Long Description for What a Difference A Year Makes
Title: What a Difference A Year Makes
A: Hey sweetie, I’m back.
B: How did it go today?
Good ...
A: Did a few tests. Still undetectable- six months and counting.
Had a great chat with the social worker and I’m feeling really supported and much better about treatment ...
Only took a year.
B: Well happy almost treatment-aversry. What a difference a year makes eh?
Tell me about it.
A: Earlier in the waiting room I saw this guy, he looked terrified. He looked like me a year ago. Like he wanted to just run out the door. Like he would implode if the clinic staff said his name out loud.
Like his life was over?
Exactly.
B: I wanted to go over to him, put my arm around him and tell him I was once him, and that I remember how fucking terrifying it was.
A: I wanted to say that I never would have believed a year later that I would be walking into this place greeted warmly by people who all know me by name and who actually care about how I’m doing.
That I would actually care about how I’m doing, and want to be at the clinic.
B: I wouldn’t have been ready to hear that from a stranger though. So I didn’t say anything.
I can’t stop thinking about him though ... thinking about me at the beginning of it all.
A: Ugh, I remember it well. I was so scared for you when you First got your results.
I was scared for us. You were in such denial.
You didn’t want to follow anybody’s advice, never mind listen to a doctor. All the science and advances in knowledge and treatment. You weren’t open to hearing any of it. You were so attached to the weight of the stigma and the shame.
B: Oh my goodness, I know.
When I walked into that clinic) my confidence was shattered. I thought my life was over - literally. Never mind my career or my social life, and I thought for sure you’d leave me.
I can’t believe how much I didn’t know about HIV. I really didn’t think that people could be positive, healthy and happy too.
A: I didn’t know about the possibility of being undetectable, or the fact that meds could make my HIV so undetectable that it would be un-transmittable during sex.
I never would have believed that could be my reality - our reality, but it is.
B: Finding the right doctor made such a difference ... and talking about HIV and my feelings with that social worker really helped me figure things out.
A: Ah, I can’t shake the visual of that young guy in the waiting room. I hope that guy finds his way to a good place faster than I did.
Me too, me too.
B: You hungry?
A: You know I’m insatiable!
I was talking about dinner.
I wasn’t.
A: Haha ... well in that case dinner is served!
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If you’ve become HIV positive, reach out and find support. If you can, start HIV treatment early - soon after diagnosis. The medicines have come a long way and they can help you live a healthy life with lots of the sex that you want.
