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.