diff --git a/pageserver/src/walredo.rs b/pageserver/src/walredo.rs
index 9bb44cd855..dd0d703a85 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/walredo.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/walredo.rs
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ use postgres_ffi::v14::nonrelfile_utils::{
 };
 use postgres_ffi::BLCKSZ;
 
+use self::poison::Poison;
+
 ///
 /// `RelTag` + block number (`blknum`) gives us a unique id of the page in the cluster.
 ///
@@ -73,14 +75,12 @@ pub(crate) struct BufferTag {
 struct ProcessInput {
     stdin: tokio::process::ChildStdin,
     n_requests: usize,
-    poison: poison::Poison,
 }
 
 struct ProcessOutput {
     stdout: tokio::process::ChildStdout,
     pending_responses: VecDeque<Option<Bytes>>,
     n_processed_responses: usize,
-    poison: poison::Poison,
 }
 
 mod poison {
@@ -88,9 +88,10 @@ mod poison {
 
     use tracing::warn;
 
-    pub struct Poison {
+    pub struct Poison<T> {
         what: &'static str,
         state: State,
+        data: T,
     }
 
     #[derive(Clone, Copy)]
@@ -100,17 +101,18 @@ mod poison {
         Poisoned { at: Instant },
     }
 
-    impl Poison {
-        pub fn new(what: &'static str) -> Self {
+    impl<T> Poison<T> {
+        pub fn new(what: &'static str, data: T) -> Self {
             Self {
                 what,
                 state: State::Clean,
+                data,
             }
         }
-        pub fn check_and_arm(&mut self) -> Result<Guard, Error> {
+        pub fn check_and_arm(&mut self) -> Result<Guard<T>, Error> {
             match self.state {
                 State::Clean => {
-                    *self = State::Armed;
+                    self.state = State::Armed;
                     Ok(Guard(self))
                 }
                 State::Armed => unreachable!("transient state"),
@@ -122,23 +124,30 @@ mod poison {
         }
     }
 
-    struct Guard<'a>(&'a mut Poison);
+    pub struct Guard<'a, T>(&'a mut Poison<T>);
 
-    impl<'a> Guard<'a> {
-        pub fn disarm(mut self) {
+    impl<'a, T> Guard<'a, T> {
+        pub fn data(&self) -> &T {
+            &self.0.data
+        }
+        pub fn data_mut(&mut self) -> &mut T {
+            &mut self.0.data
+        }
+
+        pub fn disarm(self) {
             match self.0.state {
                 State::Clean => unreachable!("we set it to Armed in check_and_arm()"),
                 State::Armed => {
-                    *self = State::Clean;
+                    self.0.state = State::Clean;
                 }
                 State::Poisoned { at } => {
-                    unreachable!("we fail check_and_arm() if it's in that state")
+                    unreachable!("we fail check_and_arm() if it's in that state: {at:?}")
                 }
             }
         }
     }
 
-    impl<'a> Drop for Guard<'a> {
+    impl<'a, T> Drop for Guard<'a, T> {
         fn drop(&mut self) {
             match self.0.state {
                 State::Clean => {
@@ -148,18 +157,18 @@ mod poison {
                     // still armed => poison it
                     let at = Instant::now();
                     self.0.state = State::Poisoned { at };
-                    warn!(at=%at, "poisoning {}", self.0.what);
+                    warn!(at=?at, "poisoning {}", self.0.what);
                 }
                 State::Poisoned { at } => {
-                    unreachable!("we fail check_and_arm() if it's in that state")
+                    unreachable!("we fail check_and_arm() if it's in that state: {at:?}")
                 }
             }
         }
     }
 
     #[derive(thiserror::Error, Debug)]
-    enum Error {
-        #[error("poisoned at {at}: {what}")]
+    pub enum Error {
+        #[error("poisoned at {at:?}: {what}")]
         Poisoned { what: &'static str, at: Instant },
     }
 }
@@ -728,8 +737,8 @@ struct WalRedoProcess {
     tenant_shard_id: TenantShardId,
     // Some() on construction, only becomes None on Drop.
     child: Option<NoLeakChild>,
-    stdout: tokio::sync::Mutex<ProcessOutput>,
-    stdin: tokio::sync::Mutex<ProcessInput>,
+    stdout: tokio::sync::Mutex<Poison<ProcessOutput>>,
+    stdin: tokio::sync::Mutex<Poison<ProcessInput>>,
     /// Counter to separate same sized walredo inputs failing at the same millisecond.
     #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
     dump_sequence: AtomicUsize,
@@ -828,17 +837,21 @@ impl WalRedoProcess {
             conf,
             tenant_shard_id,
             child: Some(child),
-            stdin: tokio::sync::Mutex::new(ProcessInput {
-                stdin,
-                n_requests: 0,
-                poison: poison::Poison::clean("stdin"),
-            }),
-            stdout: tokio::sync::Mutex::new(ProcessOutput {
-                stdout,
-                pending_responses: VecDeque::new(),
-                n_processed_responses: 0,
-                poison: poison::Poison::clean("stdout"),
-            }),
+            stdin: tokio::sync::Mutex::new(Poison::new(
+                "stdin",
+                ProcessInput {
+                    stdin,
+                    n_requests: 0,
+                },
+            )),
+            stdout: tokio::sync::Mutex::new(Poison::new(
+                "stdout",
+                ProcessOutput {
+                    stdout,
+                    pending_responses: VecDeque::new(),
+                    n_processed_responses: 0,
+                },
+            )),
             #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
             dump_sequence: AtomicUsize::default(),
         })
@@ -901,17 +914,20 @@ impl WalRedoProcess {
     }
 
     async fn apply_wal_records0(&self, writebuf: &[u8]) -> anyhow::Result<Bytes> {
-        let mut input = self.stdin.lock().await;
-        let poison = input.poison.check_and_arm()?;
-        input
-            .stdin
-            .write_all(writebuf)
-            .await
-            .context("write to walredo stdin")?;
-        let request_no = input.n_requests;
-        input.n_requests += 1;
-        poison.disarm();
-        drop(input);
+        let request_no = {
+            let mut lock_guard = self.stdin.lock().await;
+            let mut poison_guard = lock_guard.check_and_arm()?;
+            let input = poison_guard.data_mut();
+            input
+                .stdin
+                .write_all(writebuf)
+                .await
+                .context("write to walredo stdin")?;
+            let request_no = input.n_requests;
+            input.n_requests += 1;
+            poison_guard.disarm();
+            request_no
+        };
 
         // To improve walredo performance we separate sending requests and receiving
         // responses. Them are protected by different mutexes (output and input).
@@ -925,8 +941,9 @@ impl WalRedoProcess {
         // pending responses ring buffer and truncate all empty elements from the front,
         // advancing processed responses number.
 
-        let mut output = self.stdout.lock().await;
-        let poison = output.poison.check_and_arm()?;
+        let mut lock_guard = self.stdout.lock().await;
+        let mut poison_guard = lock_guard.check_and_arm()?;
+        let output = poison_guard.data_mut();
         let n_processed_responses = output.n_processed_responses;
         while n_processed_responses + output.pending_responses.len() <= request_no {
             // We expect the WAL redo process to respond with an 8k page image. We read it
@@ -984,6 +1001,7 @@ impl WalRedoProcess {
                 break;
             }
         }
+        poison_guard.disarm();
         Ok(res)
     }