features - issue 80/81
ME, YOU AND HIV
positive nation

enter into this relationship with our eyes wide open'."

Tony moved in with Cleo three weeks later: they were engaged within a year and married six months later.
Whilst safer sex wasn't a problem for them, having children was an issue. "I've always wanted children and it's the only thing where HIV has really had a bad effect on my life," says Cleo. "When we met, I was already older, Tony had children from a first marriage and wasn't sure if he wanted more, and I had genuine concerns about whether I would be physically capable. In the end we came to the decision that it wasn't a good idea."
"It was a huge wrench," says Tony, "though in the end the right decision was obvious."
"Now I know it was the right decision," says Cleo. "It's taken me a long time, but I've finally got to the point where I've accepted that I'm not having children."
Cleo has had problems with her health in the past but now, she says, it is "generally good, although my energy levels are up and down." "Not long after she started drug treatment, she went through a bad patch, and it was necessary at times to wrap her up with cotton wool," says Tony.
"I need allowances made," adds Cleo, "I had drug-related depression. For six months I was really a nightmare to live with. How he's still here I don't really know!"
"I let it wash all over me and got on with life," explains Tony, who admits that as the HIV negative partner, he sometimes feels isolated. "I'm not saying I would need a support group, but somebody who understands the niggles, the gripes, to have a

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