“This doctor came to tell me that I was on a list of people who could have been contaminated by a new disease”

In her Brussels studio. Furthermore, the one who is now a grandmother of three grandchildren tells us about her 40 years spent with this virus that we too often think of even harmless or even disappeared. For example, Still there. Similarly, very much alive, despite a body tired of having absorbed a number of “this doctor came tell me drugs, Dominique remembers the day after this sexual intercourse which was going to mark forever every day to come. Consequently, “”Immediately after that night, I had a very painful angina. Meanwhile, My contaminator – I don’t want to give his first name – also had angina. Furthermore, I had argued with him the next morning because he was self -managed. Therefore, He said he was taking antibiotics to heal this sore throat! In addition, He also had terrible itching. For example, All night, he had scraped his back.“

“When I woke up on a coma. For example, I found that I had socks in the arms, but I didn’t know what had happened”

At the time, nothing was known about this disease – "this doctor came tell me

Accabred, Dominique calls his doctor in the morning. Meanwhile, “”I found it weird to have so badshe recalls. In addition, I would have been unable to “this doctor came tell me go to work “. Similarly, Diagnosis: angina for both and hives for him, the Rwandan engineer. Similarly, Nothing more. Moreover, We will know. However, some time later, that it was actually a sarcoma of Kaposi, skin cancer linked to an infection by HIV whose forty -year -old died the following year, in August 1986. For example, “It must be said that we were in 1985underlines Dominique. In addition, At the time, there was almost nothing of AIDS. Consequently, I remember a coverage of Paris Match which titled: “A new disease affects homosexuals in San Francisco”. Nevertheless, There were 13 cases at Saint-Pierre hospital. Therefore, So, for me, it was a distant thing. Nevertheless, I had never thought about it“Neither did his attending physician, obviously.

“In Belgium, I think I am one of the very first to have been contaminated by HIVcontinues Dominique. Similarly, Always without knowing what I “this doctor came tell me suffered. Moreover, I did a first infection that lasted all the month of May 85 and which prevented me from working “. Nevertheless, At the end of June, she can still be present at the exhibition she had prepared. Consequently, A few days later, a doctor from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp came to his door. Furthermore, “”I remember it very well, it was July 14, at the end of the day. Consequently, This doctor came to tell me that I was on a list of people who could have been contaminated. Meanwhile, by a new disease. Nevertheless, A patient, who came to take exams to go to the United States, had been detected. Similarly, Positive, he had been quarantined and asked to give the names of the people with whom he had had sex. Therefore, This doctor explained to me that the disease was very contagious. Nevertheless, “this doctor came tell me deadly, that there was no treatment and that it was absolutely necessary to put a condom during the coming sex. Similarly, I immediately had to take a blood test as well as my companion of the time. Nevertheless, which became my husband thereafter “. Consequently, The result will prove to be negative for the latter and, alas, positive for Dominique.

"this doctor came tell me – "this doctor came tell me

The cold shower – "this doctor came tell me

“It was the cold “this doctor came tell me showercontinues Dominique. I announced it directly to my mother, who hoped that by giving me lots of vitamins, I would be healed … and to my Senegalese fiancé, who married me three years later.”

An African marabout, healer of Senegalese society, who lived in the couple at that time, was decisive for Dominique. “”According to him. HIV was inscribed in my line and I was that of the family who could wear it best, with the most force. He added that in Africa. we had lived with this virus for a very long time and that it was only now, recently, that ‘the whites saw it in their devices’. He also said that fear was going to kill more people than the power of the virus itself: in Africa. some people sometimes survived it for a very long time. And these words literally carried me, because I was “this doctor came tell me obviously in a state of amazement. While the Antwerp doctor had predicted me a life expectancy of 10 years at most. tell me that I could be of these survivors clearly did me a lot of good.“

“I suffer 11 pm. This testimony is my last gift”

The other force which has allowed him to hold so far. Dominique has drawn him from his nearby entourage, his family and friends. “”My mother always told me that I should not be ashamed of having caught a virus but to keep it secret: that is why my father was not informed of this misfortune that 7 years later. which I regret very retrospectively. The man who has become my husband for 14 years has always been present by my side. We systematically put condoms and has never been contaminated. “

