It was a lifetime ago. Some of us have lived longer with it than without. Myself now 31 years since the diagnosis and I'm now 55. Thousands of dollars in pills, countless drs.... it gets old but beats the alternative.

Sorry to hear that Michael, I had a nasty ID doctor in 1989, I quickly switched to a new doctor. I was with him for over 20 years. I was a volunteer back in the late 80's for ARCS (Aids Related Community Services). I not only got a chance to help others, but I received a lot of support from other volunteers and it helped me overcome the fear of all the unknowns back then.
We were trained to go out and do public speaking, mostly to Healthcare workers about what was known at the time about the different ways of transmission.
Part of our schedule as volunteers were to visit clients in the hospitals. Most of them were in the final stages of this horrid disease, yet despite all the physical pain and knowing their time in this life was soon to be here much longer. They showed the courage of probably any man who was about to die on a battlefield of war. We went there to help comfort them, but in reality, they gave all of us the continued strenght and hope to continue onward.
I often looked back at those years, where our efforts (the volunteer group) to help another person, in reality, was unintentionally getting back far more then we gave.
Society and the media were very cruel and dehumanizing to all of us back then. The reality was we were as brave and courageous and most any person in a battlefield of war.
Today with U=U and human trials for an HIV vaccine starting soon, I believe a cure will be found within the 5 years or so.
I sometimes wonder if history will ever write the true account of this epidemic. Will it acknowledge all the people who put their life on the line with the many drug trials to develop better medications?. Will it acknowledge all tireless battles the Gay community endured to help start research for treatment?, despite the political stonewall not to acknowledge that this virus was causing many deaths in the US until late in the second term when it was politically safe to start screening the US blood supply.
In plain English, will history have the balls to admit the truth how poorly this whole medical epidemic was handled? Will it continue to praise the country of Equality when there was a No Admissions Policy to HIV positive people trying to legitimately enter this Country till 2012?
No person or Country is perfect or gets things always correct, it takes a great person or Country to admit it's mistaken and shortcomings. Are we as great as we try to project to the World, or are we just a work in progress like most things in life?
Hopefully, I will be alive long enough to read the history version?

The military did a service wide screening. The blood draw was inn Oct of 86. I was informed of results on Feb 10th 1987 (almost 31 years). It's been a bumpy ride at times but I'm still here.

Yes my diagnosis of being poz was the same year husband and I had moved into our current home ( where we have lived lo these past 28 years ( and to think it was merely supposed to be a starter home but here we remain :) ) . And it means as long as we have lived and loved each other he's been at my side every step of the way helping me deal with the side effects of each new cocktail, dealing with the associated depression of each new diagnosis, watching me deal with things in my own way and never trying to cause any conflict in my own thinking but instead offering his heartfelt thoughts in how to deal with each catrotasphie as it arose and this has gone on now for these past nearly 32 years which I think has been the cement that has held us together as long as it has :) .