My thyriod and I are friends again

The nurse called me today to let me know that my thyroid test were fine. So now I just have Week 12 HCV VL to worry about.

Cheers,

David McHep C

Weeks 9 and 10 are a mix of news and emotions.

It looks like I am doing another 2 week posting. Well, it has been a busy time. Last week the clinic wanted me to come in person to see if we could get my nausea under control. One thing that concerned them was that my nausea could be a symptom of thyroid problems. Supposedly the interferon can make toast of your thyroid. One of my blood test showed some difficulty going on with my thyroid. So they did more blood work on Thursday and I had and ultrasound done Friday. Now I have to wait for the results.

My doctor says that it is rare, but they have had some patients develop thyroid problems. When that happened they needed to stop treatment right away. “I’m not going to continue treatment and leave you without a thyroid,” was his words. Supposedly most people’s thyroids repaired themselves when they stopped the treatment. So I have been holding out on making the next posting, hoping that I’d get some news.

Well, it is Monday night and time for shot #10. I forced myself to go to half of my long-term survivor’s group tonight just so I could get out on the apartment for a while. I am sick and tired of being stuck inside for the last 10 weeks. It was nice to get out, but exhausting too. It was nice to see my group though.

I walked into a drug the deal on the way to the bank before the meeting. I walk slowly, so that is part of the problem. I could see the group waiting ahead and I knew that they were picking up. As I walked towards them two rather large guys came up behind me and then passed me. I was sure that the crowd was waiting for them. Just as I reached the crowed the guys reached them. There was a big truck parked and I couldn’t walk out on the road. So I had to push myself through the deals. My heartbeat took off for a while. I have not experienced what I understand as Riba Rage from the treatment, but it came close today. Part of me wanted to give them a piece of my mind. Not very wise though.

So tonight I did shot number 10 and I guess I’ll update more after I get my thyroid results.

Cheers,

David McHep C

Look who is a quarter of a century old today, an anniversary comes with some disappointing news

25 years ago David was surprised with the news that his body now had a new member. Although he was surprised the news was not totally unexpected. The new member came complete with a name and that was HIV. He was born in a time much different than today. Before 1985 he would have remained hidden. A new test that came out on the market in 1985 made it possible to discover this new addition. I’m aware that the viruses swimming around my body today are not the same virus from 25 years ago. He died ages ago, but his descendants have been fruitful and multiplied a lot.

It was not easy to get tested for him at that time. There were no drugs available that would eradicate, or tame him. Although David asked, no doctor would order the test. “Why give you a diagnosis if I can’t do anything about it?” was the mantra. At that time the doctors would test for HIV only if you were showing symptoms to confirm a diagnosis. David wanted to know regardless. He did have an ace up his sleeve though. He was friends with a nurse who worked at the Hassle Free Clinic. That clinic was the only place in Toronto that had anonymous testing. They too would only test if you were showing signs of a weakened immune system though. Knowing how much David wanted to know, his friend told him to come into the clinic and he would perform the test. “I know that you aren’t going to jump off a bridge if I tell you you’re positive,” was his response. Positive was the result.

Early on things looked grim. The advice given at the time was to prepare for the end. A time of 18 months to three years maximum was given. So David did as requested and prepared for the end. Some of his friends were also diagnosed and true to form they were gone within three years. Each death brought thoughts of a new future scenario. As each friend developed a horrible infection, then the possibility of getting that infection became a worry. When each of his nephews and niece were born, David was overwhelmed to see them but then also felt sad that they would not know him. He expected that they would be too young when died to remember him. As the years passed, more friends died and his nephews and niece grew up.

So after waiting and waiting, 25 years later David remains. Technically he doesn’t know the actual date of the infection or test, just that it was spring 1985. So March 15th seemed like as good of a date as any to mark the event.

As for my other virus, tonight will be shot number 8. My nurse called today after finally getting my Hepatise C (HCV) Viral Load (VL) results for week 4. To say it was disappointing would be an understatement. It has hardly budged. As I mentioned before, at 4 weeks an undetectable result would be the ultimate. If not undetectable then the next best would a 2-log drop, so for me that would be 400,000. I have barley budged though. I went from 40 million to 32 million. That now means that if I am not down to at least 400,000 by week 12 they will stop my treatment considering it a failure.

I have read that people who are co-infected with HIV and HCV are slow responders and should consider 72 weeks of treatment. That would be lovely (not that I want to feel sick like this for so long), but since my drugs are covered by the province of Ontario this is not an option. I’ve been told that if I was on private insurance that I may be able to get 72 weeks covered, but that the province just won’t do it. Those who say that Canada doesn’t have a two tier health care system obviously do not deal with it. I’ve known this since the early days when I was diagnosed. Back then many new drugs were available in the US and those who had private insurance could get them covered through creative paperwork. Since I was on government insurance I always had wait until it was approved or take part in a trial. Often when the trials ended the drug was no longer provided to you. So again, those on a private plan did not have a problem, but those like me would have a period when the drug was no longer covered. So I am well aware that our health care system is not level for everyone. Knowing that doesn’t make it any easier at times like this when it really hits me.

