Michael, 38
When I Found Out:
October 12, 2006 (I will never forget). It's not just a disease. It changes everything about your life, forever.
Why I decided to get tested:
I had lost about 40 pounds and was getting a cold/flu every week.
The biggest challenge I deal with living with HIV:
Keeping up with all of the doctor appointments, blood draws, pills and prescriptions and figuring how to balance my budget to afford it all.
Ways I am treated differently because I have HIV:
My partner has been so supportive, but the pity in other's eyes is a real blow to my self-esteem.
What I've learned from living with HIV:
How fragile I really am.
Who I thought HIV affected before I learned I was positive:
Drug addicts and poor minorities. That has changed simply by sitting in the waiting room of my doctor's office and seeing the entire social spectrum come in and out.
What I want someone who is HIV negative to know about me:
That I live with regret everyday, which is one trait that I really despised in others before.
