the new girl

[suzieQJ]

I'll ask about the cancer factors ?

Too weak, they said was from low white blood cells.

Finding out this stupid virus makes the other conditions worse. So sorry for your pain.

Thanx for support

[johnisme]

Hi, had my bx this morning, on the sheet they gave me prior to bx. it also said 8 days, but the nurse their ask me if id taken any aspirin in the last 4 or 5 days. So you should be fine but let them know any way. They was going to do my labs today but hep doc took them last week.. John

[v eggie dip]

veg-o-matic  hahaha  my mother actually had a veg-o-matic...

I am sorry I didn't realize you had already starting treatment, my mistake, I'm a dip!!

I am very glad to hear that your not bed ridden with sides...

I just read that if you are having a liver biospy, do not take aspirin for 8 days prior...I took aspirin yesterday and my biopsy is Monday, is this of concern, does anyone know?

thanks, Beth "the AmeriCan veg-0-matic" *smile*

[GoofyDad]

FL: I was never military. I sorta maybe remember a couple airgun events in early elementary school. Could'a happened, could'a not.  I had an non-A non-B jandice episode in my early twenties, which is when it reared its ugly head. No symptoms to speak of for 20 years since.

Veg-o-matic: I did shot #2 last sat nite. What an exiting date have I become! Anyways, no difficulties worth mentioning. A new troublesome rash on my arms the last couple days, but I had the same thing six months ago. I've had a bit of abdominal 'discomfort' on and off for years. It's fleeting and unspecific. I don't know whether to attribute it to liver or not. I go back and forth on that. Doctors generally say not. It doesn't hurt when they poke and prod.

Cougar: Man, sorry to hear about all the symptoms. I'm sure not happy about my stage (transitioning to 4), but I have a lot to be thankful for in that I've really had no troubles at all. I feel for you. You know, on the beer & tylenol, you have no way of knowing how much, if at all, that contributed. I drank, knowing I had HVC, but I didn't fully appreciate the consequences. Who knows how much of a factor it was? So here I am, putting one foot in front of the next.

[v eggie dip]

yeah I took tylenol 3's every day for my disk disease, that scares the b'geez outa me too!

[cougareyes]

25 years and I was a heavy drinker. I also took 4 tylenol at a time with a six pack of beer. So I contributed greatly to my liver damage.

[v eggie dip]

cat eyes...how long have you had it, do you know?  One of my big worrieds is the fact I have had this for 37 years, my liver must be a mess...and I have lots of symptoms for the last 2 years...

Fl guy...yeah the whole SARS thing was a big mess...a lot of people died that didn't need to...London ON is where my gastro is from (the kid, Dougie Howzer  lol)...I live in Northern Ontario, North Bay area

[FlGuy]

At least your making some progress. 'Fly by night'...as long as they can give you the scripts you need.  Don't be surprised if they go for the BX in a spot below and behind your right arm pit.  I remember thinking 'what are you doing back there? you're looking for the liver'
Saw Canada health system first hand a few years ago at the height of SARs.   Was working in London (ON) ofc and needed to go to a hosp ER (unrelated to HCV).  Sat there with a mask on for 6 hours before I decided to leave.  Never saw a dr. or anyone other than security.  Sounds like Canada is not the place to get either sick or healthy.  Kept the mask, though.
Hang in there Beth.

[cougareyes]

I'm not sure what the chances are, I'm not a big numbers guy. Yet I am very optimistic that the structure of my liver will improve. Interferon is know to reverse fibrosis, and without the virus attacking; the liver will also start to repair itself. Because of my pre-tx symptoms I knew my liver was going downhill and the risk of tx would be worth it. I'm confident with a more productive liver I can get back a higher quality of life.  Peace

[v eggie dip]

thanks for your input....wow cougar, sounds like you're going through hell, so sorry, but real glad to hear it's working...what are the chances your staging will reduce after treatment?

Fl guy, yeah the medical system here s***s big time...but if you complain or are to persistant they can drop you...it's called patient/physician incompatibilty and I am in no position to seek out another doc on my own, with the shortage of health care workers here I would never find one to take on a new patient that is HCV, so I basically go with the flow...However, I did find a clinic that would take me without a referral but not so sure that is a good idea either...clinics here are fly by night's...But, still searching and I will come up with something soon...My biopsy is this Monday, which surprised me, thought I would have to wait months for that...BTW, it's not ultra sound guided, it's a thump on the old liver area and hope like hell they harpoon the right area!!!  Oh boy!!!  If I am not online by Tuesday, they missed!!!

