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LossEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
. It’s something every person living with HIV endures. From the moment of diagnosis onward, it’s something that shadows the soul. Some losses are static; loved ones who will never again say I love you. Some are dynamic; sickness becomes health becomes sickness again. Some losses are sudden, others can be seen coming. One is like falling off a cliff, the other, like watching a slow-motion train-wreck. Loss is a gut-wrenching business. Loss eviscerates. Loss is emptiness. Cast adrift. Numb. And chilled to the bone.
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - January 20, 2009 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

"He's given us all hope"Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Those were the words spoken to me at 7am Wednesday morning, November fifth, 2008, by a Muslim lad in Liverpool who sold me two British newspapers. He saw that I'd been crying and he asked me if I was ok. I grinned and pointed to the front-page photos of President-elect Obama. That's all I had to do. He grinned back at me - by now he had tears in his eyes too - and said, "He's given us all hope." Amen, brother. Allāhu Akbar. Amen. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself. What a difference a year makes, eh? This time last year, I was reeling from the betrayal of my long-term sero-different partner (to borrow a phrase ...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - November 9, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Learning About Sex Before Learning to Spell?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
That's what McCain/Palin would have you believe children in Illinois are doing these days in kindergarten, and they're blaming Obama. But in a way, that's how they do it in the Netherlands and the Netherlands has the third lowest teenage pregnancy rate in the world. I say "...in a way..." because Dutch kindergarten children embark on a learning process, beginning with the basic building blocks of sex - relationships. They're not learning about sexually transmitted infections, for heaven's sake, not at that age. They learn about families both traditional and non-traditional. They explore how relationships might differ as...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - September 10, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

A Virgin No MoreEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
"No kidding!" I hear you say. Ah, but last night I did something I've never done before. I had me some Sustiva. Over the past two weekends since I last wrote, Foxtrot Charlie and I have done a lot...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - September 3, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Time FliesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I can't believe it's been over nine months now since my long-term relationship broke up. I realised it the other day and thought - "sheesh, that's enough time to have had a baby!" It's one of the more annoying facts...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - August 22, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Sudden realisationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Three nights ago Foxtrot Charlie appeared at my door bearing food and smiling eyes. I was happy to see him as I saw little of him during April and May. Sometimes I have to leave him to his ghosts. I...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - June 26, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

A Day in the LifeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
As some of you know, I travel to Liverpool for my hiv care. Clinic day starts early - I'm usually up at 4am, just to make sure I've got plenty of time in case I'm having a "bad gut day"....
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - June 13, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

NeglectEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I’ve been neglecting a number of things lately, this blog among them. Weeds are rampant both in my garden and in my personal life. PMs and emails go unanswered. I’ve needed new glasses for about a year now; not only...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - May 1, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Foxtrot CharlieEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I met Foxtrot Charlie* fourteen years ago this past December, while he was home on leave for the holidays. Back then, he was an aid worker under the auspices of the UN, teaching people in Sudan how to fish and...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - January 3, 2008 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

A Brim Full of Ashes When You’re 45Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Ah, Birthdays. My 40th birthday (and the six months either side) disappeared down the black hole of interferon/ribavirin. If I experienced the throes of middle-angst that year, I cannot recall. I guess I feel a little cheated really; a time-honoured,...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - November 16, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

19/02/2007 01:51Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Recently an AIDSmeds poster expressed surprise over a friend’s positive HIV status because the friend “looks just the same”. It goes to show that you can't tell by looking at a person whether or not they have HIV. We who...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - March 13, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Sleeping in the GardenEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Every night when it’s time to go to bed, I do all the usual things like tidy up the kitchen, brush my teeth, and turn off electronics and lights. The cats have their own little ritual as well. They wake...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - February 5, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Week OneEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
First, the good news. I managed to get last week’s CD4 results, instead of having to wait until late February. I worried they’d followed the same downward trajectory – they didn’t. My percent stayed the same at 26%, but my...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - January 26, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

FrustrationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
It’s official – I’m a nervous wreck. Come Friday night, I’ll be sleeping in a Bed & Breakfast and I still don’t know where I’ll be after the B&B. The confusion and resulting stress is beginning to send me ‘round...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - January 24, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Buckle Up Tight and Strap on the Helmet!Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
2007 looks set to be an action packed year, full of changes and - no doubt - a few plot twists along the way. I think it’s going to be one of those years where I need to buckle up...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - January 20, 2007 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

What a Carry-on!Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Whey-hey I'm pleased this morning to find the headline Airline Hand Luggage Rules Change in my Yahoo Today thingy. You see, every six weeks or so I get up before the crack of dawn to hop on a plane headed...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - November 2, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Ken and Barbie and Learning About LoveEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I’ve always been a tomboy, but I wasn’t a totally butch little girl. I happily played with dolls, and rainy childhood afternoons found Ken and Barbie on a romantic island beach that doubled as the base of a hanging birdcage,...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - October 24, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Mental Managment?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
So what is it that does our heads in? Is it the drugs? Is it the stigma? Is it the virus itself? I don’t think I know of one person who is HIV positive who doesn’t have some sort of...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - July 10, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Garden Dispatch 2006-07-07Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
It’s only fair to update readers on how the Viking Festival is going, after my rant the other day. Last night was the first night of the tribute band portion of the proceedings and I have to admit it wasn’t...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - July 7, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Garden Dispatch 2006-07-06Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
You caught me on one of “those” days. I’m achy, tired, premenstrual and my brain is fogged in. I’ve realised today that I lied recently on the forum. I do think about HIV in relation to my own life. I...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - July 6, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Garden Dispatch 2006-07-05Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Tynwald Day I’ve come down with a bad case of MCS, an illness characterised by the urge to take a fellow Rock Dweller down a peg or two. The symptoms are outbursts of righteous indignation and incoherent ranting, followed by...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - July 6, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Garden Dispatch 2006-07-04Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Guilty pleasures. We all have them. Something that makes us feel good ~aahhh~ but guilty. My own guilty pleasure is my garden. I’ve been spending most of my time out here since this past May; thinking, pottering, tinkering, healing. It’s...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - July 5, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Tapping in the GardenEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
(This blog was written the day before it appeared here.) I spend most of my time in the garden these days, reading, writing and getting my hands dirty. I’ve created a little haven out here and although it’s my favourite...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - July 5, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Festering RageEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
One of ourAIDSmeds Forum members by the name of “Jeffreyj” posted a thread entitled Anger Surrounds My Youth Group Speech and as I was typing a response to him, I had a major revelation. I believe the recent conviction of...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - June 21, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Falling into the AbyssEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The yawning black pit opened beneath my feet and I tumbled, floundering and spinning, into a grim and alien landscape. I begged for meaning to flesh out the stark words of cirrhosis and cancer, but frosty indifference and cold recrimination...
Source: Ann's HIV Blog - April 5, 2006 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs