Stage 1 means minor damage which if you're lucky will be repaired by your body after you wipe out the virus. It's very good. Stage 0 is no damage at all. Grade 2 isn't all that bad either. It's what I have. The two together, along with the low viral load mean that you have time to carefully think through your options and optimal timing. It also bodes well for response to treatment, both in terms of minimal side effects (no guarantee of this, of course) and likelihood of full cure. Congrats! You're lucky.
My pre-treatment load was 245122 which was 5.39 log. I am Grade 1, Stage 0 1b, had Hep C for probably 20 years. Someone posted the grades, stages and their methods of interpretation a day or so ago - you might be able to find them. No liver damage on biopsy, no abnomalities on ultrasound. I am healthy and no signs of any illness due to the Hep C but I wonder what this really means as I have no way of monitoring what I might feel if I didn't have Hep C. I have a huge amount of energy, demanding career, great life for the most part. However, I developed osteo-arthritis in my knees in the last two years, had a major burn out at work at the same time - now recovered, have gall stones. I am 55 years old and I have decided to treat while I am relatively well, in preparation for a future without Hep C and developing problems. I am in week 6 of treatment, waiting for my 4 week viral load results to come back and have had some rough days with treatment. However, am now so committed to the treatment - after doing this for nearly 6 weeks, no way am I backing out now!
Actually that is pretty darn low...... I believe it can get up into the 99,750,000 (7.998 log). My VL started out as 52,470 (4.72 log) which is really low Grade 1, Stage 0.......
to my understanding, anything below the 200,000 range is considered very low...
This is GOOD :)
the grade and stage is the amount of fibrosis or cirrhosis of the liver. Not sure on what the different grade levels and stage levels mean! With my Grade 1, Stage 0, my Doc told me i had NO signs of fibrosis tissue on my liver. I would ask your Doc what that means for your liver health.