Viral Load Fluke or what?

[TheFalcon]

Hi Everyone,
   HAPPY Fathers Day!
Haven't been on in awhile. My hubby is now on shot 38. We have been on our rounds of Procrit, but he is "hanging in there".
   I have a question.......... His viral load in Oct was <10, in Feb jumped up to 1,500 then in May <10. We haven't missed one shot and are very timely with giving it each week. What do you gather about this? The Dr. said he may have to contine now thru january, but will have to see July's viral load. Could it had been a mistake or can this happen? Thanks!! Have a great day Papa's..............
~Falc  

[nygirl7]

When I had my first post tx PCR the number came back 65<50

The doctor kept saying it wasn't possible that it was a fluke. Of course I didn't believe him but he said 'trust me' get another test in a month and I did and it came back UND as he said it would.

why numbers can do this I don't know but it's definitely not the first time you'd read about a false positive (if it is one I don't know).  But...I would definitely get another PCR right away to verify it and then if it is really positive at 38 weeks - I don't know why the doc would say to extend...having a positive result that late in treatment would mean to ME that a different course of medication was needed and it just wasn't working.

However if it was negative - probably I'd go with the extension because you just can't be positive.

What week did he have the positive test at?  It did come back negative since then you said right?

Sounds suspicious to me.

[ladybug52]

As you know, how they handle the test tubes makes a difference also. I had a young scared phlebotomist last week. She was very nervous and scared and was making me nervous also. Not about the needle stick (although I did wonder how she would manage that) but about her tx of the test tubes. Sure enough, she put them all in her pocket without inverting them or trying to mix the contents at all. I watched as she slowly drew the blood, put the test tube in her pocket, then labeled each one laboriously. In the meantime I'm sitting next to a sign with instructions to invert the tube several times IMMEDIATELY. Once she got them out of her pocket and wrote a label, I would grab the tube as if I was just curious and turn it upside down several times before laying it back on the counter. I even asked about which tube was for each test and when did she turn invert them. She gave me a general answer and said she would "shake them" before she was through.
I'm probably paranoid because of stuff I read here, but if my test comes out positive for hep c again, I'm go to ask for another test, and pray it was a mistake.
Bug

[TheFalcon]

Yes, that it strange that it would come back EXACT the same numbers as before. It is so disheartening. I thought, just maybe there was a slim chance that they had a bunch of lab tubes lined up to be tested and the machine had a trace of residual left over from the tube before his. I'm an RN and I guess I know better than that because the lab machines have a self cleaning system that is done after each tube is tested. I guess it doesn't hurt to grasp at any possiblilty. I know things can happen, so maybe it wasn't even his lab result :)
Take care!
Falc

[drobie]

I've been getting blood work done several times a year for 4 years.

I can only tell you in quite a few of the reports, they kept showing the same number for viral load.  2,080,000.

Hard to believe that my load came to the exact same number on random ocassions.  They had no answer, but I'm guessing the system defaulted if the test was specifically requested.

I now make sure they test it.  They (the GI and transplant units) don't seem much interested in following it themselves.

[Alady1620]

This happened to me once and I am SVR now.  I can't explain it other than to say my doctor told me it was a lab screwup or fluke.  He didn't really know.