"Primary care/LGBTQ doc here. It's February 1996. I'm making my rounds at the AIDS long term care facility. I'm in the room with my patient, a wasted 20-something year old man, curled up in bed, on TPN because he has CMV esophagitis and can't swallow enough to sustain himself, on a morphine PCA for the horrible pain. He asks about the new medicines for HIV."
"It's February 2026. I'm seeing a dapper middle aged patient in clinic, showing me photos of his recent wedding to his long term partner. They are planning a honeymoon in the South Pacific. He recently celebrated 25 years of employment with a local tech company. This is the same man 30 years after managing to swallow those pills every day until he could walk out of hospice. This is why I do what I do."
In February 1996 a primary care/LGBTQ physician cared for a wasted twenty-something patient in an AIDS long-term care facility who was on TPN, had CMV esophagitis, and required morphine PCA for severe pain. The patient asked about new HIV medicines and attempted to swallow them despite doubts about his ability to do so. By February 2026 the same patient had recovered, married a long-term partner, celebrated 25 years at a tech company, and planned a honeymoon. Hundreds of others recalled losses from the 1980s and 1990s and celebrated life-saving advances in HIV treatment.
Read at Queerty
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