This class this week has been very informational and full of so much learning. I am sometimes overwhelmed and get confused but I am learning so much. This week was filled with so much learning as I went to get my HIV test done at the Gathering Center in Orlando. This made me so nervous because I did not think it was necessary to get it done in the first place because of my beliefs on sex until marriage. I was so nervous that I took my mom with me and went. The experience was like no other. I walked into the building and everyone welcomed me in and talked to my mom as family. The counselor Char was a HIV positive man that has been for 23 years. He sat me down and just talked and gave me so much information about his life and having AIDS. He had me laughing after 5 minutes so that I got comfortable. He did the oral test and did questions and counseling as he would any other person. He told me how eveything was going to work out. He was so nice and even volunteered to come talk to our class. He gave me pamphlets and a calendar of events and invited me back to help voluteer. He was so nice. I learned that it was not so bad and had fun. It was not the big ordeal I thought it was. This class is definitely opening my eyes to much, much more.
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Ashley, I am so happy that you went and got tested not only for yourself but to experience what so many of us have gone through when we first got tested. I, too, have been HIV positive for 23 years and was VERY scared when I first got my test. I'm glad that this experience has given you a better perspective on living with HIV. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteNow the wait for the results begins. I wonder what your mind will concentrate on? If you knew you had nothing to worry about, what do you think made you so nervous? What did your mother think of the whole process?
ReplyDeleteI see a blog on the add on for this week, but where is your Did You Know?
Please put all aspect of the blogs into one blog. I don't want to see Learning in Class as a blog and then another on AIDS Organizations in Africa. I want to see all this in one blog.
While you do all the right things, you can not be sure that your partner/husband does all the right things.
ReplyDeleteAs a mtter of fact, my husband and I went to the doctor to be tested for "all STD's" prior to marriage and were given the "clear." I did not know that you specifically had to ask to be tested for HIV. So we were not tested for HIV since I did not specifically ask for it. I assumed it was enough to ask for "all STD's."