Week 9!

Did You Know?

This week I am going to continue off of last week’s entry with parents telling their children about being HIV positive. Last week discussed the basics of parents not wanting their children to know about their status, but at the same time there is an increased self confidence when the child knows what illness they have. I located another article relating to parents telling their children, and it made a lot of valid points that I wanted to share with all of you. This article makes some valid points about telling the child about being infected with HIV. Some benefits include that by giving the child “increased knowledge and understanding about HIV, it can help facilitate the child’s adjustment (within the family, with the illness, within society, etc.), more adherence to medications, less risky behaviors, stronger family ties are built,” (Disclosure of HIV Status to Children and Adolescents:). Of course with the good comes some bad, and this article actually made it a point to show that there are some negative points to telling the child about their HIV status. With this article it discusses that 26 out of 35 children felt stress associated with being told they had HIV and the children also learn very quickly about stigmas. I understand a parent wanting to protect their child from just about anything, but at the same time, there seem to be way more positives associated with telling the child that they are HIV positive.

Week 9!

This week has been pretty hectic! With everything that goes on in normal life and classes, we started the M&M simulation this week. This requires students to swallow the M&M’s as if they were their medication with being HIV positive. This has proved to be harder than I thought it would be and the hardest part is trying to plan my meals in line with taking my medicines that need to be taken with food.

This week’s QOTW involved my grandma contracting HIV at her retirement community. This was strange question of the week, because my grandma was the one that reacted in a very old fashioned way towards HIV. Then again maybe it isn’t that strange, because if my grandma was the type of person to think that only gay people and sinners can contract HIV, then she might have been more willing to have unprotected sex with her partner in the community. In my response to this QOTW I decided to let my grandma know that I will be her support and make sure that she gets to a doctor to see about anti-retroviral. I also made it a point to set alarms on her phone and made a promise to set the same alarms on my phone and give her a friendly reminder while she gets use to her regimen.

Every single week there is something new to learn and I’m so excited for the men’s panel that is coming up sooo soon!!

References
Disclosure of HIV Status to Children and Adolescents:. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2010, from wakeupune: http://www.wakeuppune.org/site/uploads/Outline_summary-Children_and_HIV.pdf

It's crunch time!!!

Did You Know?

In Washington there is a man named Anthony Whitfield. This is a man who back in 1992 tested positive for HIV after a prison rape. The reason that this man is significant is, because he knew that he had been diagnosed with HIV and continued to live a lifestyle of drugs, unprotected sex, and multiple partners. The key to all of this that incarcerated him is that he chose not to tell any of his partners that he was HIV positive. As a matter of fact his mind frame was that if the woman didn’t insist on him wearing a condom then why should he? He blamed the women and expressed that “it has been beaten into my head since fifth grade, the risks of unprotected sex. I never raped anyone. I never took any sex from a woman forcefully. It was always consensual. If you asked me to wear a condom and I didn't want to wear one, you could just say no. By having sex with me without a condom, you're assuming the risk of whatever I have,” (Doig, 2007). After reading this I just couldn’t grasp it. How could someone KNOW they were HIV positive and willingly spread it to someone else? I do agree that the partner should force protection, but Whitfield could have also taken some responsibility and put a condom on himself. There’s no set law about disclosure of HIV status to a person’s sexual partner, but I feel that there should be. I don’t think that there needs to be a law that people have to tell everyone about their status, but if you chose to have sex with someone then that is a serious matter. I understand that people will have casual sex, but changes need to be made when something as serious as an incurable infection is at stake.

Week 7

How is everyone?? I hope you all enjoyed your spring break! So this is week 2 that I am waiting to hear back about my HIV test results. I’m supposed to hear from the counselor on Thursday, and I would be lying if I said there weren’t any nerves at this point. When I first read that we weren’t allowed to do the Oraquick test, I was a little confused. I thought “why would she want us to wait? What difference does it make??” Well I know now. There is that ‘what if’ thought. Of course I practice safe sex and I don’t do drugs, but at the same time what about when I was in high school? I wasn’t as well informed about diseases. I was also young and trusted my first boyfriend, probably more than I should have. Of course 2 years after dating him I discovered that he wasn’t the guy I thought he was. With me finding out who he was as a person, it made me question who he was while we were dating. He was the only one that protection wasn’t consistent, and that was because I didn’t think he could ever do anything to me. At this point I’m happy that I had to go get tested. I brought my close friend and she also was tested and she came back negative. As we were driving home she said “thank you.” She told me that it was a relief to see that she was negative. I can’t wait to have that feeling. I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your week!!