Beth *smile*

[cougareyes]

I'm at stage 3 and I've never had any liver pain. But prior to tx my symptoms were daily diarrhea, lack of appetite, encept(sp?-dizziness and disorientation),all over joint and bone pain, and of course utter exhaustion.
In week 13 of tx my bowel movements returned to normal by the end of the 1st week, my appetite can sometimes be picky but it is better than pre-tx. The encept has been replaced by brain fog, dizziness, and breathlessness due to sx of the tx. My pain has tremendously increased, most of the time I feel like I've been dragged behind a truck, and I'm more exhausted.
But it's working, I'm undetectable <50 at my 12 wk pcr.
Peace

[FlGuy]

Good to hear your getting the biopsy. Does that mean that you are going to get treatment if the results of the BX call for it?  I still can't get over the 'labor' or 'time' intensive comment you made a while back.  I'm in week 14 and have seen the Gastro guy only once so far.  We talk on the phone every few weeks or so.  It's the hemotologist (actually the staff) who I see each week for the CBC.  The actual hemotologist I saw in week 3 and won't see her again til week 17.  I think both are doing fine for me.

[v eggie dip]

HI there, hope your spirits are up!!  Have you started treatment yet?

Question:  as  being a stage 3 fibrosis, did you have or do you still have URQ pain?  I have quite a bit of it and have not had a biopsy yet to tell where I am at, it's scheduled for Monday...

Thanks, Beth

[suzieQJ]

Hello this is very interesting. The info. has helped.

Will need to well prepare myself before starting the tx again.
Found a good facility of Dr. who care.

Just don't trust Dr after all I've been through.

I'm suprised at how uninformed the medical people are.

Finding predjiduce already.

Automatically they the think I'm a drug user and won't treat me. Or just treat me badly. The Dr.s I had know I'm not.
Have gotten that attitude from a police officer too.

Well because of the stage2 I'm in I narrowed it down.
It's from one of two nursing homes.
I was a health care worker at one.
Then my bro. who died was in one also. The said he was contagious. Didn't understand anything about hepatitis.
I was distraught and trying to help my Ma. Forgot about the contagiousness. Ma also caught Hep B. She is well now.
Oh well been going through a lot trying to figure out where it came from. I would have gave my life for him anyway.
He had serbal palsay and scoliosis (spell?) Such an angel

Gee might have had it a while, then he would have caught it from
the home he was in.

[cougareyes]

When you first find out you just tear yourself apart trying to find out how you got it. Late 70's early 80's I snorted coke and lived a rock and roll lifestyle; no needles. In 1980 I was diag. w/nonA-nonB hep, thought I cleared; last OCT told me I had hep C; now I know that was the same thing. I'm over torturing myself about how I got it and what I could have done differently.
Georgie it usually is a slow moving disease, I started getting sick after 24 years and I drank heavily the whole time. I am at stage 3 bridging fibrosis, that's not good but with all things considered; not bad.
Now it's time we beat this thing, that's all that matters; not how we got it. Let's do it, Good Luck to everyone

[GoofyDad]

Add me to the list of no risk factors other than a few lines of coke back in the day. Who would'a thunk it, Huh?

[dammitjanet]

If you don't take aspirin every day, as some people with coronary artery disease do, and you just took one or two yesterday, you should be ok.  But don't take any more!  Aspirin is a blood thinner.  Don't want any internal bleeding after they poke you.   DJ

[v eggie dip]

I TOOK 4 YESTERDAY

[FlGuy]

Ever been in the military and/or get an innoculation with an airgun?

[v eggie dip]

no they never took that test

[dammitjanet]

You should check into that.  I was required to do labs within 7 days of bx.  They did full blood labs, and my report has a whole section on "Coagulation".  The tests listed under that section are:  PT Patient; INR; PTT Patient.  PT is Prothombin; PTT is prothombin time.  I was told that if my PT Time was not good they would not do the bx.  The Janis site probably has more info on this.  I strongly suggest that you call Dougie or the hospital about this.  Maybe they plan to run the labs on the day of the test.  Good luck.  Janet

[v eggie dip]

WOW!!!  thanks for that info, noone ever told me that at the Doc office...I just put a call into the office, and of course got the answering machine, but left a detailed message asking about blood work...

Again, thanks Janet, your a doll!

MOI

[dammitjanet]

I still think you're probably OK, but should let the dr/nurse know when they take your history.  Have they done a blood test for PT Time?  That measures how quickly your blood clots.  If your clotting time is OK, you should be good to go.  DJ

[NYgirl]

Nope not impossible UNFORTUNATELY.  In fact my doctor told me that many people are now finding that they got it that way.  It makes perfect sense if you really do think about it.

If you are using a straw and with people who do a lot of it...they have little tiny tiny tiny cuts inside their noses and so do you. So when you pass that straw...you pass those germs. I had an exboyfriend who had a bloody nose just about all the time back then not just little tiny cuts either. Don't know if he had it he died last year of an OD is what I heard.

I knew a lot of people in the 80s who later died of AIDS.  Probably a lot of them had hep c too I figure and it makes sense since I used to "party" with them non-stop when I was a crazy kid.  

Since he says I've had this about 20 - 25 years and I never used a needle back then I was a strict needle-a-phobe it is really the only thing that makes any sense to me.

He says it's getting very common now.

That's what he said anyways.  I hope that helps.

~Debby

[GeorgieGirl]

I had read that you got the disease from snorting cocaine.  I was told that was impossible.  Thank you for your kind thoughts.