I ama wife of a HepC patient

[I Will Be There]

It has been a year since my husband was diagnosed with Hep C. To say the least we were devistated. I am hoping to get some support from other spouses who's family have been struck by this. Right now the Doc's feel he is ok to wait for treatment. I am so worried, I don't think a day goes by that I don't find tears welling up in my eyes. We have no idea how he contracted it or when, not that it matters.

[georgia-peach]

I am also a wife of a hepc patient. My hat is off to all of you wonderful people that have patience with your spouse. I wish I could better understand how my husband feels. I am getting pretty depressed seeing him depressed all the time. He is normally an outgoing and fun person but the medicine makes him totally different.

[sunspot]

Transmission through normal sex (not rough) in a mono relation rarely infects the partner. I had hep for 38 years and my wife tested clean as have other members on this board.
I hope this helps.

[Gregmayhave]

hi..  Sorry if this question is to personal but i may have it.. still awaiting 2nd test...  but if your husbands have had it for so long.. did you never get it through sex?   sorry if its personal, but it will answer that it's not easily transmitted sexually..

[NYgirl]

Just goes to show how keeping FULL DOSE of meds really does help, thank you.  

When it gets really really rough - just knowing things like THAT are the things that really pull me through!

I agree with Kalio - he's a very lucky man!  :)

[missers]

I too am a wife of a HCV "patient".  We found out six years ago when he was taking health exam for life insurance policy after the birth of our son.  It was a very scary time.  New baby, new house and a diagnosis we couldn't wrap our brains around.  But we educated ourselves and luckily have a very good family doc who helped us find a good gastro.  Also, we stumbled upon this site and visit it daily.  Tons of information gleaned from reading posts.  Many fears calmed as well.  

You don't say what type of doc gave him okay to wait.  Is he seeing a gastroenterologist or heptologist?  If not, I suggest he do so.  Has he had a biopsy or tests to determine genotype or viral load?  A lot of different factors went into my husbands decision to treat, and to retreat when he relapsed.  We asked the doc tons of questions (there is no such thing as a dumb question when it comes to your health) and found a support group through our local hospital.  The more we learned about HCV, the easier it was to accept it and make decisions.

It's not an easy row to hoe but we spouses have the easy part.  In sickness and in health, right?  I don't treat my husband any differently than I did the day before we got the call.  Some days are harder than others but we do them one at a time.  In some ways, its brought us closer together.  Just know that you are not alone and that HCV is not a death sentence.  

BTW, my husband is genotype 1 (couldn't differentiate between a or b) with initial viral load at 19 million.  Did 48 weeks of Pegasys & reduced Copegus after week 12 due to severe anemia and he relapsed somewhere between month 3 and 6 post treatment.  Round 2 started with viral load of 2 million and did Pegasys & full dose Copegus for 56 weeks.  He just took his 6 month post treatment Heptimax and we find out the week after Thanksgiving if it will be a Merry Christmas.  Keep your fingers crossed!

[Kalio1]

What great advice you gave. Your husband is a lucky man to have you in his corner. You are so right about knowledge helping with the fear of this disease.
Sorry to hear about the relapse, I try to focus on the good things the treatment can do for our livers and remember that suppressing the virus alone has it's benefits.
I sure hope this time's the charm for him! Some of us have to go a few rounds with this devil, your positive attitude really shines through.

[I Will Be There]

Hi NYGirl! My husband had a biopsy last February he is at stage one. He did not have a viral load done because they do that here when they go to start treatment. They did say they got a good size specimen and were happy with the results.
Also thank you for sharing your silver lining I do feel better. You are right the diagnosis could be so much worse.

[missers]

Kalio and NY Girl, thanks for the kind words.  Don't know why but they made me tear up.  

NY Girl, we are definitely hoping that the full dose and slight extension was enough this time.  Doc was all for extending for as long as my husband could stand it, and would not decrease dose this time even though anemia was a major issue again.  Now I'm reading posts about double dosing or increasing dose and I wonder if we shouldn't have pushed for that as well. Oh well, hindsight and all that.

I Will Be There, just remember that underneath the tension this dx brings, the man you fell in love with is still there.

[copyman]

hi, hope it works this time for your husband. as for the double dosing you would have had to do this on your own as no doctor would order this. anyone who has done this did this on their own because it is against standard protocol. they say it may help to do this when first starting tx to hit the virus hard in the beginning. best of luck

[Htownwife]

Hi!  I'm also a wife of a hep-c patient. I understand your fear and anxiety. I went through all those emotions when he was diagnosed a little over a year ago. He contracted this through a blood transfusion (actually many transfusions) after he had a severe motorcycle accident at the age of 14. He's probably had this for 40 years, and he's a stage 2 grade 3. We decided to treat, especially since a trial study opened up that he could participate in.  We too, have children and I can understand your fear very well. I hope your fears can be alleviated after reading these posts. He's half way through treatment now, and although it's been rough, it is certainly doable. I recommend you let your family and close friends  know. At first I didn't want to tell anyone, but I'm so glad I did! People are much more caring than you might think. Since your husband's only a stage 1, you've got time to decide or maybe wait for the new easier treatments. Your doctor will be the best one to advise you there. But just know, you're not in this alone! And it's definately NOT the end of the world! I like the comment "it's probably brought us closer together! I know it has had that effect on us!
Take care!!

[I Will Be There]

Thanks Wes. I just keep thinking about something happening to my husband and my 3 little children being left without a Daddy. I know
I am jumping the gun here but i am a bit of a worry wart.  We had the option of starting treatment last year but the Doc's feel new and better treatment will be out so we can afford to wait.
We live in nova scotia Canada and it looks like treatment is going to be covered. That is good news because if we had to pay it is upwards of 37,000 dollars! We would have to sell our house!!

[NYgirl]

I was diagnosed in August '05 and have been doing treatment for the past 60 weeks.  It's not the end of the world and honestly if you HAVE to get a disease...this one is a lot better than a lot of the ones out there.

For most cases it is very slowly progressing and never shows any symptoms.

Has your husband had a biopsy to determine his level of liver damage? I didn't have any idea I had this disease at all and am at stage 3. I've had it for 25 years and never had a symptom that I know of.

My family is totally used to me having this now and everyone sort of "forgets" that I am even doing treatment, which sometimes I wish they would remember so I'd get more sympathy and special attention!   :)

Good luck to your family.  It's not the end of the world and remember...if you have to have some bad luck - it's much better to have this disease than most.

That is my silver lining thought that helps get me through.

[imbetternow]

Hi-Settle down. It's not the end of the world. My wife cried for a year when she got the news about me. That was over 6 years ago.

Hep C is treatable. The treatment doesn't really affect some people in a bad way. You hubby may want to look into it.

Good Luck,

Wes