Nine years older nine years later

It’s been so long I had to look up what SARS stood for (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). That was part of the underlying score as I spent five weeks in two hospitals starting nine years ago early this morning. Why was I laid up? Well an item from Montréal in this morning’s news brought it [...]

Medical update: I could do better if ‘good enough’ wasn’t still good enough

It’s been quite some time since I had the run of tests for HIV and diabetes, in part because of my fear of the results, so today’s news was quite satisfactory with clear room for improvement. My viral load, a test which measures the activity of HIV in my blood, is below levels of present-day [...]

Bursa – and not the city in Turkey!

The ever-increasing pain I have experienced recently now has a name – bursitis. I’ve narrowed down the cause to being on my feet or, alternatively, sitting on concrete, the weekend of Jack Layton’s funeral. Yesterday I began physical therapy treatments and learned that we all have bursae, at which I inquired, “As in bursitis?”, not [...]

Aches and pains of fractures of old

This post serves as a reminder of what has ailed me in recent days. On the day of Jack Layton’s funeral I spent an inordinate amount of time on my feet, standing in one place, taking pictures, standing in line, etc. A few days later I noticed some pain in my femur, which I could [...]

Txt, telephone or…blog…let’s talk about mental illness!

This is Bell Let’s Talk Day. Multiple Olympic medallist Clara Hughes, lead spokesperson for the campaign, was on CTV News in Toronto today. From among the calls she fielded came this articulate gem, “To kill the pain too often means to kill oneself.” However, and this was Clara’s message, help and hope are available to [...]

The happy, and the dreadfully sad, of April 24

Does anyone in Toronto know where I could get French-language greeting cards? Well, one more time, I had to mail an English birthday card to Craig’s partner, Claude.  Now he’s always up for anything that will improve his second-language skills but, as a gesture, I just think French-language cards for him would be nice. April [...]

The American health-care debate from an HIV patient’s perspective

I do not understand all the ins and outs of the American health-care system, neither that which existed before today’s vote in the House of Representatives nor the one after. Here’s what I do know. Canada has a single-payer health system for hospitalizations, doctor’s visits and related expenses such as most diagnostic tests. Coverage of [...]

The roof over my head – a touchstone of my gratitude

A brief look at Kengi‘s blog reminded me to take stock of how grateful I am to be living where I do, as I do, with rent geared-to-income. This spring marks the beginning of my nineteenth year in this apartment – I’ve had to do a couple rounds of finger counting just to come to [...]

Writing about being written about

I was quick to post this link to Facebook yesterday from a website in Princeton which featured an interview-by-email with me on the subject of blogging about HIV/AIDS. Shruti Kalra, the writer of the piece, first contacted me early in the year, wondering a few things about me and this blog, and I wasn’t long agreeing [...]

1000 words (probably less for a smaller picture)

One of the very first outward signs of HIV I bore was seborrheic dermatitis. It was more like a reaction to being told that I had HIV. This has not been a consistent problem with me – or else I ignore it equally as consistently – but it has become problematic in the last month [...]

On smoking, Mr. President, ‘Don’t Ask’ for a cigarette, ‘Don’t Tell’ a smoker that you want one

An Open Letter to American President Barack Obama Dear Mr. President: I know how difficult it is to quit smoking.  I would suggest that the mere fact that you can count on one hand the number of cigarettes you have each day is a great starting point. Quitting is a process, at least it has [...]

PM Harper reneges on HIV vaccine research

When Saturday’s Globe and Mail flops down on door-steps across the country Saturday, a story will be found of our government’s cynicism and disregard for Canada’s reputation on the world stage. (Finding such a report is not usually handed to us so matter-of-factly although, given the subject matter, it’s a play to the Conservative Party [...]

I read the news today…

…oh BOY! – but the most I can gather is that scientists may be closer to finding the best way to go after HIV in men. I had better luck reading this at cbc.ca. Then I read this comment – and I was off to the races! fixer1 wrote:Posted 2010/02/12 at 10:01 AM ET The [...]

BringChange2Mind.org

More than a few tears of understanding, and being understood, came to my eyes tonight as I watched NBC Nightly News. Brian Williams featured a report on an initiative of Glenn Close called Bring Change 2 mind.  Ms. Close and her sister Jessie, who is bipolar, were part of an amazing public service announcement shot [...]

Would you help? Cutting and pasting is mostly all that’s required!

Except for the first paragraph, which I wrote, this letter is available for you to cut and paste here at http://www.essentialmedicine.org/add-your-voice/camr/ Don’t worry about the October 23 deadline having passed. The bill is only at the committee stage. Here’s my letter: Dear Legislator, As a Canadian living with HIV for the last 20 years I [...]