Slacking on this blog...

I've been such a slacker lately regarding this blog. I guess that's a good thing that nothing bad is happening as far as Hep C goes. In fact, I feel great!

If you are going under treatment, good luck to you. Check out the Hep C Nomads--lots of good info there. Email me with questions and I will do my best to answer them.

If you are newly diagnosed--take a breath and don't panic. It will be OK.

Today the GI clinic had another group meeting where patients who are about to start treatment get together and go over side effects, information, etc. A nurse with Roche gave a presentation and showed them how to give a shot. I got to go this time and be there to answer any questions and talk about my experience. There were three patients: an older guy and two young women. The young women are both moms and are probably in their mid-20s. They are from the same town and know each other. I offered my phone number and email to them in case they have more questions. I also gave my info to the older guy. I hope they take me up on it, but if they don't, it's OK too! I'm determined to help people out who are going through this anxiety-ridden time. The support group still has just 3 people, but Rome wasn't built in a day, either.

Coming off of antidepressants

I contacted my doctor regarding getting off of the antidepressants. It will take about two months to slowly wean myself from them. So, today I took 20 mg of citalopram and will do that for about a month. After that, I will go down to 10 mg for a month. Then I can stop. I hope I can come off of them, but if I need them, I'm OK with that, too.

My hair finally feels normal. It took almost 6 months for that to happen. I still have a lot of new growth and it's so much thicker than it was.

SVR

The dragon is dead. Yes, I got an email from my doctor yesterday with the results of my 6 month post treatment viral load. Undetectable. I'm cured! The technical wording is Sustained Viral Response. Yes, SVR! Praise God!

The waiting is the hardest part...

I got my blood drawn yesterday to find out if I achieved the sustained viral response (SVR). Now, it will be a couple of days of waiting. I can't believe it. If I have SVR, it means this is behind me and I am "cured." Amazing.

All the signs point to SVR. I was an early responder (undetectable at 4 weeks), I'm genotype 3a, young, female, otherwise healthy. My doctor hasn't doubted all along that I would achieve it. So, I'm crossing my fingers and hope he's right.

I met with R and S last night for the January support group meeting. S took her last pills on Sunday. R gets his blood drawn later on this month to find out if he has SVR. It's been good for us to have this support and we hope more will join us some day.

That's all for now. I'll post when I find out the results.