Kate
Kate was diagnosed with HIV when pregnant with her second child. She has had two children after her diagnosis. Excellent antenatal care, caesarean sections and baby formula, instead of breastfeeding, ensured that there was no transmission of the virus from mother to babies. Her current antiretroviral therapy (ART) is Atripla and her CD4 count is 600.
Kate was pregnant with her second child in 200, when she was diagnosed as HIV positive. Her diagnosis came as a shock; she didn’t know when she was infected and had had no symptoms to indicate that something was wrong with her. For Kate it took time to accept her diagnosis and, for about two years she lived secluded from others. She finally came to terms with her condition when, through Terence Higgins Trust, she met another HIV positive woman who had lived with HIV for more than twenty years and also had a child after diagnosis. Listening to her made Kate realised that to be HIV positive was not a death sentence.
Kate’s husband at the time was tested and found to be HIV negative, and he found it hard to accept his wife’s positive diagnosis. The marital relationship became strained and family life changed for the worse. He started to emotionally abuse her and didn’t miss an opportunity to demean her. For a while, they lived in the same house, but had separate lives until Kate couldn’t cope any more with his hostility and left the family home.
Kate feels that support, information and counselling should be extended to the partner of the person diagnosed with HIV to enable them to understand and cope with the diagnosis. She thinks that lack of accurate information greatly contributed to her husband’s negative attitude towards her, and eventually towards the breakdown of their marriage.
As an HIV positive expectant mother, Kate was cared for and closely monitored by her HIV and specialist obstetric consultants. She got her HIV positive diagnosis while pregnant with her second child and she reluctantly agreed to start on medication; Zivoduvine and Kaletra. She was told that the baby would be caesarean delivered and that she would not be able to breastfeed. Emotionally, she found it hard to come to terms with both restrictions. During her third pregnancy, her viral load was undetectable and was told she could have a normal delivery but unfortunately, she got ill for the latter part of her pregnancy, vomiting and thus, affecting the absorption and effectiveness of her medication. She ended up having another caesarean. Both her children are HIV negative.
Kate’s current antiretroviral therapy is Atripla. Her CD4 count is 600 and blood tests show that the HIV virus is undetectable. In the past, she found it a struggle to take so many pills, at different times and with different instructions and kept slipping off her treatment. Atripla is taken once a day and Kate finds that medication no longer dominates her daily routine.
Kate has two children from her previous marriage and a third child with her current partner who is also HIV positive and on medication. Regarding relationships, she feels that it is easier to have a partner who is also HIV positive like herself. There is no need to explain anything or, risk being rejected because of the condition.