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Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: redhotmuslbear on January 22, 2010, 12:13:13 pm

Title: he's ba-ack!
Post by: redhotmuslbear on January 22, 2010, 12:13:13 pm
It's such a shame when work gets in the way of life, but I've found my way back here.  On Tuesday I marked 10,000 days with HIV and published a piece on The 365 Project's blog yesterday http://the3six5.posterous.com/january-21-2010-david-phillips (http://the3six5.posterous.com/january-21-2010-david-phillips) .  My co-workers have been in awe of the revelation, much more so than my appearance in the film "Outrage."  Still having ridiculously fabulous lab numbers and am slated to visit the Elite Controllers posse at Mass. General next month.

Hope all is well is your worlds,
David
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: leatherman on January 22, 2010, 01:22:19 pm
Hey David! I glad to hear that life has been keeping your busy; but glad you popped in to say hey. I just downloaded (shhhh!) and watched Outrage the other night. I didn't realize that you were in it! Now I'm going to have to watch it all over again. I read your blog entry too. Congrats! That's a long damn time!
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: Ann on January 24, 2010, 12:44:51 am
Hi Red,

I've moved your thread from the LTS forum into the Living forum as you do not meet the criteria for posting in the LTS forum. According to that forum's Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=11166.0), you need to have been diagnosed prior to the advent of HAART in 1996. You were diagnosed in 1998 (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=8129.msg96303#msg96303).

Ann
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: redhotmuslbear on January 24, 2010, 09:28:00 am
You were diagnosed in 1998 (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=8129.msg96303#msg96303).

WOW!  That's an arbitrary re-reading of a three-year old post.  1998 marked when I learned my status, though in December 1994 a post-op ELISA test first found me HIV+ and led a neurosurgeon to take ART prophylaxis, even if the information was not shared with me.  If the 1994 event is not a "diagnosis"--see Merriam Webster's definition below, making no reference to information rendered to the subject, what is?

Main Entry: di·ag·no·sis
Pronunciation: \ˌdī-ig-ˈnō-səs, -əg-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural di·ag·no·ses \-ˌsēz\
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek diagnōsis, from diagignōskein to distinguish, from dia- + gignōskein to know — more at know
Date: 1655
1 a : the art or act of identifying a disease from its signs and symptoms b : the decision reached by diagnosis
2 : a concise technical description of a taxon
3 a : investigation or analysis of the cause or nature of a condition, situation, or problem <diagnosis of engine trouble> b : a statement or conclusion from such an analysis
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: BT65 on January 24, 2010, 06:31:58 pm
So, in 1994, a neurosurgeon put you on ART, but you had no idea what you were taking? ::)
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: sharkdiver on January 24, 2010, 10:17:34 pm
explain, please
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: Ann on January 25, 2010, 12:48:17 pm
So, in 1994, a neurosurgeon put you on ART, but you had no idea what you were taking? ::)

He actually said the surgeon took ART prophylaxis - in other words, the surgeon was afraid of getting teh aids when operating on Red.


Red, I know the definition of diagnosis, thank you. However, for the purposes of these forums, when you yourself learn of your hiv infection is when you are diagnosed. Sorry, but you do not meet the criteria for posting in the LTS forum. Please respect the wishes of the our true LTS members and refrain from posting in their forum. Thank you for your cooperation.

Ann
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: GSOgymrat on January 25, 2010, 01:19:34 pm
Welcome back, David. I don't care if you are a LTS or not.
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: leatherman on January 25, 2010, 01:28:10 pm
Sorry Red, even though 16% of your posts have been in the LTS forum, you went away so long that the rules changed and obviously someone was troubled when they thought you were breaking the new guidelines. Hopefully, you don't think that all of us were so upset by you posting in the "wrong" forum.  ;)

Although to be fair to red, the guidelines say "defined as people living with HIV who tested positive for the virus before the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996", and red did say that a doctor found out in a test of red's bloodwork in 1994 that red was poz and the doc was so scared that the doc went onto ART, that would mean that red was poz in 94 and has 2 yrs leeway to actually be posting in the LTS. Someone obviously jumped the gun as they were policeing the LTS form since the guideline says diagnosed and not that the LTS had to actually be taking meds.

but oh well, the thread's already been moved and hopefully Red is still around for a while and doesn't think we're all jerks. ;)
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: Ann on January 25, 2010, 01:31:29 pm
Yes, there were some complaints. I'm just doing my job. I don't think those who complained were being jerks - the rules of that forum were amended for a reason and if we start bending those rules for one, where will it end?

