They went for an HIV test, just before their wedding. It was meant to be a routine test but the results shocked them to the core, changing their lives completely, Sarah B writes.
We got diagnosed on December 16, 2004. That was a terrible day. My fiancé and I went to a clinic to get our full STD screening. We just went because it was the right thing to do. Not because either of us thought we had anything. No signs or symptoms; nothing wrong. We had gotten the finger prick test. HIV testing done in 20 minutes. You know right then and there what your results will be.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit
I had been tested in June of that same year. Came back negative then, no reason to think different of this test. Boy was I wrong. Aids was something you killed with bleach on the floor, not something I could catch. Wrong. I caught it.
My fiancé is a bisexual man who’s gotten into fights before and worked as a chef (a clumsy one at that.) There’s no telling where the contaminated blood came from that got him sick, but it did. From somewhere, and then it got me. We went home that day in utter shock. Some tears were shed but not like you’d expect. I had no idea what this meant for me.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit
I got on the Internet and found horrible stories of what the medication could do to you, outdated information about death in the early 90s. Fear and hate spewing from my computer screen. We didn’t have insurance and we didn’t know where to turn. We needed to see a doctor but who? Where?
We got in contact with our local Aids assistance organisation and they helped us find a doctor and sign up for the state health programme. There was a long wait before we could see the doctor. Apparently, he was a busy man. That saddened me greatly but I couldn’t focus on much but myself at that point.home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit
By February 24, 2005 we had already gotten our blood drawn, now we were coming back to get the results. As we walked into the lobby the entire room was middle aged men. Most of them were Latino and African American. That’s not to say that they are in the majority, but in my town, at the time I went to that office, they were the only ones there. Mind you, I was a white 22-year-old woman at the time. I couldn’t have possibly felt more out of place. I wanted to turn tail and see about getting my results over the phone. I didn’t want to be in that office, that much was for sure. I felt like everyone was assuming I was just there to support my fiancée, and I was; but who was there to support me?home hiv test, hiv self test, home hiv kit