First off, my struggle with my viral load still goes on. In the last five weeks, my vl tripled, and ended up at 3000. That in itself is not a terribly shocking number, however if left alone, it would then be 10000, and then 30000, until it would soon be totally out of control. My CD4s are healthy at a 500 level, but my percentages are paltry at 12%.
In a very long discussion with my MD, he shared with me that he would love to get a genotype test done, but that would require waiting until my vl had risen well above 5000 to get a reading, and then it wouldn’t necessarily be accurate until above 10,000. He is pretty worried about waiting for that to happen, as then the mutation might be very hard to control. He is very good at this work and is suspicious that my virus had mutated to some type that is only treatable with AZT. He is placing me on Trizivir, a combination of Abacavir, Lamivudine, and AZT. I told him about my allergy to AZT, so he is going to watch very carefully to see if I can handle the switch. For those of you not familiar with my case, I have gone through most of all the medications at this point, and there are few that will be efficacious for me to take, however, he is hopeful that with the new combos, I might be able to fight off one more viral mutation and keep me here for a while longer. We will see………….
Some of you might remember that I started DHEA in February, and my energy level has leveled off and I am now capable of working for more than two or three days at a time without a two day break. This of course, is wonderful news for someone with two whole pages of a “To Do List”. I finished the drip system in the back yard, a goal of three years. I washed, detailed, waxed, and did oil service on my car and my sweetie’s car. The yard tractor is fixed, and is only awaiting a new battery to start moving dirt once again. The screen door is fixed, and loads of little things have been accomplished that have been on the list waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. In the continuing struggle to keep the Javalena (wild pigs) from destroying the back yard; we are concentrating on getting some of the grading work done in the back part of the property, then we are going to be erecting a chain link fence down into the canyon, to keep them off the embankment that will surely wash away with the summer rains. (we have a 100 foot deep canyon running through our 1.25 acres here) Then we have to remove the watering trough that was installed into the ground by the last owner, and make a new fish pond and fire pit. Then, of course, there is the fence in the front yard that has to be installed and then the cement work on the sidewalks, and then we will be finished with the outside. We do ALL of our own work, so these things take time when you are dealing with HIV and aging at the same time. I am grateful for the change in my energy level, but I must caution the readers that they must remember that I am not a young person anymore, and at 59, adding a natural steroid that the body has stopped producing is not a bad idea. After all, the women do it all the time.
I had the privilege to speak to a group that meets once every two weeks, to fill their medication trays, have lunch and listen to special speakers. This group hit me like a ton of bricks. Most of them were close to half my age, but most of them looked older than me. I have to tell all of you that if heavy recreational drugs are a part of your life, there is little hope that you will survive a long time with HIV in your body. It was just like the old days of HIV, with the conversation during the break, centering on those of the group that have died since the last meeting. I implore you to get into therapy and get the drug elephant off your back if you want to stick around for any length of time with HIV in your body. As I first said, this group has haunted me for two weeks, and the memory of their faces is etched on my brain forever. I pray for them whenever I remember.
Two weeks ago, there was a trip to Phoenix to attend the ADAP Formulary Committee meeting, and we added several more drugs to the formulary, and now it is one of the most comprehensive in the country.
As you can well see, I have not been that active here on the forums, but I have been checking in every day to try to keep up with the goings on.
I am just very tired, and this fight to keep the bug at bay has gone on for several months now, but it seems that it has successfully mutated and is now on the run to dominate this tired body once again. I can tell you that I am not terribly thrilled about this latest development, but I do know for a fact that there are people right here who understand and are going through the same thing.
I look forward to this new board, as it is going to be fun to use and fun to exchange news and pictures with. To start off that theme, and celebrate this new event in our communication, I attach for your pleasure a photo that was taken just last week, in my yard. The flower is from a Magenta Desert Willow tree, and they are stunning, and this particular strain is quite rare and unusual. Most of the Desert Willows are different intensities of Pink.
Thanks for reading.
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RapidRod:
Tim, will be praying that you can tolerate the medicine switch and everything will work out.
Rod
Biggums:
Hey Buddy thanks for the update. I have been concerned about you. I pray the switch goes well for you with the meds. My honey is seeing the Ryan White folks next week and I suspect he will begin a new chapter in this thing. As always I will keep you informed. Lookinf forward to getting together sometime. Thanks for being one of our life coaches.
J.R.E.:
Hello Tim,
Good to hear from you. I am sending plenty of wonderful thoughts your way. Hopefully the Trizivir will begin to knock things down, and it's good that you will be closely monitored due to the AZT. I was only on Trizivir for a month. It sounds as though you both have been keeping yourselves pretty busy. You know, I always feel that keeping busy is a good thing !! I have always been amazed, at all that you can accomplish. Tim, keep us updated please, as to how you are doing.
The Best-----Ray
jack:
moff, its another new adventure. thats the way i view all my new drug regimens. I go friday to find out what they have in store for me. i will be in a trial for 114 and they talked about adding azt, which I havent done since mid 90s and do show some resistance to,but less than everything else,I guess. by the way,you dont wanna be in any boat with me, because I get sea sick. Lets hope you have no sides and everything works out.