Red may have tested poz in '94, but as he didn't know it, he wasn't truly "living with" hiv during the years between that initial test and when he knowingly tested poz in '98. The purpose of the LTS forum is to have a save place for those who were knowingly  poz during the early, hopeless years.

I know I was infected in '97, but I wasn't diagnosed until 2001. I do not consider myself as having been living with hiv until 2001 when I knew I had it. I've been poz for nearly 13 years, but only living with it for nine.

Ann
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: skeebo1969 on January 25, 2010, 03:20:59 pm
Welcome back, David. I don't care if you are a LTS or not.

Same here David.  Sorry you missed the essential parameters to participate in the other forum.  I hope people asking you to explain yourself didn't upset you too much.  Looking forward to seeing you around.
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: BT65 on January 25, 2010, 05:08:37 pm
Yes, there were some complaints. I'm just doing my job. I don't think those who complained were being jerks - the rules of that forum were amended for a reason and if we start bending those rules for one, where will it end?

Yes!  Thanks, Ann, for respecting the LTS'ers forum, and holding fast to the new guidelines.  I mean, we LTS'ers did fight for that! And Mikie, weren't you one of those?

Hopefully, you don't think that all of us were so upset by you posting in the "wrong" forum.  ;)
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: skeebo1969 on January 25, 2010, 05:18:14 pm



   I think we should cut off his little pinky finger....
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: Assurbanipal on January 25, 2010, 09:49:12 pm
David

Glad to see you back -- I've enjoyed reading your posts and hope you stick around.

Ann (and Betty)
It is important that there is a place here for people who were diagnosed back when this was still a death sentence.  We need more places where people feel safe from attack.

But the term "long term survivor" is emotionally charged and has personal meaning for a lot of people.  The arrogation of that term to describe a subset of the people who believe it applies to them is what caused a lot of the fire in that topic.  You were not a jerk when you told him that the Forum rules had changed to limit that forum to people who were diagnosed when it was a death sentence -- you were a jerk when you implied he was "not a true LTS".  That was unnecessary and could be read as a personal attack. 

A
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: skeebo1969 on January 25, 2010, 09:58:27 pm


   This is also part of the welcome thread in the LTS forum:

    When LTS members discover a non-LTS member posting here, rather than responding to them yourselves, we request that you hit the "Report to Moderator" button found in the bottom right-hand corner of that post. If their post has not been acknowledged in the thread, it can simply be removed. The non-LTS member will also be contacted privately by a moderator and asked to read the LTS Welcome Thread.

   It was made public to the forums and then other members were allowed to respond to it, albeit in a nasty way.  There was absolutely nothing in Red's post that warranted this kind of response.
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: leatherman on January 25, 2010, 10:26:46 pm
do we have to continue to hijack Red's thread with this nonsense? Wasn't Ann moving the thread and her explanation not enough to satisfy the thought police here?

Sorry David, but I guess your post is going to get hijacked into another LTS debate - when all that needed to happen was to have your thread moved, with a PM to you. There didn't need to be a big announcement that had you sounding like a douchebag for committing such a 'gross offense' of posting in a forum where nearly 20% of your posts have been before. You could have then been graciously treated to the explanation of the rule changes outside of this thread, and maybe actually gotten feedback about your current situation.

Yes!  Thanks, Ann, for respecting the LTS'ers forum, and holding fast to the new guidelines.
Sorry about this Ann since I sent you a PM that I'm sure you haven't had time to read it. But the rules are already being broken around here Betty. All sorts of people that have been "permanently" banned are back in these forums. Obviously none of the "guidelines" around here are hard and fast laws that are enforced by the moderators.

