This is closely followed by more and consistent physical exercise, healthy eating and better financial planning.
‘Whew’! Pholo exclaims. He has been shelving his plan to stop drinking alcohol ‘for the past 10 years’, he says.
‘But I think I’ve scaled down’, he continues.
‘Now I think I’m at a point where I’ve decided I’m not going to do this anymore. I think I’m prepared mentally to do it’, he adds resolutely.
The main reason Pholo now wants to follow through on his long-standing attempt to stop using alcohol is primarily inspired by his now troublesome health.
‘One of the worst things that have happened recently is that I get herpes. I get it very, very often these days. And I think I might have developed shingles. I still have the marks on my thigh, which, for me suggested that something is wrong – something is becoming different in my body. The other thing that I now realise is that in summer I get too tired. For example, yesterday I didn’t go to work because my feet were very, very sore. I can feel that there are changes in my body, so I need to start looking at ‘what do I need to change’? Alcohol is one of them’, he explains.
He has been living with HIV for slightly over 10 years now and there hasn’t been a need for him to take antiretrovirals in all of this period. But Pholo says the recent opportunistic infections have given him a frightening awakening.
‘The reality of the HIV progression in my body kind of knocks on my door to say’: ‘Actually, I’m here and if you don’t improve on your health awareness or your health, I might just come in earlier than planned and develop into AIDS’. ‘So, I’ve decided that I need to add extra things to delay the progression from HIV to AIDS’.
Pholokgolo Ramothwala took us into his life with HIV late last year when he marked 10 years of being diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS by starting a public journal detailing his daily struggles and triumphs. Read this month’s diary on www.pholocom.co.za
