My Tx Bio - L

[Guest guest]

I was dx’d in March of 2004 when I happened to be

in the middle of a flare-up. It finally explained the major muscle and joint

aches and pains I’d been having… plus so tired all of the time. I

have geno 1a.

Biopsy found minimal liver damage, I’m one of the lucky ones.

I pushed for tx asap, I felt like I had a time bomb in my

body and I wanted it out! I started tx on October 1st, 2004

and finished on October 5th, 2005 with the interferon/ribavirin

combo.

Due to being fairly remote, my primary doc was a Gp in another

town and supervised my treatment by a nurse practioner in my town. Not the best

combo but it worked, mainly because the doc wasn’t afraid to call the

specialists when in doubt. I wouldn’t recommend going on tx in those

circumstances if there are other good options, but if you do make sure your

doctor isn’t one of those that thinks he/she knows it all.

Tx went pretty well for the first 3 months, I continued

to work part time driving school bus. Mainly I felt run down and achy all the

time and a little cranky (but who could tell J), had been feeling

that way pretty much before too… just a little worse with tx.

I cleared the virus at 12 weeks and the whole clinic did

a happy dance, lol.

I think it was the end of January I caught the bad flu

bug going around and ended in the hospital with pneumonia… I almost

kicked the bucket that time. They took me off tx, was home in 5 days and

started tx again and back to driving school bus 3 days later.

Ten days later I was back in the hospital… they had

forgotten to tell me to take it easy and no work. I’m stubborn and

hate to admit defeat. This time when released in six days they specified no

work and I stayed home the rest of the school year. I blame all this on the flu

and the little germ bags that brought it to me (kids), lol.

For the remainder of tx I had low red and white counts

and had to get daily shots for awhile, then went to weekly and daily pills to

keep them from going critical again. I was extremely tired and had a hard time

keeping up with my chores around the house, it would have helped for the hubby

to be more supportive too, but we can’t have anything.

I tested clear at the one year mark and it’s

been a couple of years now since I’ve had a virus load done. But routine

blood work shows normal liver function.

And I would do it all over again if I had to…

without a doubt.

Llinda, 55

Kamiah Idaho