2005 A Year in Review

Well kiddies another year has come and gone.  In the spirit of the approaching New Year I have decided to go over this year and recap all that has happened.

January

• After having to quit school, battling a mysterious illness for four months and spending three weeks in the hospital it is learned that I have HIV.

February

• On Valentines Day I start my first cocktail of anti-HIV meds which consisted of Truvada and Sustiva.


• Jarred first contacts me online.

March

• Jarred and I meet for the first time.


• I ended up in the hospital again for a second time with pneumonia.


• My best friend Wayne and I head to Orlando for a mini-vacation.


• While dancing on the floor at Hoedowns I had my first mild heart attack.  I finished the dance before I ran outside and collapsed (the laws of dance etiquette are strong.)


• Both Terri Shavio and Pope John Paul II die, delivering devastating blows to the Catholic Church.

April

• I had to do a home course of antibiotics for pneumonia and bronchitis.

May

• I went on my first vacation in a long time to Key West with Jarred, Wayne and a group of friends.  It was here that I realized I did more than “loke” (a combination of like and love) Jarred.  It was upon our return home we shared the love word with each other.


• My viral load plummeted from 439,000 to 670.

June

• My cocktail was deemed a clinical failure due to unmanageable side effects.  My cocktail is changed to Truvada, Norvir, Reyetaz.


• I stand up for the HIV/AIDS community vocally for the first time by debating a street preacher at pride who was holding up  a sign that stated “AIDS:  Judgment or Cure?”

July

• I ended up back in the hospital for 8 days with pneumonia. With this hospital visit came my AIDS diagnosis.

August

• Realizing that life is short and love is wonderful I asked Jarred to marry me while dancing to the song “You Had Me From Hello” sung by Kenny Chesney.

September

• I took a temporary assignment in an undisclosed location to help cover overdue expenses.  It was to last 6 months to a year.

October

• Missing Jarred I come back home after only 6 weeks of being away.

November

• The famed musical “Rent” comes to the big screen.  With it came tears.  It was the first time I cried since I became HIV positive.


• I officially became a published columnist with the Atlanta Journal Constitution.  I was asked to write an article about young people and HIV/AIDS.  The article was published on the 29th and was entitled “No One Picture of HIV/AIDS”.  That article opened the door for me to work with local AIDS Service Organizations in their Youth Outreach Programs.

December

• My 23rd birthday party was fabulous.  The theme was taken from a Golden Girls Episode:  “Every year that isn’t a headstone is a milestone.”


• Jarred and I finally set a date for our wedding:  September 17th 2006.

As I look back in reflection I can honestly say that this has been one of the more difficult years in my life.  However, without my friends and family it certainly would have been unbearable.  And to you my readers (all those who comment on my blog and personally through e-mail) I want to say thank you so much for making this a great year.  I hope that my blog continues to provide hope and inspiration to you as well as the occasional laugh. Raise your glasses high as we toast to 2005…2005 we hardly knew ye but I am sure as hell glad to see you go!  Here is to 2006!

With love and gratitude,

James

10,512,000 minutes

In case you are wondering that is round about the same time HIV/AIDS came to the forefront of the media. 20 years ago. WOW and what a long but progressive 20 years it has been. Special thanks to Gilead for the following information:

1985:
-No treatment options available.
-Little is known about the virus or AIDS.
-High level of prejudice against HIV positive people.
-16,000 US cases of AIDS reported; 20,000 globally.

1995:
-Advent of HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy)
-6 therapies, 2 drug classes

2005:
-27 therapies, 4 drug classes
-Major advances in knowledge about how the virus works.
-People with HIV are more involved in healthcare.
-Over 1,000,000 people with HIV/AIDS in US; 38,000,000 worldwide.

So those are some really major advancements. Thankfully I didn't live with it years ago. However, we know that there is a lot being done to treat the virus but very little is being done to stop the spread of the virus. Every where you look there are idiots helping to spread the virus along. People like Pope Benedict the moron...err 16th, with his anti-condom rhetoric is killing people. King George (aka George W. Bush) is promoting this abstinence bullshit in public schools. Teenagers are going to have sex and to help reduce the risk of infection with any STD is to educate and not make them feel ashamed for protecting themselves. Of course if they were trying to stop the spread of the virus then that would mean that the drug manufacturers would miss out on a whooping 1,000,000,000,000.00 per MONTH! That is not billions that is ONE TRILLION dollars. With what they rake in combined per month we could get out nation out of debt in a little over a year! Puts things into perspective doesn't it?

Aside from all of that my personal/business life has not been soooooooo busy in a very long time. I was asked to write a column for the Atlanta Journal Constitution (the largest newspaper in the South!) regarding HIV/AIDS and some of the biggest challenges that people in my generation who fight the disease face on a daily basis. Rather than posting the article in its entirety here I will simply put in the link and you can click on it and read it yourself.
www.jamestheboywonder.info/Writings.htm

Since the birth of that article I have been approached to do many things. From speaking to a High School, working with a local youth service organization in their new HIV/AIDS outreach program, possibly becoming associate director of youth HIV/AIDS outreach and to top that all off I have been offered a position to counsel kids between the ages of 13-22 who have recently been diagnosed. Everyday for the last week I have been in meetings with people from AIDS Service Organizations. I must admit that today I am really happy to take a break. I was getting really tired and started catching a cold. I have decided to take advice from Jarred and Nicole and just take meetings a little further apart.

The response from the article has been very positive (THANKFULLY!). A mother wrote in the day after the article was published saying that she felt due to the invinsibility feeling people my age have she thinks it should be required reading in middle schools, high schools, and colleges. Now, I don't know about all of that but I do want it to open up the eyes of my generation and tell them IT'S A PROBLEM. STOP BEING STUPID AND PROTECT YOURSELF BEFORE YOU CATCH SOMETHING PENICILLIN WONT CURE! Or doxycycline if you're like me and allergic to penicillin :)

In other news, Jarred and I are doing just spiffy. Last week was stressful for the both of us. We had some issues that had to be ironed out. I am confident that the stress is what gave me this nasty fever blister on my lip. But thanks to the modern medicine it's almost gone.

Well my friends. In an effort to keep the blood circulating in the low extremity of my body I am going to finish off for now and go grab some yummy lunch.

James words of wisdom: Progess is like traffic. Slow moving and full of dumbasses getting in your way.