References
Doig, W. (2007, January 22). Truth and Consequences. Retrieved March 17, 2010, from Nerve.com: http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/doig/truthandconsequences/

What a long week it has been!!

Did you know?

There are still families that feel that it is better to hide their child’s HIV status from them? As a matter of fact “data from several centers indicate that between 25% and 90% of school-age children with HIV infection/AIDS have not been told they are infected,” (AIDS, 1999). It can be taken into consideration that some of these children are too young to understand what is going on and therefore they are not being told. It can also be thought that it is too hard to handle for the parent, to actually voice that their child has HIV (AIDS, 1999). This is something extremely serious that I came across. What is this child going to do if someone else, other than their parent, discloses their status to them? I can only imagine how secluded and alone they would end up feeling. It is a shame to think that a parent would hide something so serious from their child. In this same article it states that when children do know about their status “they can have higher self esteem than children that are not aware of their status,” (AIDS, 1999). Overall, with reading this article it made me think about what I would do in this situation. If my child was infected with HIV I wouldn’t hide it from them. I would wait until my child was at least 4-5 years old. This way they can understand what is happening to them. I would want them to understand that they do not need to be ashamed and that I am a safe haven for them to turn to when they need support.

Spotlight on HIV/AIDS

This week we were asked to research 2 famous people that were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and who died with complications to the matter. Of course this doesn’t mean they died from AIDS, but instead it could be from an opportunistic disease or an infection that their body couldn’t fight off. The two people that I chose to research were Freddie Mercury and Ryan White.

Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS when he was 13. “He acquired the HIV infection through a blood transfusion,” (The HIV/AIDS Programs: Who Was Ryan White?). On April 8, 1990 Ryan passed away, he was 18 years old and spent his life fighting to be allowed in school (The HIV/AIDS Programs: Who Was Ryan White?). Mrs. White-Ginder, his mother was the advocate for her son and she didn’t stop when he passed away. She is still out there fighting against the stigma set up against people that are infected with HIV/AIDS.

Freddie Mercury was a member of the famous group, Queen. He wasn’t open about his status with AIDS and performed one last time on October 8, 1988 (Freddie Mercury: biography). Freddie died on November 24th, 1991. The death was apparently peaceful and in his own home due to AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia (Freddie Mercury: biography).

The weeks continue:

This week I get to attend a women’s panel for this class. I’m extremely excited to be able to listen to experiences and hopefully ask some questions! I recently completed the signs and symptoms module and one of the illnesses that I was most interested in was the HIV wasting syndrome. I was interested in it because I believe that I have seen it first hand, it happened to a close person to my family who had AIDS. She passed when I was in elementary school, but I will never forget the way she looked. It pained me to see this once large woman be so small. Now I do not know if she was actually diagnosed with the HIV wasting syndrome, but I feel that it is a decent assumption, considering the research that I found on the issue. During this past week, things have been pretty hectic and I’m gearing up to get started on the next assignment. I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your week.
References
AIDS, C. o. (1999, January 1). Disclosure of Illness Status to Children and Adolescents With HIV Infection. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from AAP Policy: http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;103/1/164

Freddie Mercury: biography. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2010, from Freddie: http://www.freddie.ru/e/bio/

The HIV/AIDS Programs: Who Was Ryan White? (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2010, from HRSA: http://hab.hrsa.gov/about/ryanwhite.htm

The fifth Week

The Fifth Week :)


Did You Know?

There is a case going on going on currently where a man with HIV is suing feds for throwing his confidentiality out the window and disclosing his HIV status (Egelko, 2010)?? According to an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, he was a pilot who discovered his positive HIV status in 1985. He chose to give up his pilot license, because the FAA had a law that “banned anyone with the AIDS virus from flying a plane.” When I read that it blew my mind. Of course I do understand that there are risks with someone who has AIDS to fly a plane. They could become sick while flying due to their weak immune system, but at the same time shouldn’t they evaluate each case individually? In 1994 the man reapplied for his license, but he made the decision not to disclose his condition. By 1995 his health was deteriorating and decided to apply for his social security benefits (Egelko, 2010). This is where the issue starts to flourish. The pilot regained his health and reapplied for his license in 1998 and stopped his benefits. At this time the FAA had removed the ban on HIV positive pilots. By 2005 the FAA started an investigation on fraudulent social security and, because the pilot disclosed false information about his medical records he was given a $1,000 fine, which he paid. By 2006 his license was restored, but sure enough after being charged for this crime there was reporter on his door step that was using him as an example of ‘lying pilots’ (Egelko, 2010). At that point it became clear that they had disclosed his HIV status and violated his confidentiality. So that battle continues with this man trying to get his dignity back and compensation from Federal Aviation Administration.


