Editor’s note: The name of the individual in the following story has been changed to protect his anonymity.

He knew what he wanted when he entered the bar.

He spotted an eligible young woman on the stool. She was drinking the bar’s specialty concoction. He approached her and bought her another, and another. That night, he got what he wanted.

He knew what he wanted when he entered the party. The man with magic needles was standing in the corner by the kitchen door. He shot once, passed it on, and waited to get it back. That night, he got what he wanted.

He thought it was only a gay disease, and he knew people in Iowa couldn’t get it. But somewhere, sometime, he got what he didn’t want — AIDS.

This is the story of one man who has AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome. His story is one of hundreds of thousands of stories in the nation, and one of the 1,000 cases reported in Iowa since the earliest outbreak in 1984.

Dave said he fell ill during the Flood of 1993. Since he had been in the flood waters of Des Moines, he assumed he had contracted a simple bug from dirty water.

He said he experienced nausea, diarrhea and fever. Later, he went to the hospital and the doctors ran blood tests to find illness.

They also ran an AIDS test. He said he found that unusual but did not give it a second thought.

Months later he received a note asking him to come back to the hospital, and he ignored it. Later he said he received a phone call asking him to come in to the hospital, though they would not tell him anything over the phone.

He said went in to the hospital exam room with curiosity, and came out in shock.

Dave had been diagnosed with full-blown AIDS. Not simply HIV, the condition that occurs due to a virus prior to and most often leads to AIDS, but a full-blown, fully developed case of AIDS.

How, he wondered? He said he wasn’t sick, and in fact, he felt healthy.

In addition, he said he did not have any symptoms and he was not gay. In fact, he said he did not look like a person with AIDS.

Dave said he thought people with AIDS lie around in hospital beds with IVs connected to every limb as people around them sob and wait for the end. He said he was not any of these things.

After being diagnosed, he said he knew nothing of AIDS. He added that learning about the disease and how AIDS spreads opened his eyes to what he had done and what he had been doing to himself and to others.

Dave said he was an intravenous drug user, he was promiscuous, and had even been a drug dealer.

He said he had traded drugs for sex when addicted women could not pay. Dave added he had no idea how long he lived with the disease, but he knew he had probably spread AIDS to other people.

Today, Dave lives in Des Moines. He said he has lived with the disease for four years and still wakes up every day with reminders.

He said he gets up at 6 a.m. to start a daily regimen of approximately 30 pills. He eats almost twice as much as most people do because some of his drugs have to be taken with food and he must keep his weight at a certain level.

Dave added he has had several major bouts with infections. His most severe hospitalization lasted for seven days while he fought to overcome pneumonia and the flu. His 6-foot, usually sturdy 180-pound frame had dropped to 114.

In addition to, the physical symptoms he faces, Dave said he has to deal with the emotional and social manifestations of AIDS.

He said he is lucky — he does not face too much discrimination. People in Des Moines have handled his diagnosis well, he said.

Dave is not sure how people in a small town would react to him, but said he is thankful he lives where people are not afraid of him.

Unfortunately, however, he said people still shy away from shaking his hand.

Dave said he wears a red ribbon, which signals awareness of AIDS. At first, people who wore red ribbons were gay or were assumed to have AIDS.

However, today the red ribbon signals awareness of AIDS, which makes him happy to know people are becoming aware and educated about the disease.

Dave said he now appreciates life and he appreciates how people with AIDS feel, because he thinks it’s hard to understand when you are not dying — which is something he tries not to think about.

He said he has learned a big lesson he feels everyone must learn — people must take care of themselves because no one else will do it for them. He also said people must take responsibility for themselves because the ultimate responsibility is not only themselves but to others.

Dave said responsibility means to take precautions for prevention and to not spread this fatal disease.

Most of all, he said, people must love themselves.

Dave said he has chosen to live with his disease rather then die from it. Although he now suffers from neuropathy, a numbness in the extremities, which limits some of his movements, he said he feels amazingly well.

He said he enjoys spending time with his 14 year-old son, who understands his father is dying but refuses to let that control his life.

But unfortunately, Dave may never see his son graduate from school or get married. He may never become a grandfather. Time is of the essence to Dave, and one day at a time is the only way he knows how to live.