My CD4 is 289

I have to apologize because I've been a delinquent blogger for the past few days, and the earliest I'm going to be able to write a longer entry is this Wednesday. Tomorrow I seriously need to start working on a report I've been procrastinating on for work, and I have an interview at a place near Makati. That and I'm planning to tell my Mom tomorrow that I have HIV, so it's going to be a busy day and possibly emotionally draining.

In the meantime, I went to RITM today and found out that my CD4 count is 289. Not bad because at least it means I don't have AIDS yet, but I do need to start ARVs as soon as possible. The doctors at RITM want me to finish my baseline tests first before I start the 14-day trial for the meds, so I'm not going be able to go back to Davao that quickly. I don't want to go back until I'm sure that the side effects aren't that bad. I met someone today at RITM who only started getting side effects after a month, so it might take a while before I'm in the clear, but we'll see. My landlady just said that my contract at the room I'm renting will end by July 31, so that might be a sign that I need to move here sooner rather than later.

I also told another friend today that I have HIV. Let's call her Susan. Before I told her, I said OK 3 things. You have to promise not to scream, you can't tell anyone else what I'm about to say, and you have to promise not to cry. So I showed her my western blot results, first by pointing to the part of the form with my real name and then pointing to the part where it said "HIV Positive". She was shocked for a minute then she started crying. I said hey, you promised not to cry and she said sorry but I can only do the first two things. We laughed and we talked for a bit. Susan was very supportive and asked if I needed anything and I said nah, just love. You've had that for a very long time now, she said. I am truly blessed with the best friends. I wish all pozzie people had my friends.

That's all for now. I will write a longer entry as soon as work stuff and my lab tests are out of the way. Thanks for reading. Stay safe and stay strong.