best numbers after nearly 20 years

[leatherman]

I had lab work done this past week and wasn't going to see the doc to get results until next week. However, I've been having a bad problem with my shoulder and went in to see the nurse practioner today. Since it could be bursitis, or arthritis, or (eek!) avascular necrosis, we going to start to figure it out with an xrays scheduled on friday

Surprisingly my lab work was already back and boy was it surprising! These numbers are the best I've had in two decades. Yessiree , I've hit over 300 for a third time in all these years! Still holding with an undetectable viral load, instead of the normal 250-ish cd4 count, I beat the old record of 311 with an all-time high of 318! WooHoo!

[Boze]

Well done!

[Jeff G]

Congrats Mikie ... You can splurge now . We should have a CD4 party and the tcells are on you LOL .

It took me 10 years to go from 70 back to 500 and I intend to keep doing what it takes to keep those numbers up .

[Hellraiser]

Congrats mikey.  Fuck everyone has more Tcells than me.  I really am jealous

[Jeff G]

Congrats mikey.  Fuck everyone has more Tcells than me.  I really am jealous

Should we feel smug ? I don't do smug well 

[Inchlingblue]

Mikie, that's really amazing . . . didn't you change meds not too long ago? If so, do you think that might have had something to do with it?

[phildinftlaudy]

Congrats Mikie!  Onward and upward   

[veritas]

Mikie,

Great news!  Keep-um moving!

v

[HippieLady]

Congrats Mr. Leatherman!

[leatherman]

We should have a CD4 party and the tcells are on you LOL .

It took me 10 years to go from 70 back to 500 and I intend to keep doing what it takes to keep those numbers up .

lordy, it's taken me 20 years to get from 5 to above 300, so I don't think I'm gonna splurge with them quite yet.
If my cd4s are still up at my next labs, then we'll party.

But that won't be until Oct! I like that too. for those 10 "sick years", I had lab work done about every 6 weeks, so it's awfully nice to be able to go for months and months now between tests. All this feeling well and fewer testing over the last 4 years is still so novel after being so gravely ill for about 15 years. I have no idea why I took to becoming "weller", especially through a time when I lost my last partner; but, knock on wood, I'm not complaining about it. Oh no! I'm just commenting on what an oddly wonderful turnaround it's been.

Mikie, that's really amazing . . . didn't you change meds not too long ago? If so, do you think that might have had something to do with it?

I changed Videx EC and Viread out for Truvada back in March. Like I told JG, if my numbers are still up in October then I'll see about crediting the med some. Historically though looking at my tcell graph, the next point to plot should either be of an insignificant change or should fall lower.

But don't mistake that for negativity. I haven't been in a hospital in 13 years and have been by just fine with 250-ish tcells for 6-ish years so even if my next counts are back below 300, I won't be sad, nor will I be surprised. I'm just a realist and my graphing says that the next count is a drop.

Unlike my viral load chart. Look at how pretty that line has straightened out down there at "Undetectable" for so long. WooHoo!

See what getting the right meds and Love will do for you. That big change around the end of 2004 was from getting a regimen that didn't make me puke everyday and was when I told my partner I would do my damnedest to stick on the new meds (even though I was still puking 4-6 times a month) to stay alive for him. When he was hospitalized, for some reason the barfing stopped. I haven't barfed again in the just over 2 years now since he passed away.

For the time being, I'm going to credit the rise on my body being happy to be living back down South and away from those horrendous cold snow-filled Yankee Winters; and on this most awesome tan I'm working on lounging out in the pool.

Congrats mikey.  Fuck everyone has more Tcells than me.  I really am jealous

don't be jealous. think of it as an example.
In another 20 years, maybe you'll finally hit over 300 

[WillyWump]

Great news Mikie! Congrats


*points and laughs at Heckraiser*

-Will

[Hellraiser]

Great news Mikie! Congrats


*points and laughs at Heckraiser*

-Will

Dead to me.

[WillyWump]

Dead to me.

You know I love you, Mmwah!

[BlueMoon]

Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make those t-cells grow

Congratulations on the milestone, Leatherman.

[tednlou2]

Very good news.  Mikey, did you say recently that you are now able to take a med that you use to be resistant to?  It seems like that was you.  If so, that is also interesting news. 

Waiting for your post when you hit 400...

[Andy Velez]

That's very good news indeed, Mikie.

Here's to that trend continuing. And that's not negotiable.

Cheers.