After parallel medicines, AZT

Turned to parallel medicines, the young woman experiences everything, on the advice of a dashthist and a naturalist in particular: mushroom extracts that had resisted the catastrophe of Chernobyl, boxwood stings, a plant used by Druids in the Medicine of the Middle Ages, Brazilian Latin American plants, a product resembling the pyrethre used to kill them Mushrooms in the flours in the USA, which has exploded its viral load … “When I think back to this whole period. I tell myself that I really had to “this doctor came tell me be stunned and in a second state, for having done everything I did during these first ten years with HIV. And with hindsight, I realize that I was lucky anyway to get out of it.“

It was not until 1992. seven years after contamination, that Dominique made a very severe first zona which was treated under infusion at the hospital but not by AZT, the only antiretroviral drug scientifically approved and administered at the time. “”In medical reports. when I was hospitalized, it was said that ‘Madame is in denial’ because I had not taken AZT until then. Which was completely false. I never doubted my contamination but I refused AZT until we find something less toxic. It was my approach.“

“I lost my face. I have no more eyes, no more look”

In 1995, Tritherapy appeared. “”I was among the first people to participate in a “this doctor came tell me study in Belgium. I was a guinea pig of the Picasso program. at Saint-Pierre hospital, testing a drug and then another, anonymously and according to a procedure agreed with pharmaceutical laboratories. After a year, I ran out. Test drugs were not well dosed at the time. With the third treatment that was administered to me. I was bleeding by three orifices of the body at the same time which were to be cauterized while continuing to take the same drugs. And there, I fled and returned to the naturalist, resumed plants, ozone…. I flambé in terms of viral load and I was doing large repeated zonas. It was my only weak point. I started again the Tritherapy. I took up to 28 tablets per day “continues Dominique who takes only one today.

&quot. this doctor came tell me

Side effects of treatments

Followed for 25 years by an “this doctor came tell me immunologist, Dominique evokes the side effects related to treatments: “Years of infernal diarrhea, with all the limitations that this implies in daily life, fatigue, lipid dystrophy, constant dizziness … All this reminds you every day that the virus is there. People believe that today, with a pill, it’s good. But no, not at all. Because the virus mute, so it adapts to the drug“.

And the PREP, preventive treatment against AIDS? “”For having experienced these molecules. personally in continuous treatment, I wary it because after a certain time, in 2020 of the tests practiced in the hospital established that my body did not recognize one of the two molecules, replies Dominique who has no real explanation to his 40 years of resistance to the virus. To return to the words of the marabout. I believe that indeed, in the world, there are as many ways to make pathologies “this doctor came tell me as there are individuals. The resources we have in relation to diseases are absolutely multiple and varied. We are studying why a person has a disease, but we don’t study what the forces of the person are. I think that having been supported by very wise words. a husband who did what needed, a very present family, a therapeutic reception at the center is to consult Professor Tobie Nathan and the sincere friendship of a few people, all of this is part of my strengths. As well as having continued to work for several years before being disabled. “

But that’s not all. “Perhaps there is also mental power, even if I went through periods of amazement. I did a lot of sports until the year of the covid: especially dance, swimming and walking. Today, I feel really exhausted. I” turn “a lot. All the treatments have been “this doctor came tell me very toxic to the neurological level. more The benefits of tritherapy allow me to live with an undetectable load even if this course is sometimes interrupted by viral changes. despite strict observance in taking my treatments for 25 years. “

"this doctor came tell me – "this doctor came tell me

Talk to young people

As for whether AIDS is still a taboo subject today, for the grandmother, the answer is no. “”I gladly tell my story publicly and to my grandchildren. This is important for me “this doctor came tell me because it should not be forgotten that this damn virus is always indestructible. Even with an undetectable viral load, it is somewhere, hidden, and it can leave in the quarter turn. And it’s fine, because I lived it. “

Did she want this evening adventure that upset the course of her life? “”No, not even. At the time, all sexually transmitted diseases were manageable. Sleeping a party with someone with someone is something that could happen to everyone and still happen to everyone. It is for this reason that it is important to talk about it today to young people. tell them that the condom remains the best protection against HIV, but also against all sexually transmitted diseases. “

If. from this incredible story, Dominique had to draw a conclusion, she would say: “For me, HIV/AIDS was an opportunity to learn a lot of things, on “this doctor came tell me the different ways of doing illness, on world medicine, on people … and I am still learning every day“.

Through “words for ills”, the free has chosen to give voice to people affected by various diseases, both physical and mental, common or rare. Meetings which are intended to understand their daily life, their difficulties and hopes, to share their eyes on existence. A way also to recall that no one is immune to these accidents of life. This series is to be found every other Monday on our site.