Subs, Salads, Sushi -- oh my!

GOOD NEWS!! This past week, my neutrophils went up to 7600!! HIGHER THAN WHEN I STARTED TREATMENT. This meant that I could indulge in all the fresh/raw vegetables and undercooked meat I wanted. The doctor also said that I could rub someone else's snot on my face, but I stuck with lettuce on my sandwich instead. This is a HUGE small victory for me. I went from eating tons of vegetables to my only vegetables being french fries, and while everyone can justify a couple potatoes in some french fries, I'm kind of over it. (GASP!)

My very first shred of lettuce since treatment started :) Thank you Jimmy Johns for delivering so fast! 

Anyways, so this week has been pretty good. I got to skip my doses of Neupogen on Friday and today, and wait to see what this week's blood work says. (cross your fingers...) My hemoglobin level is still 8.5 which is really low -- meaning I'm still anemic -- but the doctor said that as long as it stays above 8, and I'm not incapacitated they probably won't do anything. If it drops lower, I could need to take ANOTHER shot called Procrit (i think) which is basically the same as the neupogen but for hemoglobin.

On another note, when I went to get my blood work drawn this past week, the phlebotomist asked if i was alive because he couldn't find any veins. They stuck me....not once, not TWICE but FIVE times...twice in the same vein. Needless to say, they couldn't draw enough blood so I had to go back on Wednesday morning. I worked really hard Tuesday night to drink loads of water, so the blood came out easy-peasy on Wednesday morning.

I also got a festive care package this week from Aunt Patty -- yummmmgobblegobbleyummm -- 

Turkey Cookies!

My mom got here friday and she's been dutifully taking care of me and helping get my life reassembled. I don't have enough energy to file papers and stuff so the medical paraphernalia is piling up! This Thanksgiving will be atypical with very small dishes of a bunch of different things because I'm not sure what I'll like to eat.

Anyways, that's it for this week...cross your fingers all my counts stay the same.

It's great to be on Week 8!!

It feels good to be 2/3 of the way done with the first half of treatment! It's been a tumultuous ride so far, but there seems to be a method to the madness.

This week I found out that my ANC (neutrophils/white blood count) didn't go up (still 588) from the Neupogen last week, so now I have to be on a regimen  of MWF neupogen shots. In addition to my Thursday night Interferon, I'll admit, this blows. Not to mention, my Hemoglobin dropped below 9, so now I'm severely neutropenic and anemic...fun.

2 weeks worth of Neupogen. jealous?!

The doctor said that we'll watch the hemoglobin to see if it goes up this week, and if not, I might need to reduce dosage of the Ribavirin. I'm not particularly sure of the implications of dosage reduction this far into the treatment, so we'll see. I also might need some iron supplements or something.

So basically I feel like I just ran up two flights of stairs anytime I move. (ex: when I get up from a chair, lay down in bed, bend over to pick something up, cough, etc.) And my heart's generally racing at all other times too, not to mention I feel like I've been hit by a bus at least 85% of the time.

My interferon shots have been hurting more, and I cant really explain why, except that maybe there's a higher concentration of interferon in my leg there since I've given 8 shots (4 in each leg). They sting now, and they didn't used to do that.

The Neupogen shots have been going in my stomach. They aren't that bad, except the needle is a lot bigger. There's a lot less involved with the Neupogen  since it's already assembled and there's not all the clicking and stuff that I have to do for the Interferon redi-pen.

The third Neupogen shot was better than the 1st but worse than the 2nd. I think the bone pain is directly proportionate to how tired I am when I give the shot. This week, I accidentally forgot to take aleve when I gave the Interferon Thursday night, so I felt like hell on Friday for the Neupogen...I know, I got too cocky because I was so excited to be on Week 8!

In terms of eating, I was kind of nauseous today, but this has been the first day in a long time. I'm still doing the smoothies in the morning, and various assortments of french fries, pizza, grilled cheese, etc. throughout the day for my 20g of fat. ONLY FIVE MORE WEEKS OF INCIVEK!! WOOO!!

