Greetings From The Southern Hemisphere

[mike716]

Hello! to all my old fiends here in the hepatitis forums. I hope you are well or at least surviving. I am still alive, as you can see, despite efforts of Argentine pill-pushers and saw-bones to shorten my existence. I'm still taking antioxidants, which, if they haven't stopped the progression of fibrosis in my liver, at least don't seem to have done any harm and maybe have slowed it down. No, I haven't done the AMA/pharma industry-approved therapy, mostly because my hep MD believes, as I do, that I'm not a good risk for it (geno 1, high viral count, age 68, bachelor with no family, etc.). We're waiting patiently until either pharma makes enough money on Inf/Riba to release funding for serious research on alternative meds, or I expire, whichever comes first.

We've had a bad winter down here in the Southern Cone of the Southern Hemisphere, very cold and humid. But spring is coming, or so they say, and I plan to paint a leaf on my window like in the O. Henry short story, except that my leaf will be so that winter never comes again.

I hope that wherever you are the sun is shining.

Cheers!

Mike

[mike716]

Is there some sort of word censorship here? I can't understand why the words "staircases" and "dentists" were removed from my post.

Hmmm. . .I wonder what happened to them there?

M.

[his3707]

Ha!  Yes they saw some tango dancing.  That was part of their amazement.  The girls there love american boys also. (specially the blond ones) Needless to say my 13 and 16 year old felt like celebs.  They had the time of their life so far Im sure!  What happens in Buenos Aires stays in Buenos Aires.  That is what they told me!

[mike716]

Congrats on your SVR ring, Lydia. If this keeps up I'll be the only one left in the forum from the old days who's still got HCV.

Did your boys get to Buenos Aires and go tango dancing? Iguazu must be pretty spectacular (I've never been up there), but so are the dance halls in B.A. It's a far out city. I'm trapped there and will probably never leave. Where else can you live in a building with marble staircases and wrought-iron elevators and are friends with everyone else who lives there? And if you're bored at 3 A.M. on a weekday you can take a bus to a tango dance hall where three hundred people are swaying around the floor?

OTOH, I can't recommend the dentists [grin].

Cheers!

Mike

[his3707]

Hey Mike great to see you here!  Have wondered how you were fairing.  My two boys were just in Argentina this past spring for the Igauzu  music Festival.  They got to travel all around and were amazed!  I also got my gold SVR ring in October!  Wishing you all the best !  
Lydia

[mike716]

Hiya, Debbie! How's life in Connecticut? Did you get flooded out by Sandy? Hope not. My building is on a hill, so we were safe that way. But the subways are still not working right and I can't get into Manhattan. Bummer.

This stuff about viral load only being important to geno 3, or only making a 5% difference, is new to me, too. Never heard of this before. I thought that high viral load was a big negative for Tx in all cases. Have I been wrong all along?

I wonder if it's worth starting a thread about. I'd like to know the real nitty-gritty on this, but on the other hand I don't have time right now for endless discussions. I'll do a little reserach on the subject and think about posting the question.

Anyway, glad to see you're still here. Old friends are the best.

Cheers!

Mike

[mike716]

Marcy, for goodness sake, how the heck are you? How have you been? Everything back to normal? Family okay?

What a pleasure to hear from you! I thought all my old friends from Medhelp had long since left the forum. I still lurk around occasionally, but I just couldn't take all the depressing posts, so I turned off the email notifications. Got 'em back on for now.

Nothing much has changed for me. Still at war with my hospital in Bs As. Right now am back in NYC for a month. Thought I'd come and see how everyone's doing after the hurricane.

Be cool, sweetie. See ya 'round.

Mike

[Marcia2202]

You too Deb :-)

[nygirl7]

Never heard of any 5% difference before. Interesting. I've been on here a long time and nobody ever pointed that out!

Hello Mike pleasure to see you around here. You too Marcia!  

[Marcia2202]

Hi Mike!!!!!!

Hugs from Denmark my friend!

[mike716]

Hi, Dee! I'm happy to hear from you, too. And I'm delighted that you SVRed and are feeling great. Makes me think that maybe I should bite the bullet and try to get rid of this awful virus, which, if it isn't killing my body yet, is slowly but surely driving me out of my mind.

Cheers!

Mike

[mike716]

Hi, Hawk! Thanks for the upbeat comment. That's what I like to hear, optimism about new meds. You made my day.

Cheers!

Mike

[Dee1956]

Hey Mike, happy to hear from you.  Glad  you are feeling well
I finished Incivek triple 8 months ago, got to SVR and feel so much better than I did before tx, it is amazing.
Wishing you the best
Dee

[orphanedhawk]

The only people that viral loads seem to make a difference for, are genotype 3.
Viral load does not equal liver damage. They really aren't important other than to show how well you respond to treatment.

There are new all oral meds in trails stage here that are doing great.
I'm with you, the antioxidants won't hurt. However they earliest they MIGHT be approved here is 2014. Who knows when you'll get them down under. There are some other promising new treatments coming out of Europe.

Good luck.

[BoceprevirGal]

  Oh, hi Mike.  Yeah, my Doctor didn't feel like the viral load made much difference in the rate of clearing, maybe 5% difference.  It sounds like you dont have too many symptoms though, so for 68 yrs,that sounds good :)

[mike716]

Hi, BG! Sorry it took me so long to reply. Am sending you a message, in case you aren't watching this thread.

Mike

[mike716]

Hi!, Idyllic! I only just now discovered that you had replied to this thread. Am sending you a message.

Mike

[BoceprevirGal]

   Hmmmm...okayyy...but:  all of us on Triple Tx with Victrelis or Incivek, are genotype 1, and viral load has very little to do with clearing. Viral load is only useful to see if you either have a viral load, or you dont, while on the meds.
   Now, being 68 could definitely make it harder, that is true, but I have seen many your age that have cleared, on the Triple Treatment.
  As for being a bachelor, I would take that as an advantage. My children
and husband drove me crazy during my Treatment...I got no sympathy, and still had to prepare all their meals, wash their clothes, drive them to appts, etc.
    I'm not familiar with your liver status, as in what stage your liver is in, or what is out of normal range,on your lab work~  I should think you may do okay with the Treatment I just finished, with Victrelis (aka Boceprevir).
   Otherwise, there are new meds coming along,  in a few yrs, that will have many less side effects, good luck, Mike

[Idyllic]

A bachelor with no family is a plus in my book! Especially when going through treatment :)  Alas I glossed through your old posts and see you know lots about the virus and don't need any pointers from me. I got the picture when you explained to Magnum what it is like for hepatics in a 3rd world country. I had to laugh - not at the scenario but the conversational tone of your writing style. Living in South Texas I can relate to your weather though: hot & humid summer + cold & humid winter. ...wear shorts on Christmas and all that. My joints love humidity tho.

You haven't missed much in the good ol' US of A. Oh, the CDC finally decided to suggest all Baby Boomers get tested for HCV.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48691720/ns/health-infectious_diseases/t/cdc-baby-boomers-should-be-tested-hepatitis-c/#.UD2wU6DF98E

I swear the age range for a Baby Boomer changes every time I read an article that mentions them.