The story of Rose, AIDS survivor

I just had lunch the other day with ‘Rose’, one of my AIDS patients.  It was the greatest thing, to see her – just like a ‘normal’ person. 

Who would believe that just last year, Rose nearly died from a terrible opportunistic infection called ‘Cryptococcus’. 

When Rose came into the hospital, she was thin, wasted and very weak.  She had been having fevers for sometime.  AIDS had been ravaging her immune system and without those defenses, she was extremely susceptible to infection.  Certain types of infections tend to occur in advanced AIDS, and she was now fighting a battle with Cryptococcus neoformans, a nasty fungus.  By the time she came in, this fungus was ‘everywhere’ – it was growing out of her blood. 

We put her on the most powerful medicine we could – amphotericin, or ‘ampho-terrible’.  It was a difficult medicine to take, especially for someone so sick.  Her blood levels dropped to less than half of what they should have been, her electrolytes were profoundly deranged , she felt weak and feverish.  There weren’t any options though – we had no choice but to try and treat her, or face certain death.