Dear Diary,
My name is Josh Robbins. On December 18, 2011, one of my friends and I were out and had a couple of drinks. We were having a good time and one thing led to the other. Later that day we had unprotected sex not thinking of all the diseases that could have us in harm. After, that was that and we went on about our business.
Josh
Dear Diary,
On January 2, 2012, I started getting really sick out of nowhere kind of like Flu-Symptoms. So that made me think that I was just getting the flu. In about 3 days I went to see one of the urgent care doctors. They didn't have a clue what it was so they gave me some cough medicine for my sore throat.
Josh
Dear Diary,
I went back to the doctor a few days after that. The doctor calmly said, "We need to talk about your high risk behavior." In my gut, I knew it was HIV. They wanted me to test there but I decided not to and they were not too happy.
Josh
Dear Diary,
January 24th is the actual day that I got my results back 3 weeks after I was diagnosed. I found out from the professionals at the hospital that I'd been doing the vaccine trial with.
Josh
Dear Diary
When I went in on the 24th as I said I got my final result of being positive, I did a video. The reason is because I didn't want to forget what they said. Because I knew once they told me I was positive, I would forget everything else they said.
Josh
Dear Diary,
After that I got to thinking of how people would look at me and would I be treated any differently. But then I got to thinking about Magic Johnson and the movie Philadelphia for some reason that gave me some comfort and a little humor.
Josh
Dear Diary
A couple days later I decided to make a blog and tell my story. Because Nashville is a city but can feel small at times so I wanted to be in control of dialogue and my story. The best way of letting everybody know is through FaceBook. So I posted a video and the first day it was viewed 1,300 times meaning the secret got out real quick.
Josh
Dear Diary
From there, the gay publication in Nashville asked could they tell my story or even write about it. I was more than honored cause I looked at it as if people like me who are scared to expose there HIV symptoms wouldnt feel so neglected.
Josh
Dear Diary
Throughout the whole journey of me finding out that I was diagnosed with HIV. I finally realized that I'm still going to survive and I'm still Josh. My motto behind the blog I posted is: I'm still Josh; you still be you.
Source Citatio: "This Positive Life: Newly Living With HIV, Josh Robbins Is "Still Josh" -- and Still an Advocate." TheBody.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
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