I mean, we LTS'ers did fight for that! And Mikie, weren't you one of those?
Actually if you had paid attention to what I tried to get across in that thread, you would have seen that I argued for a different definition that what eventually came about.
In pondering this, I got to thinking that even the definitions we've put forth here, and the moniker "LTS", don't really accurately describe us.
....
But what about the person that was diagnosed with AIDS, say only about 4 yrs ago, when they landed in the hospital with an OI, who suffered with many side effects during their recovery time and now they're having resistance issues/lipo/PN/etc? Aren't they already having what we've been describing here as "long-term" issues? Or do they need to wait another 6 yrs.to participate in this forum?
...
It seems that we are only using the term "long term" because we survived all those who passed on early in the epidemic, not really because we have lived with HIV/AIDS for so long.
...
As I said earlier, the "LTS" experience will always be different from the "newbie" experience because of the improvements in medical treatment of this disease. It's all about the cycle of an epidemic.
...
I think a good definition for LTS is going to have to not only contain a time qualification (be it a time period ie 1980-2000 or a time span ie 10 yrs), but also issue qualifications (OI, hospitalizations, etc).

i just re-read through that thread and was just wondering what you thought the "consensus" was?
I never believed the final "consensus" of that thread was accurate yet. But everyone was obviously tired of the arguing and wanted it to end; not withstanding that there was no discussion of the exceptions to the rules. My defense of the LTS forum was to have a safe place to discuss certain issues without having people tell me that 'things weren't so bad', 'quit being so negative', 'maybe it was like that in the old days but not now', or 'quit talking about all that bad stuff'. I've always discussed the "waves" of people going through this epidemic, and not a specific year.

I personally believe that Red lived through enough to put him in the LTS category, just like I believe Ann fits in that category - if not just for her actual experiences but also her knowledge of HIV/AIDS, just like I believe that Mini deserves that title also for the ped meds that she has taken that are identical to the stuff we took in the beginning of this epidemic. Heck I would have let a lot of other people into the LTS forum - as long as they weren't dissing others cause they themselves didn't have it so bad. Red never once in that forum downplayed the traumas that other people experienced that he was so lucky to not endure. I fought in that other thread so people's stories and issues wouldn't get belittled. It's a shame that we can't be more inclusive in these forums rather that slinging out more stigma at one another.
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: Buckmark on January 25, 2010, 11:06:14 pm
Welcome back, David!

Cheers,

Henry
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: Dachshund on January 26, 2010, 05:27:23 am
I fought in that other thread so people's stories and issues wouldn't get belittled. It's a shame that we can't be more inclusive in these forums rather that slinging out more stigma at one another.

Too bad your own hands aren't clean when it comes to the issue. I've seen you use your own experiences to belittle many a person you disagree with. Changing their monikers for added effect. It's only the high road when you say so.

Oh and I guess you missed the memo when Staley was still around (I can dig it up) that stated banned members could petition for reinstatement.
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: J.R.E. on January 26, 2010, 07:58:15 am
Hello David,

I have a copy of "Outrage" in front of me right now.  A co-worker gave me the DVD last night at work, so I will be watching it shortly.  Good to hear from you !


Ray
Title: Re: he's ba-ack!
Post by: leatherman on January 26, 2010, 09:00:51 pm
Oh and I guess you missed the memo when Staley was still around (I can dig it up) that stated banned members could petition for reinstatement.
so i guess everyone needs to get off their high horses about the rules since, just like the "permanent" bans aren't really permanent anymore, the rules can be changed/bent. I vote we change the LTS guidelines then or do we need to have David petition for a special dispensation? Hmmm.  ??? Is it even still a rule or guideline if it is changed later? is there a grandfather clause then to these procedures/rules/guidelines and the changes? This is exactly what I warned Tim and Ann about. Once you start changing the meaning of words, and changing the rules, you lose the moral authority on holding fast and firm to any of the rules.

Dachs, I replied to your other comments in a PM
(where, IMHO, all of this crap should have been "discussed" rather than in David's thread).

Back to you David,
whereabouts are you in this flix? ??? Tell me where to FF to so I can see ya! ;)