I must say, I hope that I never truly need to take pills like I did in last week's simulation for the rest of my life. I sympathize for the people who are depending on these medications to sustain their life, however taking a few pills a day is not a steep price when it comes to life. This past week was a real eye opener when it comes to the average day of an HIV positive person. The simulation gave me a small sample of one of the daily routines, and necessities of people with this disease. During the week of the simulation I was actually rather sick with some kind of sinus infection. The doctor that I went and saw prescribed for me three different kinds of medication to take, including an antibiotic. Needless to say, the fact that I actually was sick made it a lot easier for me to remember to take all my medication/M&M's. Overall I would describe the simulation as somewhat as a nuisance. It didn't bother me that I had to take fake pills, but rather it was the fact that it had to be done at specific times with certain conditions. I found myself checking the list that told me when/how to take my pills several times before I actually started to remember it. I'm glad we did the simulation as an assignment, its just one more piece of knowledge that helps us understand the HIV disease.Did You Know...
HIV affects the lives of teenagers all the time. This weeks QOTW made me want to talk about this one news article that I found that describes the effects of stigma on high school students. Fifty students at the Normandy high school in Missouri were escorted to the gym to be given an HIV test, after and HIV positive person told officials that kids could have been exposed to the virus. Teachers pointed out kids that may have been exposed, and were taken for testing. One girl that was pointed out as a possible candidate for having HIV was later dumbed that night by her boyfriend just before the homecoming dance. Just goes to show the affect of the virus on the lives of others. I though this article was relevant to the QOTW because if there was a plan in effect that monitored HIV positive people, then maybe this incident could have been avoided.(HIV)
Web: HIV. (2008) retrieved November 11, 2009, from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,443715,00.html
I do see the connection of the high school incident with the QOTW. It is kind of ridiculous that school officials would go about handling the situation in this manner. It should not be everyone's business who is getting an HIV test done. It is sad that her boyfriend dumped her, but it shows the ignorance of people.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad the M&M simulation is over! It was annoying having to remember to take the pills. I would rather be annoyed and take the pills than to die. A was a good experience.
The good thing is now with the current medications some people only have to take one pill a day instead of the very harsh medicine regimen that they had to deal with in the previous years. I couldn't possibly imagine back to my high school years and actually having a situation like that take place, quite a scary scenario. That is a big wake up and in the future we must take very good care to try and help our children to stay away from behaviors and situation that might cause them to contract the virus.
ReplyDelete