meandhepc

being told and living with Hep c

Name:
Location: nottingham, east mids, United Kingdom

married,2 boys,we are all vegetarian,and I've been veggie for 30 odd years,Type 3 with cirrhosis,age 51

Monday, March 26, 2007

Well it all turned out to be true, the virus is back, looks like it only went away for a short break and now its come home.
I went to the Hospital today to see the consultant, every one is kinda surprised, mostly because it looked as if it had been defeated quite early on during tx so its sudden reappearance so soon after finishing the meds was a bit of a shock.
Anyway, the out come is basically "sit and wait"! wait for trials of new meds due for later on in the year, a combination of VX950 and Albuinterferon, which is a fortnightly Interferon injection instead of the present once a week injection, this new combo is aimed at Type 1 hepc and non responders ( strange how Type 3 was thought to be the easiest to eliminate !)
Non responders like me !! people with Geno type 3 and Cirrhosis, because it would appear that its the liver damage that has made the virus able to hang on in there, somewhere for it to hide, it would also appear that the hepc virus is very good at finding immunity from that which wishes to do it harm.
So this new combo (the VX950) was originally developed for HIV but has now been re-engineered for HCV, the idea is it acts on the p7 protein, blocking it from reproducing its self in the liver and cutting down on, or eradicating the damage it does whilst doing so....fingers crossed, eh ? The QMC is one of the hospitals chosen to help trial the treatments, so I think my next move is to write to / Email the Consultant Virologist and formally offer myself up for the trials, that way they will have it on record of my desired availability, and my willingness to participate....

It has been a VERY back breakingly busy week !!!
I took the week off work in order to re-landscape the front garden (with the help of my better half, of course) which meant hiring a "builders skip" in order to remove the turf and sub-soil and level the area, (works out to about 8 or 9 tons of material removed by wheelbarrow and grunt power) next was to lay path edgings to the borders, dig out and lay a concrete base and footings for a porch, mix and spread a layer of 2 inch deep concrete, and proceed to lay 36 sqm of random sized flag stones into the wet concrete, and all of this whilst wondering what the hell I was punishing myself for ??
Any way 1 week later and we're not far off, just a couple of sqm's of flags to lay and point up, decorative aggregate to in-fill the borders and edgings with, and a porch to build, all of which gets done at week-ends and spare time, 'cus enough of trying to kill my self...Ive gone back to work for a rest !!

Good news this week is my eldest has just been accepted into Nottm Uni's School of Nursing for Psychiatry, a 2yr Diploma then a Degree course to specialize in "?" to be decided !

Which just about leaves me at where I want to be at the moment, so my Track to leave you with is quite appropriate really, referring to the first part of this entry,
Lou Reed....."I'me waiting for my man"
Take it easy, And some one "Kill the beastie"

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Saturday, March 10, 2007

It realy has been a strange sort of week this week,Sue has taken a client on holiday to the Costa del sol,( shes a support worker) which has left me and the boys home alone, fending for ourselves,
no bid deal, just making sure the youngest gets out of bed and to school's been the main thing, cus' like any 15 yr old, school's the last thing on his mind.
We went to the pictures on Tuesday night to watch Ghost Rider, the new Marvel comics movie, it was quite good, it was most entertaining and the cgi was excelent, according to my youngest.
There appears to be a couple of Marvel films due out, the new Spider man film looks good,looks to be quite dark.
So, the main thing this week was a call from my virolgy nurse on Wednesday, it would appear that the blood tests taken when I last went to Hospital to take back my unused meds have shown HCV positive ! it would seem the virus is back, or at least it maybe, Iv'e to go back on Tuesday for more tests, hopefully its a "false positive" and the new tests will show I'me still neg.
My nurse said this is most unusual, as its only happend at the QMC twice before, (the virus coming back so soon after finishing treatment) and that when re tested one of them was neg !, so a 50/50 chance then, my possitive test was taken just 4 1/2 days after compleating treatment.
So, as I said, my wife's on Holiday and dose'nt come back untill Sunday afternoon, she dose'nt know about this yet, welcome home dear !
On the plus side I've just learned to use the washing machine, so it will look like ive been busy being industrius, then do the shoping and by flowers for her ! aint that sweet any way, sitting here wont get things done, so I'll be back...watch this space

Track of the day...."Here I stand before me"....
The Crash test dummies

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