I mean it helps if you’re an optimist basically, as opposed to the opposite. I mean, if you’re too much prone to sort of giving in too easily and doom and gloom and nothing easily and nothing else is on your horizon, then you’re going to have more of a problem with these pills because there will inevitably be days when one of the pills is upsetting you in some way or another. There will be problems with occasional side effects from them, or indeed some of the HIV symptoms may themselves blow up, and it takes you a little while to get treatment for the individual symptoms, and for thesefor the treatment to take effect upon those things. So theres no point being worried, you just have to accept that

Well simply be of good heart. I mean, nowadays it is possible to live a good life, a reasonably full life. And certainly I was working for a number of years before I was overcome by the effects. You have to expect that there will be occasional surprises and some rather unpleasant ones but I’ve my experience has always been that I’ve always been able to overcome the nasty symptoms by simply traipsing back to the clinics and obtaining the appropriate medication. I mean the I have been fortunate in that respect. And certainly without the medication I’d be dead, I would have died some years ago.

So the nasty surprises don’t have to blow you out of the water is what you are saying?

No, I mean it’s easier to say that than it is to actually, you know, put into effect at that time. But you, I think if you have a frame of mind whereby you’re prepared for disasters, potential disasters brewing up, and then perhaps you’re not prone to be quite so surprised. It’s easier once it’s happened once or twice to you’ you know, the third or fourth time it happens you’re not quite so bad. The first time or the first couple of times it can be a bit dramatic, it’s true. But I mean, you just have to accept that life is going to throw up more unpleasant surprises quite by random and without any explanation and quite often without any warning. And you just have to be prepared to deal with it.

I mean you don’t have as much money as either of us did when we were both working, but we have far less stress and far more time available. And also, with my other halfs other problems, I mean apart from anything else hes got his dialysis, with renal failure, he has that three times a week. Weve got a machine upstairs in the spare bedroom. So I mean, I’ve got a part time job basically looking after his dialysis. It works out at something over just over 20 hours a week anyway doing that. But that’s divided up into four segments. So I mean you know, the theres quite a bit going on plus innumerable trips to and from various clinics for him and tests and heaven knows what else. Plus a certain amount of trips to and from the clinic for myself as well. So I mean, it’s not a life of sort of lying out on the sun lounger in the garden all summer, were quite busy for most of the week.

I mean it helps if you’re an optimist basically, as opposed to the opposite. I mean, if you’re too much prone to sort of giving in too easily and doom and gloom and nothing easily and nothing else is on your horizon, then you’re going to have more of a problem with these pills because there will inevitably be days when one of the pills is upsetting you in some way or another. There will be problems with occasional side-effects from them, or indeed some of the HIV symptoms may themselves blow up, and it takes you a little while to get treatment for the individual symptoms, and for these for the treatment to take effect upon those things. So theres no point being worried, you just have to accept that’

I mean if you, I mean I occasionally get the KS, the Karposi’s sarcomas. I mean theres no point panicking, if one turns up, you just wait until the next time you see the doctors, and then advise them and if theres anything to be done about it, then it’s done at that stage.

I’m a bit of a cynic when it comes to these sorts of things. I did go’ went through the Terrence Higgins Trust, they put me in touch with a chap who was a hypnotherapist and I went thinking to myself this is going to be a waste of time. But actually, although I didn’t get very deeply under any sort of hypnosis, it was a bit like sitting there listening to a man telling me a story rather than actually a feeling of floating away and believing it. But all the same, I came out of it sceptical thinking well that was a waste of time. But within a few days I was feeling a bit better. So I have to admit grudgingly that it probably did me some good.