Shot Number # 4, A video of a manic Monday

Tonight I did injection number #4. I thought that I better make my posting tonight, since there is no way of knowing how it will affect me. After shot # 2, I was hit pretty hard by side effects. So much so that I never got around to making a posting about shot number #3. The side effects from shot number #2 continued right through and into shot number #3. The worse side effects are insomnia and nausea. I saw my Hepatologist on Thursday and he gave me some sleeping aids and a drug that they give to people on cancer treatment for the nausea. My over the counter anti-nausea pills did nothing. Because this was my all-important fourth shot, I now need to make it to the hospital this week to do my Viral Load (VL) test. The results will decide whether my treatment will continue. As I mentioned before, if I have an undetectable result I am a quick responder. Others have mentioned that they like to see at least a 2-log drop, so my 40 million down to 400,000 would be nice, but my nurse says that any drop would be good. If there is no drop, then they may ask me if I want to stop. My nurse feels sure that there will defiantly be some sort of drop. I noticed today that my weight is down by over 10lbs so perhaps that is a good sign.

I decided to videotape this injection just to show how I spend my Monday nights. So here another Monday passed.


P.S: I should add that I did my Week #4 VL test on Thursday, February 18th. I have an appointment with my nurse on March 8th when we will discuss that results and how it will affect the future of my treatment. I also finally saw and ENT Specialist who is located in Toronto and so far I am happy with him. He has put me on a high dose of antibiotics for the next 3 weeks. They will also do a CT scan and then discuss whether further surgery may be necessary. It was a trying day energy wise, but I feel good about it.

Cheers,

David McHep C