Post Treatment Week 15: Keeping Up With The Pace
I was glad to read on the Forum this week that people who have been on treatment have had difficulties with their eyesight. Well I’m not happy they’ve had difficulties – just glad to hear it hasn’t only been me. I have found myself relying more and more on my reading glasses to see ‘middle distance’ objects like TV and computer screens over the past six or eight months. And Carol recently commented I was squinting without them to see the TV. I just vaguely thought I spend too much time in front of screens and my eyesight has deteriorated.
However it seems to be a very common experience amongst those doing the combo treatment for HepC. And the problem disappears after a few months off treatment. It’s a relief and reassurance to hear this news, even though it’s focussed on “problems”.
I am now convinced there is a value in describing and recording the post treatment experience, warts and all. Some say it is off-putting for those on treatment to read that the journey is not finished at the end of treatment – I know I struggled to decide what to write in the first weeks after treatment. Now I think otherwise. The more people share the negatives as well as the positives of their experiences the more informed people will be about what they might expect as they come off treatment and the more reassured they could feel that it isn’t just their experience in isolation. I was reassured to read someone writing on the Forum about mourning the end of their treatment – that was what I was describing in this blog at the end of October and at the time it seemed a somewhat bizarre way of describing what I felt. Someone else’s similar experience lends credence to the possibility that this is generally part of the post-treatment experience. I am also convinced that medical professionals don’t have the same knowledge of post-treatment as they do of treatment itself. This is an area not focussed on or documented. Another gap in the body of knowledge around HepC treatment.
Carol and I enjoyed a restful break in Spain. Not as much sun as we would have liked but enough most days to enjoy my favourite pastime – basking in the sunshine with our morning coffee. We did a lot more walking than I’m used to at home. I was really pleased to negotiate all the steps up from the sea front without any hesitation or being short of breath. On the last few visits I had really struggled to make this journey, needing several rest stops along the way – even on the ay down. We enjoyed meeting friends for coffee and visiting family for several meals together.
I noticed I didn’t bounce back quite as quickly as I used to before treatment following a couple of late nights and found it took me several days to acclimatise to the damp air off the Mediterranean. I’m hoping these are part of my post-treatment experiences and will disappear over time.
The day after we returned home Carol came down with the flu – and so did I the following day. Change of climate again? Germs on the aircraft? Who knows. Both of us struggled with the usual flu symptoms – shivering, feeling feverish, aching joints and limbs, sore throat and dry cough. Three days later we have recovered although I can still feel some soreness in my right kidney. I notice the HepC experience has left me very aware and articulate about such pains – years ago I would have just described this as a pain in my back.
Overall I am feeling much more able – physically and emotionally, as the days and weeks go by. And ready to take on more of everyday life and keep up with the pace.