Week number 5!!

So much is going on with this class it almost makes my head spin. At the same time I am actually learning things. Before this class I wouldn’t have been able to tell you the difference between HIV and AIDS. I know that sounds sad, but it makes me that much more proud at the amount of information that is being given in this class. Not only is there plenty of information, but it is given in a form that I can remember it and have it stick with me. I’ve discovered that my favorite assignments in this class are the QOTW postings. I love the questions that we have to answer, it makes me think and learn more about myself and how I would react in different situations.


Remember how I told you guys I was so motivated to do something with the HIV/AIDS community?? Well I was doing some research and I discovered that there is a walk for AIDS in Orlando and I think that it is something I would like to do. Here is the website that I found it on if anyone else is interested http://www.aidswalkorlando.org/volunteers. I think I am going to have my girlfriend and my roommate come with me. This is something small that I can do to help, which is exactly how I wanted to start.






I hope all of you are doing well and are growing during this class!


References:

Egelko, B. (2010, February 23). S.F. man can sue feds for revealing HIV status. Retrieved February 24, 2010, from SFGate: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/23/BAPH1C5D0J.DTL

And so it continues

Did you know?

Most gay men that are HIV positive don’t regret disclosing that they are HIV positive. I was reading an article about a study that was done on men. Some of the participants completely identified as gay, but there were some that said they only had sex with men (Hitti, 2006). This article explained that the average age of the participant was 38 and the men were interviewed every year from 19989-2000. At the end of the study it was concluded that there was a total of 80% of the social networks of the participants who knew they were HIV positive and there was only 4.2% regret status. I thought this was an interesting study, because it made me wonder why people choose not to disclose their status. I was trying to find an article about how many people choose to disclose their status but I was not able to find what I was looking for so if any of you have a source I would love to see it :). I feel that if HIV status was disclosed more often, then it would be less of a big deal and there would be even more awareness. People wouldn’t be as scared of what others might think if they are tested.

Week cuatro!

Ok so this past week I have finished my At Risk book and I was actually very disappointed in the ending. I guess I was expecting more closure. Overall I enjoyed reading the book and it made me analyze my life. Do I treat the unknown with fear like the parents did about HIV? Because I read the book I am now looking at life a little different and I am going to finish of the rest of the books that I bought for the class, because I know that with each page I’ll learn something new.

With this week’s QOTW we were asked to interview 3 people about HIV. One of the people I interviewed was my grandma. She is in her 80’s and lives in Tennessee. When I interviewed her, I asked if she felt that HIV positive people had a negative stigma. Her response made me sick. She stated “Hell yes, and they deserve it!” I wanted to cry, because with everything that I have learned in this class and through life, I know that this is not the case. Needless to say I spent over an hour on the phone with her giving her information from our Module 1 slides, and letting her know that the way she is thinking is contributing to hate crimes and sadness in our country. Over all I know that I didn’t completely change her thoughts on HIV and AIDS, but I know I made a difference and she is not as ready to say that “all people who have HIV were promiscuous and deserve God’s punishment.”

I plan on calling her more often to let her know what we are learning in this class and I have somewhat made her my project. I want her to see that there are so many ways that HIV can be contracted and that it isn’t just people that sleep around and have unprotected sex. I shined some light on the fact that it can be a married man that had an affair and had unprotected sex with his trusting wife, who will in turn catch the virus. She agreed with me that not everyone deserved it and I hope she continues to listen to what I have to say :).


References:


Hitti, M. (2006, May 8). Disclosing HIV Status Without Regrets. Retrieved February 17, 2010, from WebMD Health News: http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/guide/20061101/disclosing-hiv-status-without-regrets

Week 3..and the adventure continues!

Did you know?

