Hey there. So, I worked in the medical field for a while (and technically, I still do, just in a non-clinical role). While working with patients (yes, even HIV/AIDS positive patients) I learned some quite valuable things after breaches of my PPE. Once, I was stuck with a needle while working at a clinic in a low-income area with high drug use. The patient was a heavy drug user and had an undisclosed illness of the HIV/Hep variety. 5 years later, I'm still OK. Years later, I had Hep C blood go into my eye during a routine procedure. I'm still kicking and clean.

Did you know that HIV is actually very treatable now? Did you also know it is INCREDIBLY difficult to contract via vaginal intercourse? I know you're afraid. God, I know that feeling and it's terrifying. I remember waking up in the middle of the night thinking that I could have a disease that not only would kill me, but would socially ostracize me. I would be sweating. Shaking. Terrified. It continued for months until my blood tests came back definitively clean.

I want to tell you that you will be okay. No matter what, first of all. But, from a scientific perspective, you have better odds of dying in a car accident. It's quite unlikely that you have contracted HIV from vaginal sex. It is also quite unlikely that your partner has contracted it. You've learned the valuable lesson that all sexually active people do at some time or other - use protection, get tested, and always be vigilant in maintaining your own mental and physical health.

Be well. If you need to chat and be linked to graphs until you see a doctor, I've got ya (and please see a doctor, have a trusted friend or relative take you to a clinic - you can pick up an HIV testing kit at a pharmacy, but know that they have only a 91.7 accuracy rate and can produce false negatives). I have a kid sister and it would have broken my heart for her to go through this kind of thing alone.