HIV/AIDS Blog Central: Perspectives From the HIV/AIDS Community

I am excited and very hopeful! Estoy feliz y con mucha esperanza.

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Random thought ... well, not really random. I guess I am just thinking about my life, and the passing 'years', not just last year, but the past "years"; and I wish I could find my psych report. I will before the week is out (if I remember), so that I can find the exact quote that psychiatrist used.

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I blog a lot about relationships but not so much about friendships. For sure they can be as wonderful and toxic as a "relationship." I was thinking a lot about friendship because the girl in the apartment up over me was at it again. There is always some kind of drama and it typically begins in the wee hours of the morning.

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My name is Devarah 'Dee' Borrego, and I'm a 28-year-old, HIV+ transwoman originally from Denver, Colorado, who grew up mostly in suburban Connecticut. I acquired HIV at age 20; the same year as I began my transition. I've been living in the Boston area since 2004 where I've worked with and at a number of different community organizations in the Boston area, including JRI Health, TransCEND, the Boston Living Center and Cambridge Cares About AIDS. I'm also a polyglot – I speaks Spanish, French, Norwegian, American Sign Language, and a variety of other languages to various degrees.

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One man, 10 women, 11 kids and a reality show. Sounds like a bad joke but alas it is real. All My Babies Mamas is a one-hour television special that is scheduled to air on the Oxygen network in the Spring. The show is focused around Carlos Walker, an Atlanta-based rapper, and his 10 babies mamas. Yes! Carlos aka "Shawty Lo" is a sexually active straight Black male who has successfully impregnated 10 women. Obviously there isn't much safe sex practices being performed. There are so many places to go with this that I hardly know where to begin. However, this page is devoted to HIV/AIDS so let's stick with that.

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So many people think that you are only sick when you first become infected with HIV and that is simply not true. Part of living with HIV can be dealing with nausea related to HIV as well as from the medications we take to control the HIV.

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The past 3 weeks have been an awful time for me. I have been fighting depression, and trying to get back home where I belong. I have been slowly descending into drinking to fight the depression, which also led my wife into kicking me out of our home.

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This World AIDS Day I remember all those I've known who are infected with this disease and who have passed because of it. I was lighting my candle and a lot of faces went through my mind. Today was a day of remembrance and I stood silent. But I also left my house and took a long walk to clear my head of things. I found a clearing in a wooded area where I live and sat in the earth. I meditated and felt as if they were here with me. I want to tell them and you all that they will not be forgotten. I will always hold a candle for them, I will always run the AIDS Walk/5K Run, and I will always remember.

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What can I say? He's my son and he's using condoms and being responsible. I wasn't really happy that he said that to me, but happy that he's using condoms.

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The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently released its report on Sexually Transmitted Diseases for 2011. Sadly, there are few surprises. With a total of 1,412,791 cases, Chlamydia trachomatis infection remains the STD leader. This figure is the largest number of cases ever reported to CDC for any condition and represents an increase of 8.0% compared with the rate in 2010. The national gonorrhea rate increased as well after over a decade of fluctuation and/or decline. However, the greatest concern about the "clap," as we used to call it, is its increasing resistance to the medications commonly used to treat it, cephalosporins and azithromycin.

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