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