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.