Other than all that, this week has been pretty smooth. I'd appreciate a break every now and then from the Hep C gods, but apparently this week wasn't it. I go to the Dr for my Wk 8 checkup on Thursday, and bloodwork on Tuesday.

Thanks for all your thoughts/prayers/good vibes! Mom's coming on Friday!

All's good on the homefront

So sorry I didn't post last week, but my week was pretty much a nonevent in terms of the health things...which is a good event! Aunt Mary Beth came to visit last weekend and we had a grand ol' time touring Austin and shopping/eating around various parts of the city. She really wanted to try food from a trailer.

Aunt Mary Beth at Hey Cupcake! with her Halloween cupcake

She also made me loads of delicious soup which I've been eating since the cold front has moved in! Speaking of cold, the winter weather has spurred lots of shopping in Lindsey and I, so we've been getting packages in the mail daily -- though she's still waiting for her new fancy iPhone 4s! 

Some of the arriving packages have been pills, which as exciting as that seems, is just not. I have one more shot this month and then I have to go through the special pharmacy debacle which last month consisted of -- the pills not arriving on time, the pills arriving almost 48 hours late at like 930pm, the ice pack having exploded in the cooler and covering all the outrageously expensive prescriptions in icepack gel, and all the pills sitting in water/gel substance -- surprisingly, nothing was damaged and the pills have been functioning normally. Since then, CVS Specialty pharmacy has been delivering my other meds, they seem to be doing a MUCH better job than the other pharmacy (except for the picture below)

Last time I checked, a 90 day prescription shouldn't come in 90 different bottles! 

I had to take the Neupogen this past week, though not the week before...so I'm curious to see if it's going to be an every other week thing. This past week my ANC level was the lowest it's been at 561 -- 500 is when I move to "severe neutropenia", so I really hope it doesn't drop much lower. I took the Neupogen at night this time, and it proved to be MUCH better/easier/less painful. 

My regular interferon shot was more painful and left a little bruise, so I think I might have hit a blood vessel or vein or something...not sure about that. 

I've probably eaten McDonalds about 15 times in the past two weeks (pretty much once a day, but some days twice). I've also come to terms with the fact that everything tastes weird, so mostly foods with very distinctive tastes taste the best -- so I made chili and green chile cornbread to accompany my extra salty french fries! 

Oh! also this week I experienced something new. I burned my mouth eating some hushpuppies last weekend, I think. Because I'm neutropenic, my mouth proceeded to heal in slow-motion. It got all these white scabby things where it got burned, then peeled off everywhere, then had some soft pink tissue and is now back to normal -- but it took like four or five days! I can honestly say in my 24 and a half years of life, I've never had my skin in my mouth peel off quite life that. 

Other than that, everything's been pretty good. I've taken lots of naps and tried to sleep as much as possible because that proves to make things much better for me. I also spent a bunch of money stocking my pill box back up with all the OTC drugs that complement my delivery/designer drugs! 

That's it for this week!

Thanks so much Talleys and Coopers for the care packages :) Lindsey, Bean and I have been eating like queens with all the goodies that are either made for us or sent to us! (and we're still taking donations!)

Mom's coming back out to Austin for turkey day so that should be fun! 

Until next week!

20 weeks left!

Well, if you haven't already heard the news, all your praying, thinking, wishing and hoping paid off. As of last Monday my viral load was undetectable meaning my treatment will only last 24 weeks!!! And since I've just given myself the 5th shot, that's 19 weeks and some days left. The last day I will take pills is March 9th -- happy birthday dad! happy no more hep C me! 

It's hard to believe that all within a year, I have been diagnosed with Hep C, started treatment and now have undetectable traces of it in my body -- so exciting!

