question about safety

greetings everyone:
obviously. i am a new poster to this group; i have come here to seek
out your opinions. and lurked here for a few weeks to try and find
answers to a question with which I am struggling...
I have met a wonderful woman. she and i have absolutely hit it off.
and we are both about the same age. and things could not be more
wonderful. I do mean that. I am falling hard for this woman. and the
two of us seem to be on the same emotional place. a few weeks ago. she
made me aware that she contracted the Herpes virus from a boyfriend
from back when she was 21 or so. she and i have had no sexual contact
(with the exception of me masturbating her once). and I feel like there
is a love there with her that needn't stand in the way of HSV. I
cannot make myself feel like a good person if I were to let that stand
in my way. she is wonderful.
I have done some research. citing many sources. both conflicting and
agreeing. and I am writing here to ask your opinions on what I should
do to protect myself. I do not want to contract the HSV; i am. quite in love with this woman. and i do not want to let it
stand in my way. Could I have some of your opinions? I feel like it
is very damn unfair that someone as introverted and wonderful as her
has had to live with this "thing" for the last six years. I'm sure
that's nothing comparatively to some of the stories here. but I have no
prior experience with this. and i have a
strong desire to overcome my fears and remove the mystery from the
situation.

I'm glad to see that you are not allowing the fact that she has herpes
change how you feel about her.
One thing you might want to consider is whether or not you might have
herpes. Since herpes isn't included in the routine std testing process it
might be a good idea to find out what your status is. The two of you could
actually make a date to go and get tested together for everything so you
will know exactly what you are dealing with.
I am married to a man that does not have genital herpes. When we were first
intimate I was on suppressive therapy and we used condoms. Eventually we
married. I stopped suppressive therapy. and we threw the condoms out the
window. To this day (and we have been together since 1998) he has not
contracted genital herpes from me. (that we know of)

citing many sources.