This blog is about having a heartfelt conversation with my powers at be & celebrating this temporal life of mine in the good & the bad. Real intent is about keeping it real & living authentically; jumping over the moon is about letting go of the bondage of self and opening our experiences to something wholly new. I combined all my blogs into one when I started the #IAmKat series as i share pieces of my book and journey
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Why I advocate PREP
I am an HIV+ woman and I am a PREP supporter and advocate. While I am empowered these days because of HIV and I choose a better life, HIV still scares me. I know how HIV can and can not be contracted, I know all about condoms, protections, and lube. The fact is the human condition plays an integral part. I want love in my life, to be loved and to love so why should I limit myself to the thinking I can only find happiness only with another person who is positive. Any relationship I am in my partner will have to be a PREP user. Why? is it because I am looking to party, act irresponsible, or simply looking for an easy way out? In fact it is the exact opposite, it is being responsible. Condoms break, sometimes or often times in the heat of passion especially in relationship or marriage you get caught up in the ecstasy of the moment, but more importantly I need another barrier whether condoms are used or not to protect the one I love from experiencing the pain, sickness, and problems I experience being HIV+.
What is PREP? “PrEP” stands for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. The word “prophylaxis” means “to prevent or control the spread of an infection or disease.” PrEP is a way for people who don't have HIV to prevent HIV infection by taking a pill every day. The pill contains two medicines that are also used to treat HIV.
I use to be on the opposite side of the fence regarding PREP and used arguments such as resistance to the drugs, the lack of adherence. Even if one misses a couple of doses the risk of contracting is slightly lower. The thing is PREP is agreement that while I take my meds and stay undetectable which makes the chances low without PREP, but with PREP it adds to the intimacy and almost completely takes HIV out of the equation.
HIV is not a gift, it is a life changer, a strain on a relationship and giving it to a partner creates hostility even when it is not intentional. Even with open communication HIV doesn't have to have the power. In the early fight we lost family, friends, loved ones, our communities. Because of the warriors of the early fight we have Knights taking a stand and fighting for the right that every person has a chance. If we had a pill 30 years ago, that if offered that would prevent or greatly reduce the risk of contracting it there would have been a line out the door to receive this pill so that people would not have to live in fear. Today we have that pill and people in our own community, who are insecure about themselves and feel that people can not care for themselves, are instilling fear and stigma around something that is saving lives. Why would people not want a solution? The reason, HIV is profitable. Careers have been built around 3 decades of work in fighting for a cure and around prevention. What happens when HIV transmission rates decline? Testing center doors and focus declines, the need for services drop, jobs are phased out, for a disease its a good thing but for wallets its not. Prep takes away funding as numbers decrease and the need decreases. Prep gives people a fighting chance when individuals lie about their HIV status. Prep gives options and allow people a chance to love who they wish and take a barrier away from those of us who are Positive to no longer be something that is bio-hazard, but to become once again simply people and human.
HIV and stigma no longer has to be something to fear, but we need those within our own community to stop selling us out. Our lives are not for sale. I'm sorry, it is a good thing if HIV services fade out to lack of need as well as drug companies lose a major source of revenue. After all aren't we suppose to be saving lives, giving the next generation a better chance and future. PREP gives life, PREP gives hope, PREP is love, PREP is not a Party drug, its a solution until there is a cure.
Lady Katerina
NSFW. The healing stages of a neo vagina after SRS (first 33 days)
Friday, February 27, 2015
36 Questions to Bring You Closer Together
I found this research thanks to last night's episode of "The Big Bang Theory- S8 Ep16-The Intimacy Acceleration"
These questions only take about 45 minutes to discuss—and they almost always make two people feel better about each other and want to see each other again, according to social psychology researcher Arthur Aron of the Interpersonal Relationships Lab at Stony Brook University in New York, who published his results in "The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness" inPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin(1997).
For full text of research follow this link and download full PDF for free
http://m.psp.sagepub.com/content/23/4/363.abstract
You can try these questions with a date, but they're not necessarily only applicable to fostering romance. You can also try them with people you already know well—friends, family members, even long-term partners—to deepen your ties
Here they are, in order:
1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?
3. Before making a phone call, do you ever rehearse what you're going to say? Why?
4. What would constitute a perfect day for you?
5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you choose?
7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?
8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.
9. For what in your life do you feel mostgrateful?
10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
11. Take four minutes and tell you partner your life story in as much detail as possible.
12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability, what would it be?
13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?
14. Is there something that you've dreamt of doing for a long time? Why haven't you done it?
15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?
16. What do you value most in a friendship?
17. What is your most treasured memory?
18. What is your most terrible memory?
19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?
20. What does friendship mean to you?
21. What roles do love and affection play in your life?
22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items.
23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people's?
24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?
25. Make three true "we" statements each. For instance, "we are both in this room feeling..."
26. Complete this sentence "I wish I had someone with whom I could share..."
27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know.
28. Tell your partner what you like about them: be honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you've just met.
29. Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life.
30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?
31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already.
32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?
33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven't you told them yet?
34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?
35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?
36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner's advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.
... and a few variations:
If you could choose the sex and physical appearance of your soon-to-be-born child, would you do it?
Would you be willing to have horrible nightmares for a year if you would be rewarded with extraordinary wealth?
While on a trip to another city, your spouse/lover meets and spends a night with an exciting stranger. Given that they will never meet again, and could never otherwise learn of the incident, would you want your partner to tell you about it?