Anyways, good news aside, this week has been pretty rough for me. The same day I found out the good news, I also got news that my neutrophils had depleted so low that I needed to take the Neupogen. Basically, from what I understand, you are supposed to have numbers above 1500 and my number was 680. An ANC below 500 is considered severe neutropenia, so obviously you can see where I lie. Also, my hemoglobin was 10.2, which the Dr told me at 9 it would be considered very low. So basically, my lab reports show me being feeble and weak, yet I don't always feel as bad as the reports say I should! That being said, my estimated bodily age for this week was at least 90, maybe 108. I know EXACTLY what it feels like to be an old woman, so if you're curious, I can fill you in. 

The Neupogen made walking from the couch to my bed hella-difficult. Imagine walking around with the tiny people from Gulliver's travel banging their hammers and spikes into your largest bones (ie hips, thighs, you know, the big ones). I had some difficulty giving myself the neupogen injection because it was in a vile and a syringe rather than the handy-dandy redipen that my interferon comes in. I could not for the life of me draw the medicine out of vile without getting air bubbles in the syringe. I had to eventually call the Dr and go in and get a lesson. The pharmacy did not give me instructions, so all I had was the vague instructions on the pack of insulin syringes they gave me. Needless to say, you really need more instructions when it comes to injecting yourself with something. More is always better in this case. Anyways, so I tried to space out my two injections this week, but because I failed miserably, they ended up being the same day. Note to self: NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. All my other meds give me body aches, and now this one too. I desperately considered getting a wheelchair for about 15 hours on Friday. Lucky for me, I woke up on Saturday feeling much better and have felt better ever since. 

I've been really tired this week, so I've spent most of the weekend trying to catch up on sleep. I hoping that will coax my neutrophils into producing more so hopefully I'll be back down to one injection next week. The Neupogen is dependent on my labs each week, so every week it will be a different story. 

And on the final upside, I've rekindled my flame with McDonalds. (see below). After going into a McDonalds for the first time in a long time last weekend (I think since I've been a Vegetarian at least), I've been dreaming of french fries ever since. I've been having a lot of trouble eating this week (probably because I ate so much last weekend..ahem..aunts!..ahem) so each fat snack is a new and exciting journey (NOT). I broke down and went to mcdonalds. Good news -- a large fry is 25g of fat. So I ate 20g and Lindsey kindly took the other 5g off my hands. We both agreed we could probably have eaten double what we actually ate -- and she considered going back to McD for another large fry lol. We also researched and Whataburger plain biscuits are a stellar 17g of fat, so I'll probably be eating a couple of those this week. 

Hellooooo McDonalds -- note: this is the same meal (though smaller) that Grandma used to get me on the way to dance class every week. She would be proud to know that I still LOVE french fries, bbq sauce and a diet coke :)

I've come to the conclusion that since I'm not really eating anything, I should probably just eat ALL of the things I never eat. It's all about portion control right? So if I limit my portions to three things a day and those three things are outrageous in fat, then I won't gain weight...hopefully. I can't really say that plan's been working just yet, but it's still in the infancy stage. 

I'm still eating a smoothie every morning, though this week I'm going to try some new flavors, and I'm still poppin' pills like its my job.

Other than that, all's well. December 16th is my LAST day of fat snacks, waking up at 6am to eat, and taking 6 pills a day. THANK GOD. If you're in the Tampa area, my last pill will be at 2:15pm and I do believe a celebratory lunch is in order. 

Keep sending your good vibes, as I still need all I can get. Aunt Mary Beth comes this weekend! Can't wait to give another Austin tour...this one might consist of slightly less food (sorry!)

Almost done with phase one!

This week has been pretty smooth sailing. I may or may not have decided to eat the sticky buns pictured below for every meal for the next 8 weeks. 

Holy Pecans! @ Uppercrust Bakery

My loving and generous aunts (pictured below) came to visit this weekend. They allegedly came to help me with stuff, but I think they actually came because of the bakery that houses the sticky buns.

Aunt Marty  & Aunt Duffy @ The Green Mesquite BBQ

We definitely took the food tour of Austin, with an impeccable tour guide I might add (that's me!). It's good that I'm finding food appetizing and eating more than just smoothies, though I might have gone a bit overboard this weekend. 

