It’s hard to believe that I now attend the HIV clinic at Beaumont Hospital in north Dublin every six months. But that is what is happening. This is great as it means there are not so many trips from the midlands to the capital.

However, with the twice-yearly appointments comes a minor annoyance. I only get the blood results the next time that I am here. That means they are six months in arrears. I’m not sure that this is the best way of getting the results to us. Surely there could be another way? I have heard of applications on phones or text messages or emails being used in other clinics. Maybe this will come here?

So the results from August are: CD4 407 (363 previously) and Viral load not detected.

I’m now back in the corridor waiting for the nurses to take blood, and then will return here to wait for the medication from the pharmacist. I know that there is a lot of work going on nearby to create new clinic rooms: they cannot open soon enough. Having us all waiting in a corridor seems really backward especially in a hospital that prides itself on being the teaching hospital for the RCSI. Maybe when I am back in six months it will be open.