POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Pre-HAART Long-Term Survivors => Topic started by: joejoe1972 on December 15, 2009, 04:19:34 pm
-
Hi my name is JOEJOE,I was diagnosed in 1991 with hiv and AIDS in 2001, I have been dealing with this disease half my life and it hasn't been easy as you all can imagine. I am looking for people who, like me, have been dealing with this for as long as we have.I have no one to talk to where I live in Texas, and all my friends from where i used to live in Washington state have now passed on. I'm feeling more isolated as time goes by and i watch the people I love all die away.I'm looking forward to being able to discuss the day to day battle some of us have to deal with. My heart goes out to all who find them in a similar situation as me, us long time survivors.
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Hi Joe
Well, I sure can relate to the feelings of isolation due to so many friends passing on. As an LTNP.(long term non progressor)- I have had the unfortunate experience of watching at least 20 close friends die, including one long term partner and a former boyfriend. I am lucky however to have met my current partner who also lost a tong term partner to AIDS complications. We have a very deep underatanding of what each other has been through.
Keep talking, it helps.
Joel
-
Joe, I think you found the right place. There are plenty of Texas folks in this forum, so maybe you can chat with some, and then maybe even meet up. Personally, I'm from a few states over, Arizona, so a face to face wouldn't work, besides, you look very young compared to some of us old farts.
Yes, we all seem to have our own tales of horror from the early days, and I see you came from the great Northwest.
Welcome to the forum and hope it helps to share with us and us with you. :-*
-
to Joel, you are very lucky indeed to find a companion, and thank you for the welcome.
to Moffie 65, i was only 19 when i was diagnosed and am fixing to turn 38, i feel this disease has matured me well pass my numerical age, i thank you for the welcome and look forward to further discussions from all
-
Hi Joe
I'm not a LTS but many of my friends here are and I know through them about the hardships, heartache and pain they all had to go through..I just wanted to pop in and say Hi and welcome you to the forums, I hope you stay and I hope we hear more from you.
You will find some good friends here who are more than willing to support you and help you with any problems you have...just call out someone will hear you.
Cheers
Jan
-
to Joel, you are very lucky indeed to find a companion, and thank you for the welcome.
to Moffie 65, i was only 19 when i was diagnosed and am fixing to turn 38, i feel this disease has matured me well pass my numerical age, i thank you for the welcome and look forward to further discussions from all
I hear you on that one. Like you, I was infected at a young age (23) so I'm only a few years older than you are currently. You look pretty good for a battle weary survivor though so you're doing something right.
There's a guy here who set up a social group in Texas for pozzies, but it's in Houston so not sure if that's much help since Texas is such a massive place.
-
Welcome to the forums JOEJOE.
I hope you will find this place and the people here to be a great support system for you away from those you know. I know this place and the people here have added so much to my life.
Like you and Philly I was diagnosed at a young age back in 94 with AIDS and I'm 39 now with a great partner in the far away Land Of Lincoln and I guess now Obama (just outside of Chicago).
AA
-
Howdy JoeJoe,
I'm glad you've joined us here. It is a good place for those of us who have been around the HIV block once or twice to meet, commiserate and let it hang out.
I was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, and can really appreciate how you feel regarding losing so many who you've held near and dear.
I live a state to the west, in New Mexico. I guess that sandwiches me between you and Moffie! ;D
Please feel free to join in and let us know how things are going for you. Isolation is nasty - period.
Even though we may not be face to face, we can still lend out support and understanding, and we do that with each other regularly.
Glad you're here.
HUGS,
Mark
-
I truly feel like the loneliness and isolation i have been feeling for about four years, when i came home to Texas is finally at an end. I have no gay friends, and have only a couple of straight hiv+ friends. So to have access to so many who understand is a blessing indeed. Thanks for your words of encouragement and I hope in turn to be a shoulder that is well used for one and all.
-
hello Joe! ;D
I was very dumb earlier, oops ::), make that I was suffering from hiv brain fog earlier ;) and didn't listen to the advice of my own alter-ego "the Computer Tutor" who always tells people to compose posts offline. I was typing away a quick welcome to you, bumped some button when a cocker spaniel suddenly jumped up into my lap, and Doh! :o no post. so I've started over a 2nd time ;)
Welcome Joe from over here in SC! ;D
I've been living back home here in the Carolinas about 3.5 months now after living with the Yankees in Ohio for the last 25 yrs. Years ago when I started visiting this site it was the exact reason you mentioned - the isolation. Lordy I thought I was the last gay man with AIDS alive from the 90s, up there all alone in Canton OH. My partner was dead, my friends were dead, the support group they barely had was a joke before it fizzled out, no ASO. Then I came here and met some very fine people. Though it was very troubling to find that some of them even had the same issues as me (especially the deceased partners part), in that misery-loves-company sort of way, it was nice to learn that I wasn't the only one, and not so damn alone - even if some of my new found friends were scattered around the world.