My health has remained intact this week. I'm still nauseous here and there, even with the Zofran. Whenever that happens, I just stick to eating bland food. This is probably the first week so far that I've felt fairly normal. I wish I would have believed them when they told me this would happen back in Week one. The fits of hysteria would have been a lot easier to handle knowing that I'd feel better after my body had a steady flow of toxic chemicals circulating in it.

When Marty & Duffy were here, since Duffy's a nurse, I asked one of my many panicky questions about what am I supposed to do if I drop a pill?! Now granted, this wouldn't be a big deal to the average person, but the other day I dropped a Zofran and it slid under the disgusting bookshelf, leading me to worry about what would happen if I dropped one of the Hep C pills. Beanie assured me that I would not be the first person to ever drop a pill and that they probably just give me a new one, but I continued to fret. Then we did the math. The Incivek (purple pills that require the fatgrams) 12-week treatment costs $49,200. That's $4100 a week, $585.71 a day, and $97.62 a pill. Aunt Duffy then answered my question -- move the shelf. get the pill. wipe it off and take it. no excuses. 

Considering the Incivek is just ONE of the pills I'm taking, I decided that my pill box has a pretty high street value, and if things didn't work out with the treatment I could make some quick cash in the local Hep C drug rings. (just kidding!!) 

Good thing I'm heftily insured, or else I'd be equally as unheftily poor and living under a bridge with my box of pills. Also a good thing you need the whole treatment to be successful, so I'm not particularly worried about being mugged for these awful purple pills. 

Other than that, I sincerely appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, texts, calls, facebook messages and get well soon cards! You have no idea how loved (and popular! lol) it makes me feel to have my phone be blowing up at all times :) Keep 'em coming! 

I find out Wednesday whether it's 24 weeks or 48. Cross your fingers, toes, knees, elbows and the limbs of all of your dolls, pets and imaginary friends. I need all the good karma I can get. (As a side note, because I'm 24 years old I feel like that gives me a statistically significant greater chance at having treatment for a certain number of weeks!)

Stay tuned... 

Day 15

As my mom told me last night.... 3 shots down, no more than 45 to go! I feel like that's a ridiculous statement, but hey, it's my reality right now.

This week was MUCH better than last week. For the exceptions of a few minor details, everything went pretty normal. By taking the Zofran, my nausea is under control -- only acting out every now and then...which means I can eat stuff, both a pretty cool and huge for me. I haven't been eating a whole lot because I don't really have an appetite, but I try for nutritional smoothies when I can. I generally eat one meal and my "fat snacks", which seems to fill me up for the day. The smoothies are still working out for the fat in the morning, and I've been trying some macaroni and cheese for the afternoon/evenings. I've also been intermittently eating ice cream, cookies and various other high-fat pastries.

I'll admit, for the most part, I'm sticking to bland foods. And the upside is that because I'm not eating a lot, when I do eat, I can generally eat whatever I want!

This past week, my main complaint has been digestive issues and hemorrhoids. I'm sure you don't want to hear all the gory details, but just know, it's painful...and taking toxic medicine doesn't help matters. Other than that, I had my two-week office visit today, and Dr. Sperling said things look pretty good. The four-week office visit is the "big one" where I find out if I'm on treatment for 24 or 48 weeks. Today was more of a check-up. I'm still neutropenic, but seem to be holding my white blood cell counts at a level they deem OK.

Fatigue has been manageable. I took a walk last Sunday. We went 1.8 miles in like 2 hours. I had to stop four times for a 5-25 minute break. I thought I was going to die! Then I came home and took a two hour nap for recharge. The best way I can explain my energy is like this: Half of my energy for the day is being used to fight HCV, leaving me running on half of what I used to have....If I do something like go running in the morning (which I haven't done, but this is an example), then I'm left with that much less energy leaving me practically dead by the end of the day.

