I loved this poem. It was raw with emotion and made me want to keep reading (sometimes I stop mid-way through a poem to jot down a few notes for my review).

Great job! Keep writing. And notify me when you write the next of these, please?
~fortis