Advice about delaying my shot this weekend?

[Vic1967]

This weekend will be my 39th shot.  I have a wedding this Saturday and I am the Florist.  It is the only job I took while in treatment (It's a relative, she already had the date picked...).  Usually Saturdays are hard, mostly just tired and bad brain fog, generally impaired.  My Dr. said it would be o.k. to delay my shot for 24 hours.
I would just like to hear from you that have done this.  I know I should resume my regular schedule next week.
I usually take my injection right before bed on Friday eve.
Thanks for any advice you can give.
(yeah I know,  day after Christmas and a family wedding.....oy vey!)
Vicky

[Trish77]

I've been wondering how it went but didn't want to put you on the spot by asking!  Thanks for letting us know.  We all have to do what is right for us and we can share our own insights but only you can decide what sits right for YOU.  I'm so glad it worked out well for you.  Those kinds of things are what give us the mental energy that translates into physical energy to keep on going and push through.  Way to go, Vicky. :)

Trish

[jdwithhcv]

Great choice, great job and thanks for letting us know.  Somewhere a poor soul with HCV will read this and take hope.  

Have a happy New Year.  I hope you can spend the holiday relaxing.

jd

[GreatBird]

Good for you! You are obviously made of tough stuff and what you did is very inspiring. :) So glad it was a lovely wedding and I'm amazed you didn't cry. I always do.

[Vic1967]

Well it took me 3 days for me to recover (and 12 hours of sleep last night) but......I toughed it out and took my usual shot!
Aren't you all proud of me?
The wedding was beautiful.  The bride cried when she saw the finished product --and I didn't!  Although I entertained the thought of sneaking in a nap in one of the back pews ;)
Anyway for all of us that suffer and are tired and don't think we can do it, I did and i made it.
I think it was the post about handling the guns that kinda had me. Although that poor guy that cried on Easter made me sad :(
Thanks so much for all your replies.
Vicky

[becksta29]

if i had my time over to treat again i would have been more selfish cos i was always saying yes when i shouldnt have,i am und but still have few months left for my 6month post pcr results.
put urself 1st imo and just take ya shot on the day ya meant to have it and soldier on and tell the client u r not well and get as much help as u can.i went to a hens night and drank alcohol(not alot of grog but stil i didnt want to drink at all) just to please my freind cos she kept hounding me to drink with her on the night of her hens night and i said no heaps but she just wouldnt get the hint(i should have told her i was on tx but i didnt)i just wish i had of said no and if she cracked em well thats her problem cos now i could have ruined my tx just for 1 night for a freind.i was bloody puttin her hens night b4 my life ??????boy i am an idiot!

[IAmTheWalrus]

Well, my doctor said it was OK to delay, and I did delay my shot a day one time. But, after 84 weeks of TX, I relapsed at 12 weeks post. I seriously doubt that my one delayed shot made the difference and I would hate to think that that delay was the cause. If I had done it all on schedule, I probably would have still relapsed, but at least I would have known for sure that it wasn't non-compliance on my part.

[Rosebud41]

I would not even for 30 seconds think about changing the tx schedule this late in the

game. I don't think Gandi, the Pope, Mother Theresa, Budda, Mary, Jesus, etc. could

get me off at this point.  Well, maybe I'm going a little too far, but you get the point.

I would not make any modification at this late date. I've found in this treatment you

can't always depend on the doctors or anyone else to make the best decision for you.

For me there would be no questions or regrets later.

Get some people to back you up and help be you hands and feet at the wedding.

If you can't do that just push through anyway and do the best you can.

Don't fix it if it aint broke...We'll all be cheering you on and it'll be just fine.

You have got to make you the priority this time. You have my permission (a perfect

stranger) to be selfish.

Now that's my two cents worth.

Rosebud 41

[medicmommy]

Awwwww..... :( That *****, R. (((((((((((((((((HUGZ)))))))))))) ~MM

[R Glass]

On Easter Sunday My Brother In Law was Barbequing for the entire family. I decided to do my shot and “tough it out.” I was looking forward to it all week but was bed ridden.
I never was much of a crier (not that there is anything wrong with a man crying.)
I talked my family into going without me.
I laid in bed and cried all day.

Hindsight is 20/20

[RCM829]

Thanks Trish, you better articulated what I was trying to say.

[Marte313]

I agree with Trish77, but I do not believe at all there will be a problem by postponing for a day. I did that for a couple of occasions and my outlook for SVR are good, were still UND 9 weeks post EOT. Of course the odds were with me, being UND by week 4, but nevertheless.