Lastly, the HIGHLIGHT of the week was that I got my "temporary disabled" parking permit today, allowing me to park just about anywhere until I graduate! Between steady weight loss and VIP parking, this treatment is looking pretty good this week.

Thanks for all your texting/emails/cards to check up on me. Even if I don't respond with much, I really do appreciate all your thoughts and prayers and crossed fingers!

Until next week, or when something major happens!

Day 8

Well, I've survived the first week, but just barely. BARELY. I took a sharp turn for the worse over the past couple days, developing just about every side effect listed in the warnings.

It started with the rash Tuesday morning, which I think I mentioned. The injection site got a little red and spread a heat-like rash all over my forearms/underarms, thighs and belly. Not particularly itchy, but I wouldn't consider it comfortable either. I went to the Dr on Tuesday morning to have them look at the rash. They considered it mild, gave me some topical stuff and I was on my way. I had labs taken that day.

Rash on my arm on Tuesday

Rash around my 1st injection site on Saturday

On Wednesday, I was battling nausea hardcore -- to the point that I was crying every time I had to eat. I'm not a small person, and I've certainly never had trouble eating, so this was an experience I can safely say, I never imagined. I mean, the thought of ice cream made me gag ...and I thought I could eat ice cream forever...I was wrong. So I went the route of smoothies and that seemed to be helping. Even though, I'm eating 60+ grams of fat per day, that's pretty much all I'm eating, so I'm dropping weight like it's my job.

My mom and I were actually concerned because I was losing weight too quickly, another concept I would have never imagined. So I've been eating smoothies for most every meal consisting of: 1/3c + 1/3 of 1/3c of coconut milk 20g, frozen fruit, orange juice and protein powder. It's actually quite delicious and rather stomachable in the wee hours of the morning accompanied by a delicate array of pills.

Wednesday was also the day the Dr called to inform me that my counts had dropped so low that I was nutropenic. Nutropenic is when you have so few white blood cells, your body can't even combat bacteria on food. My parents said I was nutropenic when I was on chemo, so they were pretty familiar with it, but they needed to brush up on their skills. In case my life wasn't already a mess, here's what nutropenic involves:

- No tampons, no shaving with a razor. (good thing I'm not also trying to pick up boys on this new fad diet, I'm trying..hah!)
- No fresh anything -- flowers, house plants, fruit, vegetables
- No touching pet feces, or any other feces for that matter (not really a problem)
- No crowded places - malls, movies, concerts, etc.
   - Not listed, but I've been wearing a very fashionable surgical mask if I decide to tread into germ-y territory
- No douching, rectal thermometers or anything up your butt (also, not a problem)
- Plus or minus a plethora of ridiculous other things that all lead back to wash your hands, stay clean, don't get anything infected and don't hang around sick people.

So anyways, I leapt off the cliff and steadily free-fell down a pit of misery for a couple days, but I'm back. I'm now taking a LOT more pills than I started with, but I'm feeling better again, and I don't burst into tears every 6 or so minutes.

Here's my pill regimen.

6am - smoothie
615am - incivek (20g of fat pill), zofran (nausea), excedrin migraine (depending on the day)
955am - eat something
10am - ribavirin, fiber pill, claritin, some sort of pain reliever
2:00pm - eat 20g
2:15pm - incivek, zofran
9:30pm - eat 20g
10pm - incivek, ribavirin, zofran, remaining pill I'm probably forgetting


At some point when I was like a sophomore in college, I had a chiropractor tell me I had the body of an 80yr old man. If I didn't believe her then, I'm certainly getting all my 'elderly' person practice in. I feel like I'm aging overnight and I literally have every elderly ailment you can think of being imposed on my body. Nevertheless, if you need some advice on getting old, I've got you, just ask. I'll be a pro here soon.

Side note: Beanie is making me one of those countdown construction paper ring chains that we used to have in elementary school. She's going to make it for 47 weeks left, and then if I'm done early we can rip the whole thing down at once. She's dedicated and knows each day is a battle so she's making a ring for every day -- and mainly we just want it to be obnoxiously long and cover my whole kitchen. (that's 329 rings, if you were wondering. -- I'll post a picture when it's done....get working bean, the people are waiting!)

