The HIV Patient

Hello all. It is over! I have finished my rotation at Washington Hospital Center. Friday was my last day. I have about 3 weeks off to do as I please. I am going to work full time starting Tuesday and then May 8th through May 11th I'll be back home in Alabama letting my grandmother fatten me up, lol. May 20th starts my next rotation. Only 5 more rotations to go before I will be called DOCTOR!!!! Yesssssss. December can't get her fast enough.

I have run across many patients in the 5 weeks I spent at WHC. I have seen a Tylenol poisoning, several end stage renal failures, Diabetes, foot ulcers, Colon cancer, the list goes on and on. Being that this hospital is located in DC, I figured that I would run across alot of HIV patients. If you didn't know, DC has the highest percentage of HIV infected resident in the enitre country. The last statistic I saw were 1 in every 20 DC residents are positive. If you count the surrounding Virginia and Maryland metro areas, that number would truly be even more alarming. At WHC, I ran across 3 patients. There was one twenty-five year old tranny who screamed everytime someone used her government name. Those damned nurses did that shit on purpose. You could hear her going off all the way down the hall. I kee-keeeyed. There was a 61 year old man whose "friend" as he referred to him, visited often, knew all of the medical history, watched everyone like a hawk and was there for every decision made on the case. So cute, lol. The third patient got my attention.

Patient number three was a 38 year old hispanic man, married with three children. He was brought in because he had been coughing up blood for the past 3 days. Everyone on the floor was put on alert as soon as we got in. There was a meeting. All attending physicians, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practicioner, social workers, medical students and pharmacy students (me!!!!), etc. were given the T on this patient. This man has been positive for 8 years. He freaked out when he was told and refused to use any medications, denying his diagnosis. He went into complete denial and decided to go about his life as he pleased. He married the following year. They went on to have 3 children. A beautiful little girl about 6 years old and a pair of twin boys who are about 8 months. The reason for this meeting, I am sure you can guess. HE DID NOT TELL A SOUL THAT HE WAS HIV POSITIVE!!!!!!! The wife doesn't know and neither does his family. Due to patient privacy laws, no one is allowed to say anything regarding his case. I was immediated perplexed when I got all the details. I know that women get prenatal care and blood tests monthly when pregnant. I just could not see why that wasn't picked up at some point. Either she refused to be tested due to her being married, or she was brought in from another country that does not test for HIV. That shit is so unfair. Her and those children got pulled into a situation that was totally uncalled for. I know we should never question the way God works and everytime I feel the uge to do that, I bring out my bible and read the book of Job. If you haven't read it, its a must read. This is an instance where I had to keep my bible near.

There are two markers when it comes to HIV treatment. A watch is kept on a patients Viral load to see how strong the disease is and how to direct medical intervention and CD4 count which predicts the progression of the disease. CD4 counts are what I tend to keep a watch on. A normal persons CD4 count run well into the thousands. As this count lowers you start to see some infections that healthy people can usually fight off without a problem. HIV/AIDS is a type of disease that keep your immune system fighting allowing other diseases to come in through the back to wreck havoc. All of this fighting takes a toll on one's immunity, your fighters become tired allowing HIV and other infections to take over. Once the CD4 count gets below 200 a diagnosis of AIDS is made. Guess what this muthafucka's CD4 count was when his ass finally came in? I'm waiting. Muthafuckin 4!!!!!!! We students, medical students and pharmacy students were running around like ants. My motto for any infection is treat early and treat aggressively. I had come up with all type of medications to try. Since students are at the bottom of the totem pole in medical decisions, no one listened to us. They isolated this muthafucka and restricted the use of his medical chart. I did get a chance to see that they had put him on some treatment meds, and some other meds to fight off bacteria. When I last heard his CD4 count was up to 34.

I couldnt get this guy out of my head. On the last day of the rotation, I went and got my own HIV test. I have been getting tested now for a little over 10 years. Since moving to DC I get tested every 3 months. Went to Whitman-Walker over on 14th street. Some perky white bitch came bouncing up asking me if I was ready to be tested. No bitch don't you see I'm nervous!!!?? I need a shot of Hennesy first bitch. She did a finger stick and sent me out to wait 20 minutes. Those 20 minutes are always nerve wrecking. I consider myself safe but as we all know condoms are not 100% safe. I once had this nigga that ripped off the condom after a hot session of loving and bust on my back. Guess where the nut ran? Down the crack of my ass. I was mad as a motherfucka. I was last tested in January. Three months later: my test came back negative. What a relief.

I watched one of my favorite uncles die from "AIDS related complications". It truly broke my heart. It was also the first time I saw my dad totally loose it. I have pondered may times what would I do if I got that news? I do get my fuck on and know that I am at risk. Would I go out with dignity or pick one of the many drugs I've studied, take all I can get my hands on and call it a day? The one thing that I am truly sure of is that I would not continue to put others at risk because of my foolishness. Thats the reason I continue to be as safe as I know how and get tested regularly.

Once I become a licensed pharmacist I hope to somehow fight the progression of this disease. And one day when I am old, gray, dick won't get hard no more and senile, I hope to see it beat.