Jennifer's Journal

There was an article on Poz magazines site about stigma not that long ago ( http://www.poz.com/articles/how_stigma_kills_hiv_2416_17574.shtml ). I was so saddened when I read both the article and the comments. I knew there was stigma, but I didn't realize how very very bad it still is. I have been extremely lucky that honestly I have encountered very little stigma in the last 10 years. The only place I have encountered it was from one of my brothers and even he is now coming around. There were some that commented that they were encountering stigma from their medical professionals, and I was so outraged and confused by this that I sat and cried for these people. One would thing that medical professionals would know better. The article also covered about positive women having babies and what people in general thought of that. The overwhelming consensus was against it. I'm so glad that when I was pregnant I didn't encounter those people because I might not have had my beautiful little girl.

I am now even more determined to not keep silent about being positive and I'm going to keep spreading awareness every chance I get. I hope the little bit that I do, and that others like Tom do, will make it easier for people to not feel they have to hide their status, and will let them know they are not alone we are all in this fight together.

I hope the holidays found everyone happy and healthy. Unfortunately I can't really say they found me that way. The down side to having a child in school is they get exposed to all kinds of germs. So far this school year we have had H1N1 twice which was not fun. The first case we had wasn't too bad just lasted a couple of days, but the second case was awful we were all sick for a full two weeks. It could have been worse though at least none of us had to be hospitalized. We were lucky that due to my status we were all able to get Tamiflu which helped with the symptoms. Then I had a couple of colds and my allergies started acting up. My allergies got so bad that I was put on an inhaler, nose spray, and allergy medication.

I do hope this New Year will be a great one I know everyone could use a great year. Mine other than the allergies has started out pretty good. I am finally divorced so now my other half and I can get married. It has taken 7 long years to get to this point I'm just glad my other half has been so patient and loving during this time. I am quitting smoking with the use of medication so that should help with my health a lot.

I have been really busy lately with my munchkin starting school. This is her first week and so far so good. She seems to really enjoy herself, but I find myself at loose ends while I try to adjust. I'm used to having her here for me to take care of so this is a big change for me.
I did go a couple of weeks before she started school to get my check up. My T-cell count is at its highest yet at 505 and I am still undetectable on viral load. So that was great news for me and made me very happy. I had to start a new med though for peripheral neuropathy because my feet are getting worse. I got lectured for not actually telling my doctor about it before. The only reason I said anything this time was my other half was there and made me tell him. I don't know why I didn't want to tell him about it other than I just didn't want to add another med to my daily routine. I also had been having issues with spasms in my back when I turned certain ways. My doctor checked it and apparently some how I strained a muscle in my back. So I've been taking muscle relaxers to try to help it relax and get back to normal. They seem to be helping a lot with it and the spasms aren't nearly as bad as they were. Thankfully that's just a temporary problem that will hopefully be fixed when I'm done with the muscle relaxers. So that's my wonderful update of what's going on in my world lol. Have a wonderful day.

A few months ago I was able to share a bit of my story with a site called Southern AIDS Living Quilt. This site is geared to try to reach southern women so that we can try to reach and educate more of them. I am one of three from my state to have shared our stories on there which is surprising to me in some ways and not too surprising in other ways. I was nervous when I did the interview and told them the wrong year I got my diagnosis. I am very glad I decided to share my story with them. So if you would like to check out my interview along with others go to http://www.livingquilt.org/featured_xml/featured.html

Honestly I don't really have a whole lot to say. I know I've been remiss in blogging for a while now. I have been very busy with preparing for my 5 year old to start school and with my oldest stepchild graduating high school and heading off to college. I did call my clinic to find out when my next check up was because July will have been 3 months and found out he didn't want to see me until August. I am taking that as a good sign since when my health is bad they want to see me sooner not later lol.
We did recently have a new addition to our family which happened quite by accident. I live in an upstairs apartment well the other morning I hear crying coming from outside. I thought it might be the new baby next door so didn't think much of it. Then I got to really listening and realized that it wasn't a baby, well at least not of the human variety, but a cat. I opened my door to find the cutest little black and white kitten. I'm not sure if someone stuck her on my porch or if she actually climbed those stairs on her own. The only thing I'm sure of is she decided that my apartment is her home pretty much instantly. So we let the munchkin name her and she decided on Kitty as the kitten's name. Kitty has decided as well that I'm the human that she loves the most and she is constantly sleeping on my stuff or following me through the house. She does love to play with the munchkin and sneak attacks her every chance she gets, which is quite humorous. Well that's all for my update.