Living Without HepC

8 am and a cold, dark gloomy Monday morning rush hour. I set off wearing one of Phil’s ski hats to ward off the cold from my head and my wrap-around dark glasses to protect my eyes from the light - and me from the stare of other underground passengers. I did feel slightly paranoid, with my crooked mouth and nose, and dark glasses covering the droopy eye and non-blinking eyelid.

Ben and I encountered Giles in the small gardens in the square opposite the hospital. He was just taking a break after his last patient - someone who had flown in from abroad for a consultation with him. After a brief catch-up on mutual family news it was off to the consulting room in the hospital.

Dr Giles Elrington is a Consultant Neurologist; it was him I contacted on Saturday. Our families have been good friends for years. He immediately offered to see me for a consultation this morning and I gratefully accepted.

I felt very vulnerable and worried. Giles was very thorough in his consultation and reassuring in his approach. He soon ruled out anything more serious than Bell’s Palsy and we discussed the implications for my interferon and ribavirin. I was relieved to hear there are no indications I must stop the treatment. He outlined the possible medications that could be prescribed and also studies that show outcomes for patients taking no medications are very similar to those that do. I felt comfortable with my choice of not having more medications in me at the moment.

Although he said nothing to indicate this, I suspect my case of Bell’s Palsy was not the most impressive seen by Dr Elrington and that he doesn’t usually have consultations on neurological conditions as mundane as Bell’s Palsy! However, I found this both reassuring and supportive - as it gave me a chance to gain a more objective perspective on myself and my situation.

No reason to assume permanent paralysis - it will disappear by itself in a short time. Not a serious case of Bell’s Palsy. Not a direct side effect of interferon and ribavirin. Don’t have to stop taking the interferon - the next injection is due today.

Later at home, I decided that my sense of all this is my immune system is under some stress at the moment due to the interferon and I have suffered an opportunistic infection which I might otherwise have been resistant to. So, it is another aspect of my HepC treatment journey.

My interferon injection went uneventfully. I did take off the wrap-around sunglasses just long enough to sort this out. I discover that my eyes are too sore to watch TV or look at a computer screen – the light leaves after-images on my eyelids.