My post for World AIDS Day.....my story.

(I hope you guys don't mind, but I copied and pasted this from another thread I wrote it in)

In 1985, I was young and fell in love with someone who I dated for about 5 months before we moved in together. I could blame it on trust and I could blame it on love, but the signs were there that the person I was with was screwing around on me behind my back. Chalk it up to naivete and gullibility and faith in love and relationships or just plain stupidity. He was the first person I had ever loved and oddly enough the first person I ever had sex with.

I finally had the classic "came home early" surprise and caught him with another person. At that point I broke it off. I couldn't handle that kind of betrayal.

About one week after that, I got tested for HIV and they came back negative. I thanked God and went on about my life. We didn't know as much about seroconversion and the periods between exposure and antibody detection could be up to 6 months.

About 3 or 4 weeks after leaving him I got a nasty little illness that I now know were the classic symptoms of HIV seroconversion illness.

I have never been a person who slept around. I have had 5 partners in my life. 4 of them are negative and the one I left, that first person I loved and trusted died in 1990 of AIDS.

I figured I had gotten lucky and practiced safe sex from there on out and I never really gave much thought to any of this until 1999. I met a nice man in 1990, we moved to another state and we have been together ever since.

It started with the flu. 2 weeks later I still couldn't shake it off and I went to an urgent care clinic and he said it was just an upper respiratory infection and gave me some anti-biotics and said I would would be okay in a few days. A week later my chest hurt so bad when I coughed and I could barely stay awake during meetings at work I decided it was time for a second opinion. When I got to see the doctor he did a chest x-ray and diagnosed me with pneumonia and showed me a mirror of the inside of my mouth which was coated with candida (oral thrush) and asked me when the last time I had been tested for HIV.

I went to a clinic and got tested again. This time I found out I was HIV positive. The very kind lady at the clinic made a call for me and later that day I spoke the best HIV doctor in town who scheduled me for a round of tests to assess my status.

In the meantime, I did some backtracking and research and realized that my boyfriend's cheating on me did leave me with an unpleasant souvenier. And of course I had to inform my previous partners because it was the right thing to do.

At this point, my life was in a bit of a turmoil. I had lost 30 pounds in my bout with pneumonia and I found I had HIV and a bad case of thrush which was cleared up with some anti-fungals and a whole lot of antibiotics.

When I went to see my new doctor, I got the proverbial good news/bad news. I tested negative for all for tb, hepatitis, toxoplasmosis and was otherwise healthy. On the hand I had a viral load of 250000+ and 22 t-cells.

For those who don't know what that means, it's a diagnosis of full-blown AIDS (or as we call it today, Advanced HIV disease).

Now I am pretty lucky. I have been on a cocktail of combivir/sustiva and prophylaxis for almost 4 years now. My viral load is undetectable and I haven't been sick to speak of. My t-cells are hovering in the range of about 250 which is only true because I subjected myself to a regimen of interleukin-2 which is a chemotherapeutic agent that also stimulates t-cell growth, but also makes you feel like shit for about a week and you have to learn how to give yourself shots and costs about 5000 dollars per series of one course every 8 weeks (which fortunately my insurance covered for awhile).

So I am lucky. I am fairly healthy at this point even though I have AIDS and have had it since 1985, I was lucky enough to be asymptomatic until this horrible illness could be treated.

I don't know what to say. I'm glad you've been able to keep it under control for so long, even tho the cost is enormous. Is your partner still with you? I would hate for you to be alone. I wish I could offer some words of comfort.

My partner is always with me. He's been with me for 14 years and I don't think think he's going anywhere. It's been a rough ride, but he is the greatest.

:grouphug:

Let's hope we'll be getting some new treatments soon that won't be as toxic as the combi cocktails. I know it's not easy, but in the meantime, hang in there!

:hug:

Oh, by the way, thanks too for reminding us again why we need Universal Health Care!

... my best friend is on the same cocktail and has had the same good results as you're experiencing.

To my great surprise (and sometimes to my guilt) I remain healthy and HIV- even as I continue to lose friends. I've stopped counting the number of memorial services I've attended... sometimes I just don't go at all.

But... to end this message on a happier note, I am ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED to hear about your successes and that you're able to take care of yourself so well, and that you have someone to love and who can help support and share the burden with you.

Your friend,
Allen

*stunned silence*

May you continue in fairly good health. May you also be fortunate enough to continue to have adequate medical care.

:hug:

May you continue to enjoy good health and someone to share life's journey's with.

For those who want to make a difference:

Take One Minute To Help
Give one minute of your life. Pledge $1 to fight against AIDS.
In the U.S., call 1-866-61-46664

To learn more or for international donations, visit www.46664.com.

liberal_veteran, I am so thankful that you have an excellent physician, a loving and supportive partner, and that the drug cocktail is working.

I'm hoping that any new therapies will help even more.

Julie

thank you for sharing it with us. What a frightening ordeal, especially that you thought you were in the clear, had been very careful, and suddenly found it had been there... for quite some time. We should all consider this seriously.

You and your partner are in my prayers - including thankfulness.

Stay healthy. And keep teaching the rest of us.

May you continue to be in good health and good spirits. :hug:
Duckie

I wish you continued success in fighting this disease.

I hadn't realized that this is World AIDS Day, until your post. It's ironic, because I'm sitting at home today, not working because of AIDS. I'm a self employed carpenter, and I have a bathroom remodel to do for a couple, "L" & "W". The job has been on hold for two months, waiting for some custom tile to be delivered. Three weeks ago we set the start day for Dec 1st, based on delivery information. Saturday "L" called and told me that "W" was back in the hospital, and was terminal. They're going to pull the plug on Tuesday he said, and bring him home to die in the comfort of his own home, and "L" wanted to reschedule our start date. I was stunned. I knew "W" had AIDS, and had been in and out of the hospital, and that just three months ago he hadn't been expected to live, but it was only three weeks ago when I went to see them, that he'd been up and around, and had answered the door when I knocked.

I feel so badly for the two of them. I wish I knew them better, so that I could be more comfort at this moment.

The best of luck to you & your pardner, Liberal_Veteran.