Still Learning

So another week has gone by in this class and I still feel like I am learning something new all the time. Last week our assignment was to choose a novel to read and write a reflection paper answering some key questions about the text. I like to read so I figured this would be a fun assignment. The book I chose was called At Risk by Alice Hoffman. It followed the lives of an average American family, the Farrells. The Farrells consist of the parents Polly and Ivan, and their two children Charlie and Amanda. Everything seems normal in their lives when one day Amanda is diagnosed with AIDS. Several years earlier she received a blood transfusion that contained HIV positive blood. The book follows their lives and how each of them react to Amandas diagnosis.
As sad as this book was, it was also very eye opening. Throughout the entire book, Amanda's demise was evident. She continued getting sicker and sicker, while her family kept falling more and more apart. This really made me think about my family and how they would react if this situation happened to one of us. Could we all just stand by while one of our own was dying? It really made me realize how precious life is and hopefully something like this will never happen to me or anyone I know. The reality and sad part of this, is that that is not the case. Situations like this happen everyday, all around the world.

I also found some more statistics on HIV and children. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the city with the highest rate of pediatric AIDS is New York City. Followed by this are Miami, FL and Washington, DC.
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/hivchildren.htm

New Thoughts

This week our new Question of the Week question really got to me. Yes, they usually always make me think and evaluate a situation, but this week I got to evaluate someone other than myself. Our task was to interview three people that we knew about HIV and their thoughts on it. I asked my three roommates, mostly because we live together so I saw them first. I was actually very surprised at the responses that I got. Two of my roommates had very similar responses that almost mirrored mine exactly. I asked them if they believed that HIV was a problem in today's society and they both agreed that it was. I also asked them how they would feel if they discovered that they were HIV positive. Like me, they would be shocked and most likely devastated, but more importantly they would try to be as strong as possible and work through it. The responses of my two roommates weren't what struck me, but it was the actions of my third roommate that really made me wonder. I asked her the same questions as the other two, but instead of getting the response that I expected, she basically shrugged off the entire topic and told me that she didn't think that HIV was a problem at all. She felt that just because she didn't have HIV, she didn't need to worry about it. I was just very taken aback by how nonchalant she was about the entire thing. I almost wondered if I was being too hard on her because ever since I started taking this class I have been a little consumed with HIV and what it does to people. So instead of being a little less than nice to her, I just expressed my feelings about it in a nice way and I really encouraged her to take this class if she can. I know that it really helped me, and its not even half way over yet! More importantly, this topic made me wonder how many people in the world have this "don't care" attitude similar to my roommate's. Just something to think about.
Finally, I have been continuing my research on children with HIV/AIDS and I just wanted to share a few more very facts that I learned from the AIDS.org website (http://www.aids.org/factSheets/612-Children-and-HIV.html). I learned that two common ways that children become HIV positive are when they are born, their mothers pass the virus down to them and also through blood transfusions that are not screened. I was also very happy to read that there are some treatments for babies that are unborn. If a mother knows that she is HIV positive and gets proper medical care, there are medications called antiretroviral medications that can help. Anything that can help children is always a plus!
Talk to you next week!

The more you know.

Let me start off by saying, there is so much about HIV that I don't know. Last week I learned about all of the statistics involving HIV/AIDS. It absolutely blew my mind the effect that it is having on the world. Of course I hear celebrities and television shows endorsing how bad the fight again AIDS is and how everyone should help. But even me hearing other people talk about what an epidemic it is, I still had no idea how vast it was (even in my own country). One statistic from the Florida Department of Health that really stood out to me was that there are currently 116, 250 people living with AIDS in Florida. That's not just HIV, these people have full blown AIDS. It struck me so much because I have lived in Florida my entire life and have visited a lot of different cities. It made me wonder if I had ever met any of these people or just passed them by on the street. That was only one of the many, many statistics that stood out in my head. I encourage everyone to do a little research on it just to get a grasp on how serious it is.

Secondly, I wanted to learn a little more about HIV in children. This topic seems so heartbreaking to me because it is awful to have to see anyone suffer, especially children. Since I have only done a small amount of research on it, I just wanted to share some startling statistics that I found. I did a simple google search and found pages and pages of information on children with HIV. One particular website that I found to be extremely helpful was Avert. According to that website, at the end of 2007, 2 million children were living with HIV. A significant part of that 2 million will eventually die because of lack of treatment. This just made me incredibly sad and I look forward to doing more research to see what avenues are being taken to help these children.

Lastly, I wanted to share an organization called the Aids Health Project that helps HIV positive people cope with their situations. It is located in San Francisco, California and is a great place for HIV positive people to reach out to others and get help. The Aids Health Project offers many different support groups for many different people. Some of their groups cater to those living with HIV and also to those that are HIV-negative but are at risk. It is basically just a place to talk and meet other people but does not provide any other necessities such as food and shelter. Still, I know that if I was HIV positive I would really want a place where I could just reach out to someone and let them hear my story. I think it is a great organization. If anyone is interested in checking it out here is the link: http://www.ucsf-ahp.org/index.html

Talk to you next week!

First Experiences

My name is Sara and I know nothing about HIV (or at least I didn't two weeks ago). I am currently a junior in college and to be honest, I needed an elective to fill my schedule. I went into this course truly not caring about the disease because I thought it had no relevance in my life whatsoever (how wrong was I). It has only been a few weeks and already I have more of an understanding and appreciation for this disease and what is does to individuals.

For our first two assignments we had simulate what it would feel like if we had two of the symptoms that come with HIV. The first was thrush. In this simulation, I had to stuff cotton balls in my mouth and try to do the simple task of eating a cracker and swallowing water. I was surprised to find that I couldn't complete the task successfully. I could barely even chew let alone swallow the cracker and after the experiment was over I was left with a the feeling of defeat and a bad aftertaste! This was designed to help simulate how it feels to have thrush on a day to day basis. Some people suffering from it report that they feel like they have cotton in their mouths and even develop painful sores on the insides of their mouths.

The second simulation was supposed to depict PCP, Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia. During this experiment, I had to let one of my friends basically smother me with a pillow to simulate the effect of shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. These are two effects that are common among those suffering from PCP. After mere seconds, I felt myself struggling for air and wanting that simulation to be over immediately.

As much as I hated both experiences, it really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Before last week, I had never even heard of thrush or PCP, let alone how they can affect a person so much. Just learning about two of the many many side effects that go along with HIV I felt saddened for those who have to deal with them on a day to day basis. Participating in those two assignments really made me want to learn more about them and reach out to others that unlike me can't just spit out the cotton balls or take the pillow off my face. I am definitely looking forward to what the rest of the class brings, not only the countless information but also the people that I hopefully can learn from.