[leatherman]

Mikey, did you say recently that you are now able to take a med that you use to be resistant to?  It seems like that was you. 

i had a resistance to epivir, which also works against emtrivia (in the truvada). However, that mutation is a "bad" mutation which makes the HIV less viable. It's sort of a self-destroying mutation in the long-run (and if under treatment)

about a decade ago my HIV strain mutated causing Epivir to be ineffective. The drug Emtriva is also non-effective when that mutation is present. However, that mutation causes the HIV to be "defective" and unable to reproduce itself. After nearly 10 yrs of meds, and approx 6 years at undetectable, my mutant strain of HIV has for all intents died out and I am now able to use Truvada (which contains Emtriva) and have the drug be effective once again against the HIV in my system.

Waiting for your post when you hit 400...

don't hold your breath though. LOL if it took me 18 yrs to gain 313 tcells, it should take roughly another 7 years or so to gain that next 100.

Thanks for all the "pats on the back" y'all. Like I keep telling this new doc, new case manager, and new friends here in SC, if they could have only seen me 5 years ago. I was weaker, thinner, and just all around sicker.

Between the years of recovering from the bouts of PCP and pnuemonia to the years of near-daily barfing from the meds, I was quite the mess. Add to that the depression of being told over and over for 10 yrs that my numbers were so bad that death could be as close as 3 months and grieving the loss of my first partner, well, I'm just surprised the depression didn't finish off what the HIV hadn't destroyed.

That's why I give such credit to my dogz for helping me stay alive. In reality I had made plans for their care and I never actually dreamed I'd end up out-living so many of them.

But credit has to go to my second partner too. Now that was the shocker - falling in love again. It was my commitment to him (to take the meds, to stay alive, so he wouldn't end up standing by my grave like I had been standing at Randy's grave) that really turned my life around. But lordy, just like I never dreamed that I would live past 40 (because of how sick I was), I sure never dreamed that it would be me standing at Jim's graveside.

I could have really given up then; but how could I backslide and waste my new-found health that I had gained back for his sake? No, now I just press along, wondering why I was the one to outlive friends, lovers, and pets. However I have learned to try to enjoy every minute I've got now cause losing all those loved ones sure has been ample proof of how fragile life is and that there's no time to waste.

Unless of course, it's time wasted in reading, lounging at the pool, working in the yard, going to the amusement park, etc. 

[Hellraiser]

Isn't your smoking cessation quite recent too?  You might be able to chalk some of those extra T-cells up to that.

[leatherman]

Isn't your smoking cessation quite recent too?  You might be able to chalk some of those extra T-cells up to that.

1 year and 148 days

and if I won the lottery (though I would have to start buying tickets) I would go right back to smoking. As it is now though, and as I just told the doc the other day (when we were discussing the shoulder problem), I only think about the cigs now when someone else mentions them. (mmmmm I want a smoke now)

[skeebo1969]

don't be jealous. think of it as an example.
In another 20 years, maybe you'll finally hit over 300 

Congrats on the good numbers Mikie. 

[Jeff G]

Good numbers , a pool and new pair of underoos . yooz gotit ah going on !

[skeebo1969]

Good numbers , a pool and new pair of underoos . yooz gotit ah going on !

And he's got a bunch of blow up dolls to play with.  Wonder where the 2 liter are?? LOL

[Jeff G]

This may be his vacation pics form sea world ... notice the orca sneaking up on him . Danger Danger Will Robinson .

I only pick on people I admire if its any consolation 

[leatherman]

Wonder where the 2 liter are?? LOL

I already have 5 or 6 trash bags full of empty 2-liter bottles.
I don't know if there will be a Pooltag 2010;
but as an ex-boy scout, it never hurts to be prepared. LOL

[skeebo1969]

I already have 5 or 6 trash bags full of empty 2-liter bottles.
I don't know if there will be a Pooltag 2010;
but as an ex-boy scout, it never hurts to be prepared. LOL

Oh man that is too fricking funny!!

[leatherman]

Oh man that is too fricking funny!!

We did two Pooltags (06, 07) and Jim had the best float with the Star Trek "Enterprise"

and the most "unrideable" float was this palm tree



each float (we had five or six each year) had music and costumes
pictures and movies at Pooltag and Pooltag2

[Jeff G]

That looks like allot of fun !!!

[Hellraiser]

We did two Pooltags (06, 07) and Jim had the best float with the Star Trek "Enterprise"

and the most "unrideable" float was this palm tree



each float (we had five or six each year) had music and costumes
pictures and movies at Pooltag and Pooltag2

Despite everything Matty has posted here this is the funniest thing I've seen in these forums.

[skeebo1969]

Despite everything Matty has posted here this is the funniest thing I've seen in these forums.

I thought the time I told a guy he was wearing a Captain America t-shirt was pretty darn funny even though I got a 7-day TO.

[Hellraiser]

I thought the time I told a guy he was wearing a Captain America t-shirt was pretty darn funny even though I got a 7-day TO.

Before my time?

[leatherman]

my late partner and I saw the Redbull "Flugtag" event up in Cleveland where people built "flying" craft and their teams would push these craft off a pier into Lake Erie. With skits and costumes, the goal was to "fly" the furthest.

