Blog #9

QOTW #9
I had to actually talk to my friend Becky before I wrote my response because I wanted to make sure she would be there for me if I told her I was HIV positive. She laughed at me, and reassured me that she would never let me go through anything alone. It is so important to have someone you can run to when times get tough, and I have been lucky enough to find an entire group of girls at UCF. If something drastic happened to me I know I would not have to do it alone. I think it would be hard for me to tell my mom because she would immediately think that I was having sex with random guys. I would not be able to tell my mom until months after I found out.

M&M Assignment I found it extremely difficult to remember to take the pills faithfully. I even set my alarm on my cell phone and still forgot several times. I think I would be doing more harm to myself if I started taking medications because I would never take them at the correct time. I learned a lot from this assignment, and I hope if I was really in the position that I could focus on taking the pills correctly.

Did You Know?!?! A London nurse died 7 years after she accidentally pricked herself with an HIV infected needle. Tests showed that she had an African strain of HIV resulting from the HIV positive patient. Juliet Young died of pneumonia at the age of 42. This article had a posting section for readers to write their input, and I saw that one person wrote that they accidentally prick themselves all the time!! If it is constantly happening, then I would only assume that I was doing something wrong. Who wants to keep getting pricked by used needles and not find a different way of doing it? I just found that post crazy and wanted your opinion.. :)

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message504536/pg1

Blog #8

Another week has passed by so fast! I did not get sick at all during the winter, and now I have had strep throat for two weeks straight. I have been stressed out with a new promotion at work, and trying to finish with my head above water in school that I think I forgot to take care of myself. School and work is important, but we all need to stop and remember to eat and hydrate ourselves. With only weeks left until the summer, the stress has never been piled up so high in my life. I hope you all are staying healthy!!

QOTW #8
I absolutely loved the topic this week. We forget about the seniors in our community, and they are the ones that need our help the most. It would take a lot for my granfather to admit to me that he is HIV positive, so I would do everything I could to help him. If he doesn't want me to tell anyone I won't, but I would remind him that it would be easier for him if he had a large support group. He needs to be able to talk to his family when he is having health problems, and there is only so much I can do with school and work.

Quiz #1
I am really nervous about our quiz this week. I want to try to study as much as I can for it, but at the same time I do not want to burn myself out. I will probably need until the very last day to take it because it scares me that we only have one chance to take it. My grade is not terrible in this class, and I am going to do what I can to get a good grade on this quiz.

Did You Know?!
According to the NY Times, 800,000 medical professionals are accidently pricked with used needles each year (Accidental Needle Prick, 2010). "According to the Johns Hoopkins study, medical schools discourage students from reporting incidents of accidental pricks, which increases the risk of silent malpractice through infection" (Accidental Needle Prick, 2010). I think it is crazy for schools to tell students not to report needle pricks because then students would fear getting on immediate medications. What would the schools do if they did report the inceidents? Would they punish the students? I do not understand the thinking of these schools because this could be a major reason why HIV is spreading in hospitals.

Blog #7

Hello group!! I can not believe how fast spring break went by. I kind of get an extra spring break because Monday I came down with strep throat. I let it get so bad that I can not even swallow :(. I at least was able to take a road trip to Auburn, Alabama with my friend Becky last week, and I went to the beach several times. I hope everyone was safe and enjoyed the relaxation!





Movie Assignment I found that the movie assignment summed up everything that we have been learning the last several weeks. I also liked how each movie looked at HIV from a different angle. What I did not like was that they kept saying people had AIDS; therefore, it messed up my written assignment because I just wrote what they were saying. My favorite one was Common Threads due to that fact that it allowed us to see how many people have died during that time. I do not understand why the government let it get so bad, and how the United States could be completely ignorant of what was occurring around them.

Did You Know?! Did you know that in 2008 a man sued the Beijing's Ditan Hospital because an HIV contaminated needle dropped on his foot (Mu, 2008). While he was visiting a friend in the hospital, a nurse had dropped the needle that was used to draw blood from an HIV positive patient. The victim bled upon contact. The hospital offered three months worth of anti-viral treatment that caused him to be dizzy and have hair loss. I find it to be ridiculous that this could possibly happen. I showed you guys pictures of different needles that could help eliminate this problem, and I think hospitals everywhere need to spend the necessary money to protect themselves and their patients. The hospital refused to pay for emotional distress.


Mu, E. (2008, December 26). Man sues hospital. Retrieved from http://www.danwei.org/front_page_of_the_day/man_pricked_by_hiv_contaminate.php