tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post7346942738144025116..comments2024-03-18T12:22:54.723-04:00Comments on Stayin' Alive: Now let's get real hereCervanteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-82914836357375147212009-01-04T14:23:00.000-05:002009-01-04T14:23:00.000-05:00i'm glad you wrote this. as a lay person who has ...i'm glad you wrote this. as a lay person who has lived in or near san francisco for all but 5 years since 1979, i know that this is true: that HAART therapy changed everything.<BR/><BR/>whole communities were devastated, during the worst of it. the s.f. gay men's chorus lost 250 of its members in the '80's and '90's; the losses were on an unimaginable scale. and that is not happening now. <BR/><BR/>a friend we all thought had little time left 12 years ago is still around, feeling far better than he could have imagined and still raising some hell [in a professional sense]. [OK, he also has a wicked sense of humor, but that wasn't sufficient to pull him through, back in the bad days.]<BR/><BR/>i remember in the early years, before drug cocktails made such a difference, people would choose to abandon therapy. the choice they made was that the treatment was worse than a sooner death. that may still be true for some folks -- the side effects are nothing to sneeze at, and may be intolerable for some. i think that is a legitimate choice if it is informed, just as it might be for a cancer patient deciding enough with the chemo. <BR/><BR/>the key, though, is making an informed decision. there have been cancer quacks for as long as there has been cancer; no reason it should be different with HIV/AIDS. and -- these illnesses are different and progress differently for each individual -- so, there are bound to be some miraculous circumstances for a lucky few, but the odd anecdote or few does NOT invalidate the way the diseases generally perform in humans over the course of the illness.kathy a.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14479337952651746193noreply@blogger.com