Living Without HepC

I double checked this morning. Monday was the beginning of Week 37 and the interferon injection I did in the evening was the 38th injection – meaning I have only 10 more injections to go to complete the 48 weeks. And 11 more weeks on the ribavirin tablets. Getting there.

I still remember last Friday – clear-headed and feeling emotionally balanced and happy. Several of the days since then have been the familiar ‘slow’ or fatigue days. Having said that I have been fairly busy with various activities and seeing people and that memory of what I can feel like (as on Friday) helps me to remember what I can be like and what is possible for me to do.

And I find I am beginning to be ready to think differently about commitments. For a long time I have felt ambivalent about taking on commitments – social, work, administrative, etc, because I won’t be able to predict what I am up to ‘on the day’. For example, my last trip to the Clinic. I wasn’t really feeling in good shape and the horrendous episode of ‘riba-rage’ with me losing my temper in the Underground on the way overshadowed that trip to see Mynurse. Amongst other things I learned from that experience is that I could work and think differently to get myself ready for these commitments, prepare myself and plan strategies in advance to help me through.

Mynurse, by the way, telephoned me yesterday to see I am alright after that day before she went on her holiday. She is very kind and supportive that way.

I received an email from Nadine in San Diego which she has sent to a number of people. After a long and difficult 48 week treatment she has suffered a further six months of recovery from various side-effects. She writes to say her doctor has now declared her cured. Congratulations Nadine after your long struggle. You have worked hard to overcome the virus and have succeeded. What an achievement.

Over the next few weeks & months I look forward to hearing similar news from fellow bloggers and others in the HepC online community as they hear their news. It can be done and we can get there.

Sam from The Hepatitis C Trust has also written to me about a petition to the European Parliament to take on, amongst other HepC issues, the development of a European strategy to deal with HepC. Having the read the petition I agree with the arrangements cited in the petition and support it. I will be printing and signing a copy and asking those I come in contact with personally to sign it. I recommend you read the petition which you can read and print out from the HepC Action site.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 27th, 2005 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.