Yesterday afternoon, i was very sad of what mum was going through. I could not concentrate at work and i requested to leave to try and find peace. To reduce my stress i visited a friend Mercy who i had not seen in a long time.
Mercy is a friend i treasure very much. We met in Nakuru during a get together for HIV positives planned by Stacy care Foundation in 2007. I was a third year student then and she was a businesswoman in the city. We instantly became friends. We had attended the meeting with hopes to meet HIV positive men to date but unfortunately those that showed up were women only. It was disappointing as attending the meeting was at a cost and at the same time i had to travel from Eldoret.
Mercy was so emotional while she shared her story on how she got infected with HIV. It was in 2006 while she had gone to purchase her wares in Eastleigh in Nairobi as usual and unfortunately on this particular day she got late. As she walked home, three men appeared, grabbed her from behind and gang raped her on the roadside. She was married then and they had a five year old daughter. After that ugly incident, she refused to have intercourse with her husband. She felt so dirty and useless. Her husband who she did not disclose what had happened suspected her of infidelity and one day forced her to visit a VCT. They were both tested and hers turned out positive. Her husband walked out on her.
Since then,she started a life of a single mother. Mercy is very hardworking and runs a 24 hour hotel in one of the Nairobi estates. Last year her CD4 had dropped to 150 and doctors at the clinic asked her to start medication.
Efavirenz was given to her as one of the combination drugs. Since January, she has gone through hell. One is usually advised to take this drug at night before sleeping to avoid drowsiness. But Mercy's business runs for twenty four hours. She sleeps for only two hours a day. This is not enough time and therefore she could not escape the ugly side effects of this drug at work. Even her workers have noticed.They have tried to convince her to stop drinking beer as they think she is always drunk. She has no courage to share the reason why she looks and behaves like a drunkard. She has also been vomiting and her neighbors and workers think she could be pregnant.
Its now the sixth month and the side effects are yet to subside. This has added stress to her life and blood pressure shot up in February. She was put on some medication to keep it at bay. She was also advised by her doctors to try and loose weight. She was 89kgs and she is supposed to get to 60 as recommended. So far she has only lost four Kilos. I advised her on slim possible but she cannot find time due to commitments.
Oh i had to leave to let her sleep for her usual two hours. But was happy to realize that by just talking to her my stress had vanished.
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