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I too have been HIV+ since 1988, and had a history of ulcerative colitis crohn's disease. My doctors were worried about numerous cancers that were possible. After years of stress diarrhea and surgeries, I finally had a full proto-colectomy and ileostomy.(My rectum and large intestine were removed) This is often done to stop the spread of many cancers of the digestive tract. I was very worried how this would affect me and my HIV treatments. It kept me alive and undetectable. You can too.
Thank you for your sharing about your dual diagnosis. An friend since childhood has anal cancer that returned after years of being in remission. Like you, my friend is a straight woman. She has a supportive husband and a daughter in university. My friend decided, like you, to be open with friends about her illness now and this helps her in many ways, but especially emotionally. Good luck and best wishes!
Anonymous**
My partner has also been living with HIV since the late 1980s and we are very very quiet about it. He was doing well for years until he developed interstitial lung disease due to rheumatoid arthritis. After being turned down at many transplant centers simply because of his HIV, he had a successful double lung transplant only to find out he had lung cancer in his old lungs, discovered post transplant. It has since spread to his mediastinum. This cancer has been almost as stigmatizing.
April 8, 2024