Stickman Readers' Submissions August 21st, 2004

HIV Is Real

BACKGROUND:

I am now 25. I am a regular to Bangkok. I have been importing various products from Thailand to Australia for one and a half years now. More recently I have teamed up with my expat uncle to start a local Thai company to import things into
Thailand retailing them in the Central shopping centres. We also have another company set up to acquire land. I am a reasonably happy, level headed guy. (I’m author of a previous submission, Photography within Gogo Bars on the 23/10/2003)

He Clinic Bangkok

MY STORY:

I did a trip to Thailand and the Philippines in April 2004. The trip was pretty much strictly business because we were in the middle of acquiring a lovely piece of waterfront land in Prachup Kiri Khan (a fantastic farang free area) and I
wanted to view some Philippine manufacturers. (I might add these ones were very dodgy!!)


Prachup Kiri Khan

CBD bangkok

In amongst this I caught up with some of my good friends in Thailand and had some great dates with non-commercial ladies. There is something great about getting driven around on a date by your lady….watching them calmly navigate the wild ebbs and
flows and other hazards that only Thailand has!

In her Mercedes on the way to Pattaya! Navigating hazards!

A good number of the non-commercial ladies took me out on the date….and paid for the meal out which was pretty cool and a few invited me back to their house!! Another took me away for a weekend at Pattaya!….she paid for the hotel and drove me there
in her new Mercedes and that was a magnificent, wild weekend. This trip I tried to minimise my exposure to the commercial lady industry, however it got the better of me from time to time…..

After having plans cancelled on me one night….. I ended up in a Patpong gogo bar. Next thing you know….. I was in a short time room and it was on. The condom broke….. She did not seem concerned and at the time I did not
think much of it. I showered after and grabbed a cab home.

wonderland clinic

The next commercial encounter was actually a few days later in Manila. I ended up in a bar…… I and was persuaded to use the services of a lovely. I was not drunk….. I was fully in control. She joined me at my hotel…….we
showered… and then it was on. I said to her… I will grab a condom. She said to me….don't worry about it. That was a definitive moment in my life………….. I think back to that moment and think
what an idiot I was. There was 1 round in the evening…..and 1 round in the morning…… No protection used. Again….. I really did not think too much about it at the time. That evening….I was on the plane bound for
Australia.

The weeks past and I thought nothing of it. Then all of a sudden I got sick. I had fatigue, fever, swollen lymph glands, sore throat, muscle aches and night sweats….I thought nothing of it and thought I would get better after a few days.

Five days flew past and I was still sick….. over those days a friend mentioned a scary story about a young fella of similar age to me who got drunk and had unprotected sex and contracted HIV. I decided to do a bit of research into
HIV and I got the shock of my life. My symptoms and timeframe perfectly matched that of HIV. Knowing what I had done overseas I became very scared.

The next few days past and a rash showed up over my body……this is yet another symptom of acute HIV infection. This then followed with yet another symptom of HIV and that is your ability to concentrate and short term memory fades
a touch. I had almost every symptom in the book for HIV.

My whole life was put on hold. I could not think anything else but HIV. Flashbacks would come to be about the definitive moment in the Manila hotel …..where I decided not to put the condom on. Over the next few weeks I visited every
HIV site and read every possible thing on it. This time was one of the scariest times of my life.

Did you know the following conservative estimates:

– 14,000 people are infected with HIV everyday …..that is 1 every 6 seconds.
– 2m people are now HIV
– Total HIV infections are doubling in Asia every 3 years and falling.

Three months went past with my life on hold. I decided to go to the doctor and get tested. He asked me why I felt I was at risk. I told him my story. He agreed there was a chance that I could have HIV.

A full STD test was done. Blood test and a swab from the penis was done. He also tested me for a resurgence of glandular fever and a few other things.

Results came in 4 days later. I rang the doctor up…… He was in a consultation.

I was put through to the head nurse who had my results. She said….. ‘Doctor X’ would like to discuss the results with you. My heart nearly stopped….. Then she went on to say…. ‘There is nothing serious!!!!!!!!!’
Relief…. It was the best thing I have ever heard.

It turned out to be an unrelated infection. I did not have any STDs whatsoever! I was placed on a strong course or antibiotics and made a full recovery 1 week later.

This was a huge wake up call. That was the longest 3 months I have ever experienced in my life. Looking back on it I was very very foolish to do what I did. I had risked everything with those whores…… All it takes is 1 HIV cell
to enter…. And that’s it……… Game over!

People say that you can live a normal life with HIV…..however taking 20-30 pills a day, regular viral load and other blood cell counts and having the constant knowledge that a killer virus is within would make life very unnormal in
my opinion.

I have decided now just to steer clear of the commercial scene all together. I will not place my life at risk with a whore. Plus given the other huge benefits of dating non-commercial women …… and given my age….there
is no need for me to even consider whores at this stage!

Readers please ….. I urge you to always practice safe sex with all commercial ladies and with non commercial ladies (if they are not your steady GF or wife!) I would not wish those 3 harrowing window period months on anyone …..or
a HIV + result.

Stickman's thoughts:

I have seen a few people go through that 3 month period, and they really suffered.


nana plaza