Sven Writes on T-Cells
Sven, from Los Angeles, who was diagnosed as HIV+ in July 2001, argues the case for combining routine HIV tests with regular monitoring of a healthy person’s CD-4 cell count (the blood cells, also called T-cells, which combat HIV).
“HIV is one heck of a complicated virus."
It is complicated because it becomes attached to so many different parts of any one person who contracts it. It is a physical virus as it alters the make up of your blood and changes the way your body acts and reacts. It is a mental virus as it affects and changes the way you feel about yourself and your place in life. It adds an entirely new level of stress to your life and forces you to develop and expand your coping skills for living.
It is a psychological virus as it brings forth behavioral changes in the way you live your life. It is a humanitarian virus as it exposes the truth, compassion, prejudice and ignorance of those people directly involved in your life.
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And last, but so not meant to be the least; it is a mathematical and statistical anomaly that demands to be treated as a factual, but false, baseline.
The day I found out I was HIV+ was the day my blood stopped being a mere fluid running through my body and instead became a statistical variable, being ruled by percentages, fluctuations, increases and constants. It became one of the most frustrating and irritating issues for the accountant in me.
There are two major players in my blood that cause this: my CD-4 count and my viral load. My CD-4 count (also known as T-cells) is the count of good, HIV fighting, blood cells my body has in its war against the enemy: HIV. The viral load represents the percentage of HIV virus present in a drop of blood. (If you are lucky it is as small as the percentage of intelligence in Bush’s brain. If not, it can be as high as the current increase in gasoline prices.)
The normal range for T-cells in a human body is between 400-1500, depending on the person (involving genetics, DNA, bodily make up, health, etc, etc.) By itself this range is perfectly fine and acceptable, nothing wrong or complicated about it. Then you test HIV+ and the proble m starts. My first T-cell count after testing HIV+ came back at 402. In the last three years that number has fluctuated between 402 down to 289, to 359, 459 and finally last week I came in at 506 T-cells.
Am I excited about this number? You better believe I am because I have never been above 500 since the day I found out I was HIV+. The problem and frustration comes with the fact that I have no baseline to compare this number against. The only number I have to compare this against; to determine if this is a good or a bad number; is the count I had when I first tested HIV. This is in fact a false baseline because I don’t know what my count was from when I was HIV negative. Did I have a T-cell count of 700; 400; 1000 or 1500?
If I had a count of 500 for most of my life, then the 506 is an amazing accomplishment for my body and I am now in fact “stronger” than ever before. I have not lost any T-cells; I recruited some new ones to help me out. But what if I had 1500 T-cells when I was HIV+? I then instead have to face the fact that my body has lost 66% of its good little soldiers.
I may have always been at around 500-600 T-cells my life; in which case the latest count of 506 resembles an wonderful tribute to my ability to continue fighting HIV as well as the potency of the medications I am on. If I, before July 5 2001, was prancing through life with 1400 soldiers on my side, then HIV has truly taken a big toll on my body and has advanced far more than it should have. It may prompt me to talk with my doctor about maybe changing my medications and seeing what else I can do to cut it off at the pass.
Any sexually active person hopefully goes in to their doctor twice a year for an HIV test. And I hope and pray that all of them come back as negative each time. But what if we start measuring our CD-4 count at the same times we go in for our routine HIV tests? At least that way we would be able to establish a true and accurate baseline.
Then, if that dark moment arrives and you find out your entire future has changed, you will have a true measuring point of how healthy you once were.
My name is Sven”
http://www.mynameissven.com
As you can see from this article, written especially for this web site, Sven is a gifted writer and is seeking a publisher for his work (some of which can be viewed at his own site). Anyone interested can contact Sven via the contact page.