[Trish77]

IF you decide to keep your shot where it is - I think you'll be amazed at what you can pull off.  On occasion during treatment, things come up and we need to pull together all our resources and do a bit of the superhuman.  This might be one of them.   I had to do that on two separate occasions over treatment - we got hit with a computer virus and I had to pull about three weeks of 12-14 hour days almost 7 days a week.  I would not have thought that possible but it was an "all hands on deck" kind of situation and I was a lead of sorts so it would have been risky to take a backseat kind of role.   Another time, I suddenly had to take possession of a firearm and take the required course as well - over a weekend, Friday evening and all day Saturday - can't remember now if it was Sunday also.  Had to pass the written and practical when done - a must do sort of situation and failure not an option.   Did quite well, a bit of adrenalin pushing that because I absolutely had to pass.  Imagine someone on interferon and riba loading and unloading a variety of rifles and shotguns. :)

If you decide to stick with your schedule, you can plan to do nothing at all, all day Sunday and push through.  Make yourself lots of lists ahead of time to help you remember things.  Drink lots of coffee.  And just do it.  

[medicmommy]

Nygirl is correct. The "peg" part of pegelated interferon is a polyethelyene glycol which is designed to make the interferon stay in your system as long as possible. Even with the best science, the peg is only able to make the interferon's immune "ramping" effect last 72-84 hours (3-4 days) so, when it is time for your next shot, your immune defenses have dropped back to normal or near-normal again. If it were me, I wouldn't take the risk of doing it later...You'll never know if that small lapse is the one that will make the difference between clearing or not...Hang in there, we are all "hip to your struggle"...((((((((HUGZ))))))))~MM

[annieCinMD]

I was told  by my study that postponing by 1 day was fine. I did it a couple times.

[powerbuilt]

Listen to your doctor, he knows what he is talking about.

[Joey_M]

I agree with your doctor - at this point in treatment, delaying your shot by one day will have no impact on your shot at SVR. Enjoy your holiday and the party and give your mind a little break. Then get back on track after the party.

[R Glass]

I agree with writeitdown. My Dr. told me if occasionally something came up and I wanted to delay my shot until the following day, it would be fine.

[RCM829]

Personally, I  would either stay on schedule or do it a day early...

I know we are all conscious of how we are percieved while on treatment but I really wouldn't let the possibility of a meltdown or crying spree deter me. I've found I tend to me much more aware of my treatment "kookiness"  than those around me. Twice I fainted at work and no one even realized it, thank the dear Lord. Besides, this is your health we are talking about, and that is so much more important, isn't it?

I think you're going to be fine! Best of luck.

[Marcia2202]

Just thinking, you could take it a day early and then work yourself back to the original day during the next 2 - 3 weeks by spacing the shot 12 hours away each time. That would then not be a problem.

Nevertheless, I was told when I started treatment that if I had something very important to do, I could postpone my shot for 1 day. and then either stay on that day or go back to my original schedule.

[jdwithhcv]

Personally I would not take that risk.  I would take it early or on time, but not late.  Not worth the risk, especially since you did not clear til week 8.

jd

[WriteItDown]

Of course I am not a doctor, so maybe I'm wrong.  But I believe that if people's bodies were that sensitive to small changes in when you take the meds, not nearly so many would ever attain SVR. I'm sure many people forget to take their meds and are off a day or more on more than one occasion, so I can't believe missing one dose for 24 hours could seriously jeopardize your whole treatment... that just sounds impossible to me.

But everyone should of course do as they think right. If I were the OP I would take the injection the night after the wedding and not worry about it.

[nygirl7]

the time you're at week 39 the drugs are in a constant state in your body"

NO the interferon leaves your body pretty quickly in fact it's the riba that stays. After all considering that Pegs efficacy starts to wear down in as little as seventy two hours............so you can see a  week later how little there would be left?>

I do agree with FLGuy that it's a huge mistake to make any changes to your meds that might seriously cause you to fail the entire course of treatment.  How many people have we watched be clear till 48 and then have the virus come back a month later?

It's just not a smart thing to do.  My own GI said to NEVER take it later but if I had to do anything earlier was obviously fine because there would be elbow room.  But then I didn't want to do all my shots on a Wed or something and have to come to work like this.

[WriteItDown]

I think you guys are being a little bit paranoid.  By the time you're at week 39 the drugs are in a constant state in your body, the trough that will occur will be slight and it will make no difference.

The drug companies count taking 80% of the drugs as being compliant.  I'm not advocating that, of course; I'm just saying that a 24-hour delay won't make any difference.

However, if you're the type of person who will blame yourself and the one 24-hour delay if the tx doesn't work, then by all means don't take your doc's word for it, because it won't be worth it in the end.

[FlGuy]

I think it's a big mistake to delay, postpone or omit Peg or Riba at any time during treatment.