This is my story of how I found out I was HIV-Positive while still in the United States Marine Corps and my coming to terms with my diagnosis.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
OutServe
I know I have posted about our OutServe HIV workgroup on Facebook before, but I just wanted to let people know that today OutServe published it's first online magazine targated towards LGBT service members. As of right now the magazine is only avaliable online but it is said that they hope to have the next issue in print and avaliable on certain bases. They are not sure as to which bases it will be avaliable on yet. This is a major step for those of us who serve. This organization offers a place for us to connect in private and not worry about being repromanded (s/p?) from our Commands or DoD. Check out there site www.OutServe.org
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Labs
So went Wednesday to have more labs drawn. My triglisorides (sp?) had gone down and were in the normal range so I guess that is one thing to be happy about. Not really sure whatelse I want to write about today but I just felt like I needed to do a post.
I'm not sure if I like the way that the Infectious Disease Clinic is changing there program up. Normally we go once a year for a 3 day class. Now they are making it a 1 day class every 6 months. I guess it is better that way so that people are not out of work as long but personally I kind of like having the time off from my everyday routine. I think they are going to be pushing too much information in too short of a time and people are not going to get half of what they need. But that is just my opinion.
Talked to Dr. Johan about possibly looking into getting my blog out there so others can read it. She gave me some good ideas like looking into TheBody.com or Poz.com and seeing if one of those sites will publish it on their website. I also gave her permission to tell people about our OutServe HIV group on facebook and that if anyone wanted to join then they could send me a message and I would invite them in.
Well I guess that is all I really have to say. Will try to post more later.
I'm not sure if I like the way that the Infectious Disease Clinic is changing there program up. Normally we go once a year for a 3 day class. Now they are making it a 1 day class every 6 months. I guess it is better that way so that people are not out of work as long but personally I kind of like having the time off from my everyday routine. I think they are going to be pushing too much information in too short of a time and people are not going to get half of what they need. But that is just my opinion.
Talked to Dr. Johan about possibly looking into getting my blog out there so others can read it. She gave me some good ideas like looking into TheBody.com or Poz.com and seeing if one of those sites will publish it on their website. I also gave her permission to tell people about our OutServe HIV group on facebook and that if anyone wanted to join then they could send me a message and I would invite them in.
Well I guess that is all I really have to say. Will try to post more later.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
OutServe HIV Workgroup
I just wanted to do a quick post about our OutServe HIV Work. As of right now it is only for Active Duty people with HIV. It is an invite only work group and totally private. If you want to be added to it and you are on Active Duty send me a message on here and I will get you an invite. We post questions ranging from medications to DOD policy and procedures. It just started less then 2 weeks ago so we are trying to get the word out there.
Been just over a year
So I know it has been a really long time since I have updated my blog and I'm not going to go through everything that has happened to me in the past year because that would just take forever to do. I promise I will try to keep it more uptoday from now on.
Just a little about the past year. I was put in the hospital for depression and suicidal idiations. Because of that I am now going through the PEB process and being discharged from the Marine Corps. PEB is a med board proscess and I am not sure how much longer it is going to take.
I just had my yearly evaluations at Naval Medical Center Balboa. For the most part it went pretty smooth. They told me that my CD4 count was back up to 1032 and my viral load is down to 4915. I think that is really good being that when I had my numbers checked in December my CD4 count was down around 700 and my viral load was up ablove 8000. Also like I said it has been a year and I am still not on any medications at all. I did however find out that strand of the virus I have is resistant to Sustiva so no taking Atripla for me when I do have to finally start medications.
I got a few more lab results back that the doctors are alittle worried about. My Trigliserides (I can't spell) are really high, my blood is acidic, and my liver enzimes are really high. I have to return this coming Wed to have another set of labs drawn up.
That is all I am really going to go into about this past year right now. Maybe as I write more blogs I will recap on with has happened in this past year. Oh ya if anyone has any idea of how I can get my blog out there better but still keep my idenity safe let me know on here.
Another good website I found out about during my yearly evaluations is
www.dcfukit.org
Thanks again and I hope now that I'm back at it I can get more readers.
Just a little about the past year. I was put in the hospital for depression and suicidal idiations. Because of that I am now going through the PEB process and being discharged from the Marine Corps. PEB is a med board proscess and I am not sure how much longer it is going to take.
I just had my yearly evaluations at Naval Medical Center Balboa. For the most part it went pretty smooth. They told me that my CD4 count was back up to 1032 and my viral load is down to 4915. I think that is really good being that when I had my numbers checked in December my CD4 count was down around 700 and my viral load was up ablove 8000. Also like I said it has been a year and I am still not on any medications at all. I did however find out that strand of the virus I have is resistant to Sustiva so no taking Atripla for me when I do have to finally start medications.
I got a few more lab results back that the doctors are alittle worried about. My Trigliserides (I can't spell) are really high, my blood is acidic, and my liver enzimes are really high. I have to return this coming Wed to have another set of labs drawn up.
That is all I am really going to go into about this past year right now. Maybe as I write more blogs I will recap on with has happened in this past year. Oh ya if anyone has any idea of how I can get my blog out there better but still keep my idenity safe let me know on here.
Another good website I found out about during my yearly evaluations is
www.dcfukit.org
Thanks again and I hope now that I'm back at it I can get more readers.
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