 Credit: CNN |
"November 19th, 1995 I got sick, and I got sick with a very, very strange flu that I felt at the time was probably the initial infection, the initial illness associated with HIV. I assumed I was positive at that time. I procrastinated a little bit because I didn't realize that there was any treatment even possible . . . "
"February 1st, I was checked into Rockefeller Hospital, and started treatment."
"I've had friends who have died, friends that I've cared very much about, and that had an effect on me. It makes one realize that what -- that the young are just as mortal as the old, which is hard for someone in their 20s to grasp. One thinks you will live forever. Becoming positive, it changed my perspective on my friends who were positive, my friends who had AIDS, and my friends who have died. It's a very strange feeling. It brings another sense of reality. It's almost like joining a club that I didn't want to join, and I don't know how to describe it otherwise."
"In February, they're going to do a biopsy of the lymph nodes, or lymph node in my neck. They've also discussed doing biopsies of the colon. I know I'll be doing the one of the neck. What they're trying to do is find out if the virus, even though it's undetectable in our blood, they're trying to find out if the virus is hiding anyplace else."