That's all for now, I'm still alive with all my aches and ailments running amuck. Feel free to send me some sort of "are you alive" message every now and then if you are curious. Odds are, yes.

47 weeks left. maybe only 27.

Shot 2 is done and not making me feel quite as shitty as last week. Stay tuned.

Day 4

After 72 hours of treatment, my spirits are still up-ish. I'm going to bed early and drinking more water than the average whale, but all in all things are good. You wouldn't believe how many things you don't want to eat at 5:30am. I'm still working out the schedule, but I have faith that I'll figure it out. 

Even though 1/4 cup of almonds sounds like a handful, it's more like a plateful...and well, that's just too many almonds for breakfast. Before you disagree, I recommend rolling out of bed and shoving almonds in your already-parched mouth. On a similar note, 2 1/2 tablespoons of peanut butter is also a joke. While it's doable, I wouldn't suggest actually doing it. Today alone, I've eaten 5 tablespoons of peanut butter...that's more than I've eaten since I made a gazillion buckeyes last thanksgiving! I think that by the age of 25, I will safely be able to say that I can never eat a PB and J. The chemo ruined jelly and the Incivek ruined peanut butter. These drugs are just out to crush any normalcy my youth might still have. 

So tomorrow morning, at 5:45 am (I'm moving my times around a little bit), I'll be making a breakfast taco. One low-carb tortilla - 2g, 2 eggs - almost 10g, piece of cheese - 7g -- We'll see how it goes. 

I've been rather successful with my Dove dark chocolate ice cream bars - 17g - in the evening. I don't seem to be tiring of those AT ALL. In fact, I dream of them when I'm shoveling nut biproducts in my face at all other times of the day. 

I'm trying really hard to stay on Weight Watchers and only eat healthy-ish fats, and I think this will help me in the long run. I've tried to incorporate the fats semi-around meal times. The new times will be 6:00 (meds at 6:15), 2:00 (meds at 2:15) and 9:30 (meds at 10). Most of time I eat late already, so this won't be too big of a problem. 

My diet is currently including 20g fat 'snacks', vegetables, fruit and a piece of seafood. And I can't really eat much more. Upping my fat intake that much makes me feel kind of gross, so that in combination with the alleged loss of appetite, leave me pretty much in a constant state of flux between not wanting to eat and having to eat again. 

Other than the food issue, which I think is the most taxing, I've encountered a couple other things.

- sometimes I feel like I've aged a couple centuries between sitting on the couch and getting up off the couch

- sometimes i think the hinges of my body are glued shut (hips and shoulders) or corners of my torso, depending on how you look at it

- sometimes I've drank so much water because I'm parched that it warbles around inside of me making me feel like I'm swimming/on a boat/in an aquarium/etc.

- the first night I got chills, that was the worst. i got out the electric blanket and sweatpants and made it through

- i get more energy and more appetite when i go to the gym (i've been twice)

- as exhausting as being out in the sun was before, it's amplified, at least 10-fold

- carrying my bookbag uphill makes me feel like a pack mule

- and last but not least, i don't think i like peanut butter anymore

a couple more tidbits - 

   as advised, ive been lathering up with expensive lotion. this seems to be helping as my skin's not dry, yet. 

   ive been drinking an obnoxious amount of water to stay hydrated.

   ive been keeping busy so i dont think about it.

that's all for now. let me know if you have healthy options for 20g of fat!

Day 1

After miles and miles of hoops to jump through, I finally obtained my long-awaited medicines. My mom comes in tomorrow to hang out with me this week, because the first two weeks of treatment are supposed to be the worst.

