Mike's story

Apart from once in the 1970s when I got gonorrhoea, I always practiced safe sex. This was fortunate as one of my ex-partners in the 1980s died of AIDS and another became HIV positive, although he is still very much alive. During other relationships in the 1980s and 1990s we watched films and plays about HIV/AIDS, and we mourned and hoped. I take full responsibility for my actions in the ‘noughties’ when, on occasion, I had unsafe sex.

In January I was being treated in haematology for borderline neutropenia and I’d had every test except one. At my appointment on 1 February I was asked whether a student could observe. ‘Not if it is bad news,’ I replied. She was immediately bundled out and I knew then that I was HIV positive.

A Liaison Health Adviser took me down to the HIV Clinic where I had bloods. I insisted that I didn’t need counselling as I started firing exocet missiles at the virus. After the consultation two weeks later I was sent for a chest x-ray, an ECG, and put on co-trimoxazole. I found out that I had curvature of the spine and atrial fibrillation - so I was admitted as an inpatient, put on bisoprolol (to control the fast atrial fibrillation) and given an outpatient appointment for consideration of DC cardioversion (medicine and/or an electric shock to help the heart return to its normal rhythm).

I was released the next morning and a week later I started on warfarin. After two weeks I started Atripla. A month later I was referred to the TIA clinic because of episodes of right-sided sensory signs. After a brain scan I was put on atorvastatin and advised to reach between 2.5 and 3 INR (International Normalised Ratio, which measures the pathway of coagulation).

By chance I was referred to dermatology, only to find that a lesion was a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Fortunately it turned out to be a one-off. My GP also gave me the pneumococcal vaccination.

Now in calmer waters and generally feeling good my viral load is down from 191,499 to undetectable and my CD4 count is up from 167 to 369. I have declined to be a victim or feel depressed. Gay friends who know other positive people have let me talk, and the detailed work I had already done on myself is standing me in good stead. My greater concerns have been about cancer, strokes and curvature of the spine. Being HIV positive is at the bottom of the list due to the great advances made in treatment.