Understanding HIV/AIDS

     About eleven years ago, when I was eleven, I lost my Uncle Tim to AIDS. I remember when I was nine, I found out that my uncle had AIDS. Of course, I was too young to understand what HIV and AIDS actually was. I didn't know that this awful virus would claim my favorite uncle's life. I just knew that whatever AIDS was, my uncle had it and it was making him sick. I also observed that some of my older cousins, aunts, and uncles were crying more often when Tim was around. Over the next two years my uncle became ghastly pale and gaunt. He used to be somewhat on the chubby side, and now he had become no more than a skeleton with skin. One Christmas, Tim's last Christmas, he had an awful seizure (from his medication) that would claim the last of his strength, making him bedridden, and his ability to speak. I remember missing a lot of school due to my parents pulling us out early, or just not sending us at all. They knew deep down inside that we would not have Uncle Tim with us much longer. My Uncle Tim died early in the morning on February 5, 1997.

     I decided to write about this subject because I am currently writing an expository essay on HIV/AIDS. I was disgusted to find out that the local high school in my city has a large percentage of teens that have been tested positive for HIV. Statistics show that 86% of the teens, ages 14-18, at the high school have an STD. 90% of those STDs turned out to be HIV. I was even more appalled to find out that there are "houses" where curious (stupid) people go to purposely become infected with the HIV virus. They think that HIV would take forever to kill them. WRONG. There are several different strands of HIV out there in the world. Some are stronger than others. One strand might actually be so weak that a person can outlive it (but only with medication) while other strands can kill a person within four years. Here's a tip for those people who want to know about HIV/AIDS. Pick up a book about the deadly virus and read it.

     For all those people out there bed-hopping, here's a tip: KNOW your partner. I would just like to relay some information. People say "Use a condom" to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Well, let's see, a condom is made out of latex, right? Latex has natural wholes in it. Here's an interesting fact: the wholes in latex are approximately .1 to .7 millimeters wide. The HIV virus is approximately .005 millimeters wide. Hmmm, that must mean that a few hundred of the HIV virus' cells can easily slip through the wholes in the latex. That's a scary thought.

     I would like to get back to my Uncle Tim and explain his situation in a little more detail. Now, when my uncle was diagnosed with AIDS, the virus was fairly new and not too many people understood what it was. A lot of people think "If you have AIDS, you must be gay." That is totally wrong. Yes, a large percentage of people with AIDS are gay, not really lesbians, but the majority of people with HIV/AIDS are of course people in Africa due to the large outbreak and the fact that were not properly educated on how to control the spread of AIDS.

     Anyways, my uncle was not gay. He had come home one day to find that his girlfriend had packed his things and left them on the lawn after her new man had moved in. This was way of thanking him for helping her raise her kids for five years. He was so depressed that he packed up and left for a month to Northern California where he met some random chick, had a one night stand which resulted in him contracting HIV. He became sick (flu-like symptoms) on and off for the next couple of months. He went to the doctors to get medication, thinking he might have a little virus instead of the flu, and was recommended by the doctor to get tested for HIV. The first time he was tested, the test was negative. He continued to get tested for the next couple of months until he the result was finally positive, almost a year later. My uncle started to take medication for this awful virus. Now, people think that medication will help you to live longer. The question they don't ask themselves is: Do I want to live longer in agonizing pain? Unfortunately, in order to prolong their life, an HIV/AIDS patients must take medication that causes pain. Part of my research involved looking up medication used to prolong the life of HIV/AIDS patients. I was appalled in finding that most of the side-effects include, sensitive to touch (one of my uncle's side effects), internal bleeding, brain swelling, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, bleeding of the brain (I know, sounds crazy), and many other disgusting and seemingly painful side effects.

     The last couple of months, when my uncle was bedridden and unable to communicate, his brothers took turns in turning him over so that he wouldn't develop any bed sores. Well, they had neglected to turn him over for quite some time. When they finally went to turn him over, he had developed a bed sore on his left ear, causing a large chunk of his ear to fall off, causing my uncle to cry out in pain. The only reason I share this, is because I can not believe ho ignorant some people actually are in wanting to contract this virus on purpose.

     Tim eventually suffocated to death due to the fact that AIDS had killed his helper-t cells, allowing the cancer cells in hi body to multiply. He developed lymphnotic cancer (tumors) which actually developed in his throat and eventually grew so much they slowly closed off his airway, at first just making it difficult to eat solid food, and later completely closing off his airway, killing him. By the time my uncle died, he looked like one of Hitler's many concentration camp victims, a mere skeleton.

     I just wanted to share this story in order to let people know that this is not a virus that you want. If you want to know about it, don't purposely contract it in order to experience it first hand, just read about it. Go to the local hosptial and observe what the HIV/AIDS patients have to go through, living with this horrific virus.