After many years of playing Russian Roulette with his health via IV drug use and extremely risky sexual behavior, the odds have finally caught up with SS21....he has been diagnosed as HIV positive. He just received the news and is waiting to see an infectious disease specialist.

Although DH and I are not exactly surprised, DH is taking it very hard and although I'm trying to be supportive, in my head all I can think is "Dear Lord, hasn't this kid put us through the wringer enough already?!" I guess I am just tired of the rest of us dealing with the consequences of his past 7 years of bad choices.

I'm honestly also concerned that this may put us in a really bad position financially as I've heard that HIV meds can be quite expensive. Although he has a full-time job and lives on his own he doesn't make a lot of money. He is still covered by our insurance (DH is retired military so we have Tricare).

Does anyone have any experience dealing with an HIV situation in regards to costs/treatments, etc? I am the worrier in this family and all I can see is this sucking away the little bit of savings we have scraped together since the last time we had to use it all for his DUI/court costs.

I'm trying to be understanding here, but let's face it......I will come off looking like the cold-hearted witch that only cares about money, not his health, but we have 2 younger children and a household to support and we have to be realistic about that. My DH is 54 so he can't work forever, and we need to think about more people than just one in this scenario.

Thanks all for your words of advice and encouragement. I am hopeful that after seeing the specialist SS will be able to set up a concrete plan. At this point I am going to refrain from saying too much to DH as it is still a pretty emotional subject. I'll feel better prepared with more information, and in the meantime start checking out some of these resources.