There is a man in Canada being tried for manslaughter because he didn’t tell his many sexual partners that he was HIV positive (Mark Cichocki, 2009). With all of this occurring 2 of the women that he infected have died from AIDS complications and, because of these issues the Royal Canadian Mounted Police felt the need to post a picture and name of the man to the public. RCMP feels that it is a public safety issue (Mark Cichocki, 2009). The debate that is going on is whether or not it was okay for the police to disclose who the man is. This is something that is HUGE! What is going to happen for future cases like this? Are there exceptions to confidentiality? With reading this article it raised a lot of questions for me. I feel that there shouldn’t be exceptions to confidentiality. These police disclosed information before the case was closed and a verdict was reached. I totally understand that there are other people involved and they need to be protected, but shouldn’t other people be held responsible? Don’t they need to be the ones that protect themselves and demand protection during intercourse? I think they should. There a bunch of pros and cons to disclosing this man’s HIV status, but until he was found guilty of these charges, I don’t believe an exception should have been made to confidentiality.

Week 3 :)

So it is week 3 of my adventure of my HIV class at UCF and I’m still discovering new things every day. Just 10 minutes ago I finished an assignment that required me to think of what I would do in the event that I needed a blood transfusion with possible HIV positive blood. This situation required that I be on a vacation and that nearest United States blood was 20 hours away and my life depended on getting this blood so I could have surgery due to internal injuries from a dramatic fall. After reading the assignment my mind became a whirlwind of thoughts. Do I die from blood loss and complications or do I chance it and live another day? Ultimately I chose to have the transfusion and possibly contract HIV. My main reason for deciding to have the transfusion was so that I could see my family again and that the medicine in the United States is strong enough to where I could have a chance at a somewhat decent life with HIV.

At this stage in the class I am feeling motivated to make a difference with HIV. I feel like I should be volunteering my time with issues dealing with HIV. I’m going to try and look further into this, if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear about them!!

Today I will start reading At Risk, a book for this course regarding a younger girl that has HIV. I am extremely excited to read this book and I think that it will further motivate me on sharing knowledge and volunteering for awareness with HIV. I’m hoping that this motivation doesn’t fall away, I like it and I’m excited to see where it will take me. :)

Works Cited

Mark Cichocki, R. (2009, May 1). Public Disclosure of HIV Status: Public Safety or Breach of Confidentiality? Retrieved Feburary 10, 2010, from About.com: http://aids.about.com/od/legalissues/i/disclosure.htm

Totem, T. (2008, June 16). benettontalk. Retrieved Feburary 10, 2010, from http://www.benettontalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/know-your-hiv-status_jonrawlinson.jpg

Week number 2!!!

Did You Know?

Currently there are many issues with whether a person should have to disclose their HIV status. One area that drew some attention from me was the issue of roommates disclosing their HIV status with each other. I came across an article on the New York Times website and it discussed how the author doesn’t feel that a person should need to disclose their HIV status with a roommate. One of the issues that he was mentioning was an HIV positive roommate should take extra precaution with their roommates and that would prevent mishaps. With this subject I believe that there should be different circumstances that can contribute to whether a person should disclose their status. For example me and my roommate are extremely close and share a bathroom, which means that we could accidentally use a razor or a toothbrush. Because we have close contact I would expect her to tell me something as serious as their HIV status. Now if roommates simply live together and there is no way of having bodily fluids swapped, then there shouldn’t be a need for them to disclose their status to each other. As you all can see disclosing a person’s status can be difficult and should be taken seriously.

HIV week 2!
This week I started on module 1. With this module I dug deeper into what pandemic, epidemic, and endemic really mean. Before I started I had a general idea about these terms, but I couldn’t differentiate between them. I used the Merriam-Webster online dictionary to help me define the terms. After researching the terms it became clear how they were different from each other. It also allowed me to understand that HIV is a pandemic, because it affects a large amount of people around the world and not just in one specific area. I was also instructed to find the prevalence of HIV in different countries and states. This opened my eyes. How could one virus affect so many people? And on top of that how can people still leave themselves vulnerable to this virus? Don’t they hear about it, see it, or care about it? Of course this doesn’t mean that everyone was just ignorant and contracted HIV, I mean that HIV is so huge, how can anyone not have every guard they can have up? Since I have started this module it has made me aware just how prevalent this issue is in our world. We need to inform anyone and everyone about this virus and how they can protect themselves and others.

In addition to blogging about this week’s events, I was supposed to look at AIDS organizations outside of the United States. I chose to look into an organization named AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific or ASAP. This is a non governmental body of HIV and AIDS organizations. The main focus is to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS throughout Asia and the Pacific. They want people to talk about the issues with HIV/AIDS and promote awareness. ASAP also works with regional sectors in Asia and the Pacific to help advocacy efforts. Even though they are independent from the government, they will work along side them to help the cause.

http://www.aidssocietyap.org/