I was like an ostrich with my head in the sand to the entire subject before it sort of reared its head, and came along and bit us, and it was just something that was never going to happen to me—not something that happened to white heterosexual working class women in their twenties or thirties like me...time heals, I suppose. You just get a better sense of the facts and it's not all that bad and I'm not ill and I'm not getting ill. The meds are working and you get used to going for your blood test at the hospital.

Obviously when my partner got infected there was the initial shock, and then the worry and then the learning...he told me that he had HIV, and then I sort of took it upon myself to tell his parents because he was still in such a bad way, and got myself tested the following day, and they rushed my test results through. I actually met really helpful staff and came across people who were really supportive.