How I was infected with HIV: iLIVE

06 August 2014 - 11:57 By Cindy Pivacic
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The Deadly Seducer
The Deadly Seducer
Image: Cindy Pivacic

Cindy Pivacic has written a book, The Deadly Seducer, describing how she was infected with HIV and how she has dealt with it.

Excerpt: Life's a beach

Brad (not his real name) and I were in a relationship for a total of three years and I had insisted on using protection during intercourse. During an evening of (how can I put this delicately without offending the faint-hearted?) exuberant sex - the condom broke!

Had I known better, I would have continued using a condom further into the relationship, but I thought, “Oh well the damage is done”, not realising that there was a chance that that one encounter may not have infected me. During the initial part of our relationship, I used protection thinking I would be safe. But when the unfortunate incident occurred, lack of knowledge prevailed and I discontinued using protection.

Excerpt: Blood and Thunder

The now infamous malfunctioning condom incident took place in August 2004. When I look back now I recall that about two weeks later I had a fine full body rash it disappeared after a few days and I was not at all concerned about it thinking at the time that it was a heat rash. In retrospect I believe it was the first sign that I had been infected with HIV.

Many people do not show any symptoms of HIV infection for years, but will more than likely have the initial rash that indicates the body has been infected with the virus. In my case the onset of the acquired diseases was practically immediate. I was diagnosed HIV positive on November 11 2004.

Once diagnosed, I started regular visits to my GP to check on my CD4 count which at that time was about 580. I was already experiencing some symptoms such as dizziness and headaches and what I can only describe as mini blackouts.

What happened next

Despite being unwell I drove to Port Elizabeth to spend Christmas with my parents and Brad had gone fishing with friends in Port Alfred. I then joined him in Port Alfred to see in the New Year. While there my dizzy spells, major headaches, and blackouts became worse and more frequent. I developed swollen glands in the back of my neck, which formed a ridge from my shoulder up into my hairline. There was also swelling under my arms and in my groin.

I had what resembled a light stroke, according to a pharmacist I saw in Port Alfred. He gave me some medication for the headaches, saying it was a light stroke as my right foot was dragging, my speech was slurred and I could not lift my right arm without help. He didn’t suggest I go to hospital and so, against my better judgment and also because I was semi-conscious, I had no option but to let Brad drive me all the way back to KwaZulu-Natal in my car.

On the eight-hour journey back, I only recall waking once when Brad stopped for a cool drink, which I couldn’t stomach, and then immediately lapsed again into what seems to me now a semi-comatose state. By the time we got home I was barely aware that we had arrived. I recall getting out of the car and vomiting huge quantities of green bile, on the grass right next to the car.

I don’t recall going into our cottage. Brad was apparently unable to wake me the following morning and called an ambulance. Apparently the paramedics could not get the stretcher into the cottage and had to carry me out in a blanket. Brad told me later that the ambulance left with blaring sirens. I recall absolutely nothing, obviously unconscious through the entire ordeal.

I am told that when we got to Addington Hospital, a government hospital in Durban, I put up a fight to be proud of, “karate” kicking the doctor on duty, who it seems, was quite impressed at my strength. I was subdued with medication.

I spent the next 10 days in hospital, hallucinating from the drugs, thinking that my mother had driven up from Port Elizabeth and that my father had flown in and was now ensconced in the bed opposite me and was being treated for dehydration. This befuddled thinking was probably because he had recently had heart problems.

Pivacic has copies of her book The Deadly Seducer available for purchase. Her contact details are as follows:

Email:cindy@cindypivacic.co.za

Website:www.cindypivacic.co.za

Facebook Bus Page:http://www.facebook.com/CindyPivacicSpeakerHIVAIDS

Twitter:@cindypivacic

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