I picked up the goods around 2:30 and did my first injection around 5:30pm. I am now the proud owner of 8lbs of medicines (that's how much the box weighed at least), a new cooler (that I'll have at least six of by the time I'm done because that's how it's shipped), and last but not least a spankin' new sharps container. I think it's ironic that I'll have six pretty awesome coolers that will contain plenty of beer for all my friends and loved ones by the time I'm done...at least it's the silver lining in this whole debacle. I know,  I know you are all jealous of my sweet hep c swag. I even got a pharmaceutical-company endorsed water bottle and lunch box.

Anyways, the injection went quite swimmingly. I did it to myself, which is much harder than it looks, even with an itty-bitty needle. It's surprising how much you actually don't want to jam a sharp object into your thigh and inject medicine you know won't make you feel like a million bucks when it comes down to it. But I manned up, and did it.  I put an ice pack on my leg (another added bonus of the treatment), assembled my redi-pen (that's how the injection comes...ready to penetrate your skin), chickened out a couple times, and then did it.

My roommate offered me a chocolate covered almond in exchange for giving myself the shot, so I obviously complied because the one almond was an incredible incentive. Bean and Lindsey were here for moral support which was helpful.

I think the injection was the hardest part. I get to eat my first 20g of fat snack tonight at 9:30 -- which will be pizza, in case you were wondering -- and then take my swallowable pills (ribavirin and incivek) at 10pm. I will then be heading to bed, and hoping my body doesn't combust overnight. I will be waking up at 5:30 am to eat another 20g, and take incivek at 6am. Then ribavirin at 10am, then 20g again at 1:30pm and incivek at 2pm, and finally the 9:30/10pm dose again. I think this is arguably a full-time job, especially if I get put on more meds as the treatment progresses.

Well, I'm in good spirits as of now. I will pick Mom up from the airport at 9:30 tomorrow, so hopefully my body keeps responding this positively to the toxic waste I'm putting in it. I'm well on my way to ridding my body of Hep C, one day at a time.

That's all for now.

Me and Hep C.

Maybe you know, maybe you don't know, but the reader's digest version of my medical history:

22 months old - diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. things involved: years of chemo, mediport, blood transfusion

6 years old - considered cured from leukemia/ mediport out.

15 years old - tonsilectomy/wisdom teeth out

23 years old - diagnosed with Hepatitis C -- contracted via blood transfusion (see 22 months old)

Intermingled in this were lots of other standard and nonstandard illnesses including but not limited to: chicken pox, fifth's disease, strep throat, etc.

So now, at 24 years old, I've decided to undertake the medical treatment for Hepatitis C. Just recently, they came out with a third drug for the treatment that's supposed to increase my chances of kicking hep c drastically so now seemed like a good time. My professors are understanding, my job is flexible and hopefully my youth makes me slightly more resilient than the average Hep C patient.

In case you don't know, Hep C attacks your liver and while slow-moving, can potentially be life-threatening. The most common way of contracting it is through sharing needles, but it can also be acquired through any sort of blood-to-blood contact. Shockingly, having someone else's blood pumped into your body, seemed to do the trick, but it was before the Hep C "epidemic" in the 90s, so nobody tested for it. From what I've read, most people realize they are Hep C positive later in life, when they are already having problems. Fortunately for me, my biggest problem right now is that I can't drink. 

So while I'm waiting patiently for my medicines to come in, here's what I'm looking at:

Treatment is 24 - 48 weeks. At week 4, they decide whether it's going to be 24 or 48. Cross your fingers.

There's three drugs: ribavirin, incivek(new drug) and interferon.
Ribavirin -- twice a day pill -- i'm assuming swallowable.

Incivek -- three times a day for 12 weeks -- taken every 8 hours, on the dot -- must eat 20g of fat before taking it...three times a day -- talk about a sick joke.

Interferon or peginterferon -- one injection once a week. small needle though, so i'm not too worried.

So, all that being said....maybe this blog will help somebody, maybe it will just keep my family informed -- either way, it seems like a productive venture. I'm going to try to post at least weekly, so hopefully I can maintain that.


Cross your fingers that I get the meds in soon.
Until then.