The improvement in knowledge, the largely favourable impact on clinical practice, and the substantial medical gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS have not been achieved without considerable cost in terms of suffering and lost lives, and in the long-term anguish of patients, friends, families and lovers.
The aim of this small history has been to tell something of the story of my own medical practice, to explain why I am glad I had the opportunity to practise the profession of medicine, and to illustrate that sexual health medicine is a worthy specialty in its own right. In reflecting on those early days when a diagnosis of HIV infection was a death sentence, and when young lives full of hope and potential were summarily snuffed out, I trust I’ve managed to shine a light on a past that is rapidly being forgotten. We should never forget the sacrifices of those times. I hope I have paid due respect to the lives lost in the first decade and a half of HIV/AIDS in Australia, and that in these pages I have honoured their memories appropriately.
Tell Me I'm Okay Page 23