Although we have gotten into a few tiffs once in a while (read around you'll see what I mean :D just cause we have a lot of shared problems doesn't mean we have shared opinions about a lot of things LOL), when the chips are down, people will rally around and are full of support. (when I couldn't pay for my last partner's cremation, members :-* here from literally around the world mailed me enough money to retrieve his ashes.) I hope you come to find the same kind of comfort and support that I found here (and I just bet you do!). If you ever wanna talk, just holler. I'll listen - and then write you back a really, really long post going on about way too much; but hopefully entertaining enough that you'll try to read it all through to the end. LOL :D
My heart goes out to you Leatherman, for I to have buried two great loves and gone threw a lot of the same things you have. Being on disability, losing my home, no car or money to replace it and surviving two episodes of both PCP and shingles. So keep your chin up, we are the mighty and strong, and nothing shall take us down.
Of course!
You know how I have the strength to get through things? ??? Cause I already did once before. ;) :D ROFLMAO Yep. didn't die in the hospital the 2nd time, cause I didn't the first time. Going to get through losing a 2nd partner, cause I survived losing the first one. Never went homeless yet cause before I lost an old home, I found a new home. I'm having some doubts right now about getting all the damned medical card and food stamp crap straightened around in SC; but I got it accomplished in OH once before, so I'll eventually get it fixed up here too. ;)
Although I'm sad for why you've had to come to this site; I'm glad you did find this site and hope to see you around for a while.
mikie aka Leatherman aka ComputerTutor
(who didn't realize the ages of some people until this thread and now feels kinda old at 47;
but is still glad to be young enough to be under that 60 mark ;D )
-
Joejoe,
Welcome to the long-term survivor's forum. I was diagnosed in 1989, at the age of 24, so I was pretty young also. And yeah, I've lost a lot of people, so I know how you feel about that. I was diagnosed with Aids in 1994, and like you, have lived through a lot, and aged a lot.
Just jump in with whatever you need to vent about. We're here!
Luv,
Betty
-
Hey there JoeJoe,
I was diagnosed in 1993, at the age of 23. Diagnosed with AIDS in 2003.
I live in faaaar west Texas, the only city that's in a different time zone from Texas.
Please feel free to PM anytime you'd like.
WELCOME to this site!
-
WELCOME JOEJOE
I hope you find the site as helpful as I do,
Take Care
Theyer
-
Hi Joejoe,
As a fellow Texan and LTS, I'd like to welcome you to the forums. I live in Austin, and I've had HIV since 1989 when I was 25 years old. You'll find lots of great people here, who can provide you valuable support and sage advice. Folks here aren't afraid to speak up, so I hope you won't be either. Isolation sucks -- reaching out is the first step ending it.
Cheers,
Henry
-
Wow, I seriously thought that I would be one of the youngest LTS on here, its nice to know other younger people have managed to survive.My thanks to Mikie, Betty, Texan38, Theyer and Henry for not only your kind words, but for your very warm welcome to this forum.I may be isolated here in north Texas, but I now feel like I have found friends all over the U.S. I look forward to future post.
JoeJoe
-
JoeJoe:
We've been talking back and forth on certain topics and I've appreciated your comments. I too am pretty new to the forum, maybe a couple of months. Ironically I live in Washington State now where apparently you are from. I was diagnosed here in 1987, and lost really all my best friends. My work transferred me to Portland, Ore in 1994. Then I got sick, retired on disability in 1999 and moved to Hawaii. And guess where I ended up after eight years in Paradise, back in Washington State. Long story. Have to tell you sometime.
Welcome to the forum!!!!!
You'll find lots of caring and support here,
Have a good holiday,
Jeff
-
I'm actually a Texan, but moved to Washington state when I was 17, I just moved back home here to Texas in 2005. I did spend most of my adult life there and that is where I watch all my friends die during the 1990's. I had a good life there, but the weather sucks and love being back home. I have found a lot of caring and wonderful people on here and am thankful I found this forum.
Best Wishes
JoeJoe