Full Time Job

So you have been diagnosed, both with HIV and with opportunistic infections. You are scared I know. You are confused. What's your next step?

Simple. Get well fast! Do everything to be strong again so you can fight HIV and your opportunistic infections.

You want to know what I did before?

Well, after I found out that I have HIV and pneumonia, I told myself that I have to fight back and get myself better. I talked to myself in front of the mirror and I said that I will just focus ONLY on my illness and not think of anything else. I said it will be my priority, that it will be my "full time job" for at least 3 months.

I stopped working. Even though I love my job, I told myself that I can't focus on my health and my job at the same time. One has to be sacrificed. I stayed at home and just stayed focused on my goals. I ate 6x a week with a good balanced diet. I told myself that nourishing my body will make it recuperate faster. I ate everything, basically in the fridge, however. I gained 10 pounds in 2 weeks. My bizarre notion that I will be ugly and thin boosted my energy to eat a lot. I started meditating to calm down my nerves. I did 30 minutes of either yoga or tai-chi or qi gong at home with the help of DVD instructional materials every day. A sound mind, I believed promotes a sound body. Calmness in my mind somehow helped me recuperate my physical body. I did exercise with stationary bike and small dumbbells. I did functional training and circuit training at home. I slept like 8-10 hours a day. After a month, I went back to the gym and worked out like crazy again. Sleeping is a good immune system booster since it helps your body to get the good amount of sleep it needs after a bot of physical illness.

Medical wise, I told myself that I would believe in all my doctors and all my medicines, which I did. I did what all my doctors told me to do and I always asked them first before I take anything that I read in the internet or what other pozzies told me to take to boost up my immune system. I stayed away from crowded places. I tried not to be sick! I did all my best to have a better hygiene to avoid getting sick. I studied all opportunistic infections and tried my best to avoid them. I didn't even have sex even with my partner for 3 months.

I believed in the power of my ARV's and the power of adherence. I never missed a dose or have been late in taking doses of my ARVs. I prepared everything, from the timer in my phone and my alarms at home, my pill boxes and my notebook of side effects. I had a mentality that my ARV's are my lifeline and I should not take them for granted. I take them at exactly the same tim, every night at 10pm even up to now.

When I was alone before and resting, I try to read everything about HIV and AIDS but I always ask my doctor so my knowledge won't confuse me every time. Knowledge is power but too much information can also be a bad stress so I try to learn from the information but still I calm myself.

I started to have a positive outlook in life. Depression can lower down my immune system and it won't help me get better. I followed what my older brother told me: to live my life to the fullest, to love other people and not think bad things about people. He told me to try to not put myself in situations wherein negative vides will come in. He told me to just abando that situation because it is not good for me. He was absolutely right!

Not to brag or anything but my "full time job" was fruitful. My CD4 jumped from 70 to 487 in eight months. All my doctors were shocked and happy for me. They all said that I did a pretty good job! Coming from a low CD4 count that was AMAZING!

Well, worth the time right? During that period too I never got sick, just minor illnesses like 3 bouts of cold and one time sore eyes (pink eyes, in the Western world) and that was it.

Getting well is indeed a FULL TIME JOB. I know a lot of pozzies have a hard time doing this, to quit his or her job, to prioritize his health, to not get sick, to not exercise, to not get enough sleep, to stick to ARV adherence, to follow doctor's orders, to have a positive outlook despite our illness.  But it is the only best thing that we can do for ourselves so why not sacrifice for sometime.

We have to stay committed to getting better. A good body and mind is always a good start for a good future.

So what are you waiting for????  Get "employed" now. You are more than qualified for the job!

FOR TOPIC SUGGESTIONS, please email me at pozziepinoy@yahoo.com

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