Besides this news, I am still dealing with nausea. The nurse was going to contact the doctor today to see what he was willing to do about it. I finished the antibiotics and I am taking my Gravol at regular times, 4 times a day, and the nausea still is a pretty bad issue. I haven’t actually vomited for a while, but I feel on the cusp most of the time. Activity makes it worse so I feel pretty anchored to home.

I am posting this before I do my injection tonight. They have become routine by now. That is it for now. I will report any changes or news as it comes.

Cheers,

David McHep C

Talk about brain fog

I have to apologize again. It looks like my first injection was on January 25th. That means that I did have the other postings correct. So Monday night was injection #7. I've gone back and removed the corrections that I made to the titles yesterday. Now that means that I have screwed up my blood work. I'll have to call my doctor and figure out my schedule for blood work. I should be doing it again at week #8. Well, let's hope that this brain fog does not get worse. I know that some people on The Nomads, the online forum I participate in, have complained about having it pretty bad. That is it for now. I just wanted to clear up the mess that I made with my last posting.

Cheers,

David McHep C

Shot #6: Yes #6, I’ve been confused (No wait, #7 was correct)

I noticed that I have been confused about the number of my shots. When I did my blood work today I realized that tonight’s (Monday) injection was number #6. Somehow I must have been really confused when I did the posting for shot #4. I still don’t know what happened there. I did the math though and the shot I just did works out to #6. I did my first one on my birthday which was February 1st. Then February 8th was number #2. Number # 3 was on February 15. February 22nd was shot number #4. Shot number #5 came on March 1st and now number #6 happened tonight March 8th. So the math confirms that this was shot #6 and not number #7. Perhaps it has been a case of brain fog. That is supposed to be one of the possible side effects. So I apologize for the confusion. I guess that I’ll have to add the correct numbers in brackets.

As far as side effects it is still mostly the nausea that I am dealing with. I made it to the hospital to do my blood work and then made it home. I still often feel as if I am on the cusp, just about to vomit. I should call my nurse tomorrow to let her know that things are still rough. I’ve been taking the Gravol at the prescribed times so I’ve given it my best shot. That is all I have to say for now. I will update when I get my results from the blood work I did at week #4.

Cheers,

David McHep C

Shot number #6: This emotional rollercoaster is making me sick

I was going to make another video of injection #6 but then thought better of it. More so because it was so late when I thought of it, that it was much faster just to do the injection than set up the camera to record it. You’ve seen by now that there is not much to it anyway.

One of the side effects that you get warned about is increased moodiness. Usually the warning is about increased agitation or rages. I have to admit that I have a few incidents like this. Usually I get frustrated with a situation. For example there is some sort of pump or generator running around here. I can’t figure out if it is in my building, a tenants unit, or at a construction site near by. It runs 24/7 and it is frustrating at bedtime. The thumping noise keeps me from falling asleep and wakes me up during the night. There have been nights, like last night, where I felt like getting dressed to go on a quest to see if I could find the source. I don’t know what I would do if I found it, but I would like to know just where it is coming from.

The emotion I notice more is sadness or melancholy. I sometimes feel as if I am experiencing the mood swings that a pregnant woman may. I’ll see a story on TV that is sad and I tear up and feel like crying. In the past these stories would probably give me lump in my throat, but I would not feel as affected as I am now. The Olympics have just finished so there were tons of warm fuzzy patriotic moments that had me choking back tears.

It is not only these pre-package TV moments getting me going. I’ll have memories from the past just materialize out of nowhere. A few days ago I was watching TV (That and sleep is all I do these days) where out of the blue I had a memory of hurting my Mom. I can’t even remember what the specific thing I did was. There was just this memory that I had hurt my Mom that came out of nowhere. Then I was a little consumed with sadness that I had done this thing and hurt my Mom. I was able to shake it after it had sat there for a while, but it was kind of strange. I still have times during the day, or night, that this memory will hit me. As I said, I can’t even remember what it was I said or did, but I just feel bad that I did it. Memories of old friends will materialize out of nowhere and my tear ducts well up.

These side effects are not as frustrating as this never-ending nausea. I just can’t seem to get a handle on it. For some reason looking at the computer screen makes the nausea worse. Hence, I did the injection on Monday but it is not posted until Friday. The doctors have tried tweaking my prescriptions, but so far no improvement. Yesterday my nurse came by and bought me some ginger pills and lozenges but they have not made a difference yet. So now I am on a schedule, making sure that I tale the Gravol at consistent, regular intervals. This way when she talks to the doctor next time she can confirm that I have tried taking enough Gravol and at prescribed intervals and I am still having trouble. So I will spend my weekend carefully taking the Gravol and adding the ginger to see it things will improve.

They had an interesting story on the news last night about people in Ontario and British Columbia purposely damaging their livers to accelerate treatment. It seems that Ontario and British Columbia have the tightest rules regarding who gets treatment. I am not one of those who accelerated liver damage (It did it all on its own the little devil), but I can understand the desperation. Earlier I fought hard for treatment but could not get it. This time it was the doctor who finally wanted to treat.

That is all I have to say about my life at injection #6. I will post again if I get more information. I am still waiting for the results from my 4^th week blood work. My other virus will celebrate a big milestone around the 15^th, so I may talk a little about that closer to March 15.

Cheers,

David Mc Hep C