fromthemouthofmoi

  In part, Diane’s passing marks the end of an era. The end of a time in history when the work in HIV research was experimental and run by mavericks. Diane was a ‘maverick’ in the truest sense of the word. We all were no matter the discipline we worked in. We were trailblazers. Diane was a complex woman. If you didn’t come to know her she was just a tall British woman who put the fear of God in you. She was pragmatic, demanding, and proudly British, even though she confided in me that she felt much more American than British. Diane liked things just so. An inch either way would be enough for her to voice a strong opinion. Opinionated women can often be alarming, but in Diane I found a heroine. I admired and looked up to Diane. She was no-nonsense. I can remember her calling patients into her office for pelvic examinations with a loudly overheard: Let’s have a look-see, or a get those feet up in the stirrups. I am sure that had she been a man she’d have been reported into oblivion, ...

It's just something that has been on my mind for way too long and I've decided to just tell the story and be done with it. Back when Bellevue Hospital opened its first virology clinic I got hired as the receptionist. My job was to register patients and call them once their name came up on the AZT eligibility list. Once AZT became FDA approved, real nurses and employees got hired and replaced the volunteers who worked on the placebo trials. I had been a volunteer and I was hired. They eventually hired a Dutch nurse LV who on the surface seemed gregarious and nice. She was tall, pretty had a weird accent and seemed perfect for the job. In short time, I began to notice that patients left her office in one of two ways: eyes rolling or an actual demand to change nurses. I have no clue to this day what annoyed so many patients but annoy them she did. And they all complained to me. They complained to me because I was the first person they saw upon arrival and the first voice they ...