okay start us
okay
all right well i guess you know i i wasn't expecting that question about AIDS so i haven't thought too much about it but i guess i think that we should have more research um i'm just concerned that it's just going to be such a major health problem
yeah
and if we you know and if it's not i say it would seem to me the sooner we take care of it the better off we're going to be
right because it's just getting worse and worse and worse and worse
well that's what i think and it's going to start affecting all of the population you know i mean right now yeah you know and it's just going to become such a huge issue
yeah
yeah
it already has
and it's just so scary that there's just not much that can be done at this point so i guess
right although they are doing a whole more than they were five years ago you know they're living longer and and their medicines are a whole lot better so they're not having to go through as many of the as of the other diseases
yes
or so it sounds anyway as you know when when all of this first started out they they came down with every single disease that came down the pipe because they had no immune system and they suffered so much worse
yeah yeah
right
yeah
so you know at at least they're making progress but they've got to get it stopped they've got to find a cure
well
well i think so too and so i guess i would you know personally i would be really in favor of that now i have had um i have two friends who've died of it
so have i
and uh so and those have just you know it's just been real hard and i just hate seeing people you know go through this
yeah
so and i keep thinking it's going to hit our church eventually you know it's like uh it's it's real interesting to me that we've not had anybody yet but you know it's going to just start affecting i think everyone
well yeah
well especially with you know surgeries all the time
i know
it's so scary
it is really scary you know i i thought of that for myself for like for my children this whole issue of the whole blood issue is very scary
uh-huh
right
because you know people don't know that's the thing there's a factor there's a time factor in there
right
yeah and you know well with the time factor it could be up to ten years
i know
you know so that's what's so bad and and you may test negative this time but you may test positive you know two weeks down the road
i know
so
the test is relevant for that very day but not necessarily forever
well that's right and i think you know people give blood innocently enough assuming that they're okay i don't suppose anybody would give blood if they felt they i don't know i guess they might but
yeah
yeah
uh you know i i would hate to be in a position where i would need a transfusion or my children i think it would be a real scary thing
yeah and and like when i went in the hospital you have to sign a paper saying that that you'll allow them to give blood if they if you need it otherwise they won't do the surgery
oh
so what do you do i mean yeah you're given the option of signing or not signing but if you say no i don't want the blood then they they may say well then i'm not going to do the surgery
yeah really
there yeah right well because yeah then what are they going to do
right right what what can they do
um they have no other alternatives i suppose um
well i i don't know i mean i just but then i think well uh yeah i guess that basically i do think we just need more research because that's going to sort of be the our only answer
well yeah that's right and they've got to do something about it they can't put it on the back burner
and just say well you know the research is going on is doing good enough because it's not there's no cure yet
well and i worry you know the older my children get the more exposure chances of exposure they're going to have i mean i can't imagine well even for you being a single person i mean i think gosh how scary you know to meet people and
you got it
yeah
uh you you know
of course i don't have that problem
i probably will never have to worry about that oh oh gosh what a shame
uh
well you might you know eventually
slight chance you think
yeah that might eventually happen but uh
uh that's
oh it it is it's like okay show me your papers
i mean
i mean really
then we'll talk
i know well it's just a it's just a sad thing and i don't know hopefully this is going to get taken care of at some point
yeah well they're doing a lot over in Europe
yeah
with it
and i know when Randy was so sick he was having medications flown in from Europe because he couldn't get his hands on it over here and uh
oh this was your husband wasn't it that's right i've forgotten that you told me that but i'd forgotten
uh-huh
yeah so he was he had a lot of medication coming in from Europe
uh-huh
and then he finally was able to get the what is it AZT over here only because he had connections that was not open to the public at that time
AZT
hum
so
i don't know but they've got to do it because it's it's everywhere
well i know and and you know and make it available to people that that can use it i you know if i were sick i would try anything i think i mean what do you have to lose
to everybody
yes
of course
i mean that's what's that's what's so crazy i mean what's to lose at this point
that's right
there's nothing to lose so you may as well do whatever you got to do
i would if it were me
yeah or if it was one of my kids
yeah i mean yeah you'd want you'd want everything available and then to think well it's available but you could i mean you know you could only get it in Europe um
right no problem
would
would be a terrible
yeah
that would be a terrible thing
yeah
but um how long was he how long was Randy sick
a little over two years
hum
a little over two years and at that point he was the fifth fifth
longest survivor
but see that was almost four years ago
yeah
and now they're living a whole lot longer
so but he i mean jeez he had everything under the sun he had hepatitis he had meningitis he got throat cancer
hm
and he never smoked even a grapevine much less a cigarette you know um
just you name it he he just oh it was horrible it was horrible
so he was really susceptible
that's awful
yeah and then i had another very dear friend of mine die four months after Randy did
huh
and uh he didn't know he was sick he'd just you know had a cold that he couldn't shake all winter
um-hum
and kept getting sicker and sicker and finally went in the hospital and uh had pneumonia and both lungs were full and he died within about sixteen hours of going to the hospital
um
um
well in some ways that's a blessing
yeah
i mean it's such a
awful thing to suffer through
yeah yeah and his friend had died the year before
well my
huh
and they swore it wasn't AIDS but i know darn good and well it was
yeah
yeah
you know so
ooh it's just that that's close to home
well i know it is well my two friends both one one lived a fairly long time with it i'd say Ken had it
well he thinks he had he was HIV for ten years you know i mean he no he thinks he had it even back in the early eighties um
you're kidding
um my gosh
and then he died in eighty nine
uh-huh
so and then Terry
