"Speaking of friends... I did meet a new girl during this time. Although it never became too serious, we shared some memories. That all came crashing down when I made my move", and gave her a kiss on the lips. She pushed me, and walked away, I felt pretty dumb at this point, but out of frustration and embarrassment, I let her go. When I called her the next day she informed me that two years ago she was diagnosed with HIV and she did not want a relationship because of it. I guess I respected that, but at the time, I was just frustrated with the news. To my knowledge, this was the first contact I ever had with someone who had HIV.
"So, I took a vacation. It was summer, and I love to camp and hike. I decided to go out on my own for a week-away from everyone else. Although the scenery was amazing, the mosquitoes were in full swing. I cannot count the number of mosquito bites I received, but it had to be over 100 within a week's time. I knew mosquitoes could carry some parasites in their saliva, but I thought that actually obtaining one of these infections would be unlikely. I wonder if mosquitoes can carry HIV?
"Either way, I was finally heading back to medical school after my long hiatus to get well after the accident.. I was excited to be back in an emergency room learning about what I loved. Although the first week back was fairly standard, the next was anything but normal. I remember that a mother and toddler came in, both were crying. Although I was not an attending doctor, I was still in the area watching and learning. The toddler had a large cut on his leg, and was bleeding profusely. Everyone involved was wearing appropriate protection (gloves, gowns, face masks, etc...), but the toddler was squirming all over the place, Tears and snot seemed to be flying everywhere, it was clear the toddler was in a good deal of pain. As I went in to help control the child, my arm got close to the toddler's face, and apparently he felt it was appropriate to bite my arm (I am not sure if I blame him in his situation). Although the bite was painful, no skin was broken. After the bleeding on the child's leg was controlled, we proceeded to clean up the blood spatters on the floor and linens. Before this clean up, I neglected to check my gloves. It was only after the cleanup that I noticed the hole in my glove. Although I cannot be sure, I am fairly certain the hole was there during part of the blood cleanup. I proceeded to thoroughly wash my hands and arms and made sure I had no open wounds on my hands. I did not find any cuts, and I went to discuss the event with the attending doctor. The doctor instructed me that both the toddler and the mother had HIV. Of course, the events of the day then replayed in my head- what about the bite? What about the glove? I did not discuss this with the doctor because all contact I might have had with HIV was because I was being neglectful.
As a medical student, my goal was to always look like I had it under control-so l moved on. I visited the mother and child while they were still in the ER; the mother thanked me, shook my hand and said goodbye. Of course, in the retrospect of being diagnosed with HIV two years later, I have many more questions about this event.