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SOUTHERN. VOICE
JULY 15/1993
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The Healing Center
We can't change the fact that you have AIDS,
but maybe we can help you change how you
live and cope with the challenges your
disease presents you.
Dedicated to Emotional and Spiritual Healing
A Multi-disciplinary Holistic Approach
based on Commonweal Model
At a loss for a way to help someone with AIDS?
How about a gift of a Retreat at The Healing
Center?
Next Retreats:
• July 30-August 1,1993 •
• August 30-September 3, 1993 •
in Beautiful Lake Lanier Area
6111 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd. Suite E-102
Atlanta, GA 30328 (404) 396-2570
You Are Not the Sore Throat
in Room 3
We do our job by listening to your personal concerns and using
our expertise to help you reach your health goals.
We know how to listen and we know how to help you with
comfortable lifestyle design. It’s very personal stuff; it's for whole
people; and it’s worth doing.
Call us. Today is a good day to take another step.
13 Corporate Square
Suite 107, Atlanta
325-2273
STOSH OSTROW, M.D.
General Practice
LONG TERM SURVIVING
DAVID STANLEY
AZT not always as useless
as it is made out to be
The first week of October, 1982,1 met a
tall, blond, blue-eyed, 23-year-old named
John in a Denver bar. He was gorgeous. He
took a liking to me, and we agreed to go to
somewhere more private. Before we left,
however, he told me that he had the “Gay
Plague,” which was Kaposi’s Sarcoma. He
repeated what had been on the national news,
which was that this medical condition, also
becoming known as AIDS, was not prob
ably being spread by any sexual act but was
probably a result of heavy use of butyl ni
trate “poppers” and use of other recreational
drugs.
That being the belief, and both of us
being between jobs, we embarked on a two-
week fling, where we did lilde else but cal
and have sex. It was only a few months after
our fling when the news came that AIDS
was spread through sex. I knew then that I
was probably infected.
I relate this story to pinpoint my infec
tion. I have spoken to a couple of sex part
ners from before my fling with John, and
they say they remain HIV negative, so the
odds are overwhelming that I was infected
by John.
It would appear, then, that I’ve been
infected for almost eleven years. It was Au
gust, 1985 when my first KS lesions ap
peared, so I have had full blown AIDS for
eight years.
One of the more curious aspects of
Kaposi’s Sarcoma is that it can appear long
before the T4 cell count drops very much.
When I was diagnosed, I still had a T4 count
above 800, and it still hit above 800 on
occasion when I started AZT, some four
years after being infected.
When an HIV infected individual has a
T4 cell count of above 800, he or she is
generally considered as being in the early
stages of infection, regardless of the years
that have passed.
It was early, then, in my infection, that I
began aggressive treatment with AZT. I ex
perienced several problems after we added
Interferon, but we worked them out, and
now I’m in fine shape.
I have now been taking AZT for over six
and half years and Interferon for over six
years, yet the repons on the news keeps
repeating that AZT loses any effectiveness
after a couple years. There was a French
report at the recent Berlin AIDS conference
that early use of AZT did nothing to lengthen
lives. Another report at the conference, this
one by Dr. Margaret Fischl of the University
of Miami, said that combination therapy, in
which two drugs were used together, resulted
in only slight improvement in patients.
My initial reaction to these reports is that
these guys arc all idiots. If I had not started
these drugs, as early as I did, 1 would have
died long ago. I have been taking AZT, prob
ably, as long as anyone on Earth. How can
they possibly say its use should only be tem
porary or that it doesn’t lengthen lives? I’ve
consumed almost three pounds of the stuff.
Sure it has some toxic effects, but it’s pos
sible to work through them.
Then again, I have to remind myself that
something about me is different Of the origi
nal 41 patients in the combined AZT-lntcr-
feron study, I’m the last one who remains
active. Not all of the others have died, but
none of the others have been able, for one
reason or another, to remain on both drugs.
Usually, it’s AZT they have to quit because
their health was declining.
Sometimes, I feel guilty to have done so
well, when others continue to fall ill and die.
The most frustrating experience I’ve ever
had was watching my brother, Phil, die. Noth
ing we tried had any posidve effect on him. 1
really hoped that my being a guinea pig would
save him, so that he wouldn’t have to suffer
or die.
But the quesdon remains. Why me? There
has to be an answer to this quesdon that can
be applied to others. 1 continue to volunteer
for any research I can, the most recent being
a study of L-Camitene as a treatment of
muscle damage by long term use of AZT. No
research I’ve been near, however, has ad
dressed the above question. Why me? I am
left, alone, to document in these columns
anything and everything that I do that might
have some positive effect. Maybe it’s just
one thing I do, or maybe it’s everything.
Now that the Republicans no longer dic
tate die research budgets, perhaps some grants
will encourage more study of long term sur
vivors, such as myself. If Emory University
can be convinced to finally begin some AIDS
research, my year in Florida will be over in
February, and I will be available to diem.
This is work that must be done if answers
are to be found, and this kind of research, it
seems to me, shouldn’t.be expensive. A staff
of about three observant researchers and a
computer should be able to determine some
thing of value. Isn’t it time that Emory de
votes some time to this? Are people dying
unnecessarily because facilities at Emory arc
not being uulizcd for this purpose? Isn’t it
ume Emory tries?
Do you have a swimming pool
in your backyard? We do
TroiiiY
SQUARE
apartments
>• swimming pool/fitncss center
>- washer and dryer in each apt.
>■ outside storage
>■ free 24-hour monitored
intrusion alarm
609 Virginia Avenue
(404) 874-5512
Property professionally managed by
Trammell Crow Residential Services.