With my 2-liter plus Coke-Cola addiction, we came up with an idea ("Pooltag") to use the huge amount of pop bottles I was accruing. We had our friends built floats using the bottles and masking tape. Then dressing up in costumes and adding music, the goal was just to get across the pool without drowning.  Jim's birthday of July 29th was a perfect time each year in Ohio to have such a crazy pool party.

We had Cleopatra on her barge, Disney's Pocohantas and Alladin, Huckleberry Finn on a raft, Jim's Enterprise, my Phantom of the Opera boat ride (the part of Christine played by the dolphin), a pirate boat with cannons, and even a doggie in a pet store.

We had a ton of games including a hula-hoop ring toss game (tossed to ring floating pop bottles marked with points). A great time was had by all and everyone was a winner receiving gold-sprayed 20-oz pop bottles. For dessert at the cookout afterwards we had a hamburger-shaped cake, pizza-shaped cheesecakes and small mini hamburger-shaped cookies with icing.

mikie
(who is very, very sad thinking about how much he misses Jim; but also very happy remembering these good times he had with Jim.)

[Hellraiser]

Honestly that sounds like the best kind of "home grown" birthday party ever.  Very creative of you two.

[leatherman]

even though I got a 7-day TO.

yeah, but you skated by so far after using the b-word in that other thread. 
(or maybe it's ok for you hetros to say that. LOL)

[hope_for_a_cure]

This is the BEST news I have heard all day!  You are obviously doing things right.  I was not online much during the last couple of days and am truly glad to see this. 

[skeebo1969]

Before my time?

Check it out... what sucks is you cannot see his avatar.  He was being abusive towards a female member in another thread.

http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=7734.msg89889#msg89889

[Miss Philicia]

Despite everything Matty has posted here this is the funniest thing I've seen in these forums.

You've obviously not seen Matty in a Gucci thong cavorting around Bondi Beach with his Klingon blow up flotation toy.

[skeebo1969]

yeah, but you skated by so far after using the b-word in that other thread. 
(or maybe it's ok for you hetros to say that. LOL)

Mikie, it's never ok for you to say breeder.  Even if you take off the "er" and say "Breedah"... it's still bad, we've been oppressed ever since Bo Derek married John.  

[Hellraiser]

Check it out... what sucks is you cannot see his avatar.  He was being abusive towards a female member in another thread.

http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=7734.msg89889#msg89889

This thread was full of win.  You got banned for doing what though?  Just calling him out on his shirt or the whole threatening him with violence bit.

[leatherman]

it's still bad, we've been oppressed ever since

ROFLMAO

(oh! and you know laughter is good for ya too. I bet I just gained another 10 cd4s with that laugh)

[phildinftlaudy]

Mikie: The pool pics were great --- looks like one of the best parties I have ever seen --- I wish I could have been there.... I actually went thru the whole page reading and looking at each pic/captions, everything.


And Skeebo - I was thinking the same thing when I saw the "b" word --- I said to myself "oh oh...."  although i don't know why it offends people.... 
 

[skeebo1969]

This thread was full of win.  You got banned for doing what though?  Just calling him out on his shirt or the whole threatening him with violence bit.

I didnt get banned for anything related to this.  I think the TO was for flame baiting or something, justified anyway you look at it.  I look back at some of my posts and find that I was extremely passive aggressive in some, not really my style.  I am not making any excuses but since January when I quit Atripla I feel that I've changed emotionally.

The offense that got me banned kind of has a funny story to it.  Don't get me wrong I broke a forum rule, one that I think is probably one of the worst one's to break.  Sock puppetry is pretty janky if you ask me, especially when used to fool people in a support forum. 

We had some guy who used to create threads asking: what your favorite color in a Crayola Crayon box was, if you preferred boxers or briefs, or what your favorite sitcom was.. you get the idea.  The guy comes in one day and gets himself a 7-day TO for something, I can't remember though what for.  He immediately comes up with the bright idea to make another profile.  What was fucking hilarious and I dont think many people caught it was he went into his own, underwear, crayon, or what have you threads and answered the total opposite of what he did under his original profile.  I thought it was funny and went to bed.

The next morning after smoking a blunt (ut oh), I came up with the bright idea to create another account.   I decided to make another account (skeebo1968) and come in telling everyone what my favorite crayon color was.  I'm sitting at my terminal and the thread disappears before my very eyes.

My stomach turned, I feared the worse.....

All of sudden...  THE THREAD REAPPEARED!!!!!

Oh, thank you jesus!!! Wait... I didn't log out......  What's going on??? 

You can look up the rest...  I sat around for two years watching ya'll from the sidelines and coach wouldn't put me in.