One in Five American Adults. . . March 19, 2008

This is a statistic.

So is this — approximately 30 million Americans. . .

And this — every 30 seconds another person. . .

And this — more women than men. . .

Finally, this — 20 to 25 percent of pregnant women. . .

What do all of these statistics lead to? Has anyone figured it out yet? Do you know? Do you understand? Are you one of them?

I am.

I am a statistic. I belong to this group. I received the “gift that keeps on giving” when I engaged in sexual intercourse with my first husband. He never told me. He never tried to protect me. He even tried to blame it on my ex-boyfriend. In fact, I didn’t find out the truth about it being from him until years later when I talked to his ex-wife about it. She is a statistic too. He also gave it to her.

Herpes.

There is a reason why I get so incredibly angry when I get sick. When my immune system is down and I get tired I also get a breakout. A herpes breakout. What this does to me is intensify my illness by causing excruciating pain in a very sensitive area of my body. I can tell when it is about to happen about 2 days before the sore appears. I get pains in my legs. The skin on my thighs becomes painful to the touch. I become overwhemingly fatigued.

The HSV-2 virus affects the nervous system. There is no cure. Some people are carriers who never break out. Some people only have 1 or 2 breakouts per year. Some have many. I am of the 1 or 2 breakouts per year group. And it always happens when I get sick.

I do not post things of such a personal nature to shock anyone. I do this to bring awareness. Herpes is not something anyone will organize a race for the cure over. No one wants to wear a t-shirt proclaiming he or she suffers from this disease. I sure wouldn’t. Want to clear a room real quick? Announce that you have herpes. Yeah. Bye bye room full of people. Nobody will follow you into the bathroom stall after that one. Uh uh! But it is a disease and there needs to be a cure.

Life threatening? You might think not. But for a newborn baby — definitely. Most definitely.

There is a reason why I had two c-sections. It was the only way I saw fit to protect my children. Neither of them has the virus. Thank God.

Now you know. This is the truth and sometimes the truth hurts.