Hep C Discussion Forum

...you mean 3rd bike...

 As you can see, it' totally age-appropriate for a 66 year old ... with an inner hooligan.

Nope, no more draws, for now anyway.

Kidneys seem to have recovered a bit, too. GFR in the high 60s, thanks to Nettle tea, gallons of water and lotta D3/VitK...or something.

Feel pretty decent, aside from my usual ms amd arthritis complaints.

Looking forward to another 20 good ones...I hope.

Oh, and funny thing happened at DMV

I was unable to renew online or by mail, so that meant having to go there and take the dreaded Eye Test. That herpes infection really messed up my right eye, so I was worried that they might tell me, NO MORE DRIVING...all in caps, too.

I go, I failed the vision test as expected, but point out I can read the vintage license plates displayed 100 feet away. I read the first 2 rows to the clerk. She has a discussion with her boss, in the back room. She comes back and points to a smallish black box, and says put your forehead against the top edge and read the line 3-4, I do and see everything just fine.

I leave, and they even removed the previous restriction "Must Wear Corrective Lenses" from my license...."Have a nice day!"

I'll say!

-- Edited by LamontCranston on Saturday 14th of April 2018 04:16:07 PM

Tig wrote:

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If my addition is right and Lamonts signature is close, Im thinking today should be his EOT. Time to update us, Lamont! Am I close? Congratulations, you did it!!

 

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 EOT now in rear view mirror. 3 months now, and ND!

Sorry I missed your posting.

If my addition is right and Lamont’s signature is close, I’m thinking today should be his EOT. Time to update us, Lamont! Am I close? Congratulations, you did it!!

Excellent news, Lamont! Keep those Undetected results coming. I have no doubt you'll continue to show the same great number time and time again -

Hurray!  So happy for you, Lamont!  I am 37 days behind you ( I had to count that three times because I thought I had longer!).  Time to put the "Gone Fishin'" sign on your door and skedaddle!

Time gentlemen please! LAAAAAST call! Chug that last epclusa down and best be on your way. Congrats on a stellar finish Lamont. Whew eh?  C.

Congratulations on reaching EOT!! Well done, Warrior

robertsamx wrote:

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Lamont, Congrats on getting to the bottom of your last bottle of Epclusa.  To be on treatment and also stay active like you have says a lot about you and the new DAAs. That picture of the stream has so many areas to hold fish, what a nice piece of water. I would love to find a place like that and spend the day enticing fish. I take it you were nymphing?  If so please put up a pic or two of your flys.  Was there any dry action going on??  Some time you should google the Yakima River between Ellensberg and Yakima. In WA. State. Its a canyon that you can drift boat fish and its suppose to be good. Its a catch and release piece of water. I hope to fish it in the next 18 months sometime. The pic you put up is now my screen wallpape. Its beautiful!! RC

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 I usually start with a 2 fly setup....Dry on top, and a "dropper" nymph. The dry will act as an indicator until it gets soaked and needs to be dried out and dressed again. You get 2 chances right away.

I tie the first fly with a 2ft to 18" long tag, in other words, the "extra line" can be used to tie your dropper without having to mess around getting a loop on to the hook end of the top fly. http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/pro-tip-a-better-way-to-rig-droppers/  has a good illustration.

And if you show up here in California....give me a holler, all of you fisher-people. I have enough rods etc for a class. 

By the way, I have this fantasy of moving to eastern Bellingham like offf the highway to Mt Baker, or if it takes a few years to get there, Port Townsend would be perfect for me, like Berkeley, only with boats.

-- Edited by LamontCranston on Monday 16th of October 2017 08:43:05 PM

Had to shrink the pic. HD photos reduce the format when inserted full size. Thx!

Tenkara, would prolly suit me fine! Not much expense for that short a peice of line! All dem fancy reels can be soooo expensive! and line (and everything, generally)! The catch is, that's prolly a special expensive rod, right? The minimalism looks quite appealing to me tho. When I was first trying to learn how to ice fish up here, I was sooooo excited to try, I had borrowed a fishing rod from somebody in Van when I knew I was about to move up up here to live. My first opportunity to try fishin came in winter, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, didn't even bother to find out anyhting, just went out on the frozen lake with my borrowed rod. I had been asked (when I told locals that I was going to go out today to try icefishin, when they saw I had no auger (oh, had not occured to me!), I then borrowed a hatchet to chop open any old frozen-up hole i could find. Just drive out on the lake (they said) so's if yas gits cold you can warm up in yer car fer a spell. No gear, no knowledge, no sense, I did have a hatchet tho. Gutless, I never, EVER did make that leap - she fished in the howling open wind miles from the vehicle safely parked eons away on the shore edge. Stupid, starts wandering the lake, attempts to chop open many old holes, finally finds a fresh-enough re-iced hole she can chop open down to the bottom off. Soaked, I am making mental notes, hm, what NOT wear when ice-fishin, gotta find out how much an auger costs, and soon discovered my line floats! (Reel has funny lookin line on it - duh, floating line dat there is lady, I am later informed)! hahahah Undaunted I had just kept trying to make it work. The guys that came a little after me (me watching their arrival about 1/4 mile away in envy), how bravely they just drove out there in their nice warm trucks (with all their proper equip and know-how) ... they were howling in laughter (for weeks, they later told me) watching me rounding all the old holes chopping and gettin soaked. They really laughed hard after I left for the day, when I kinda wandered/mozied over their way, just to say hi and admire their fish, and they saw what I had been trying to fish with. As the line would not sink, I had just kept adding weights to it, it was a tangled mess I was dragging home with me. I was beginning to glean part of the art of ice fishin was in the prep and perhaps some knowledge was required? After they saw me returning time and time again, eventually, some of those (nice) guys out there laughed less and helped more, showed me stuff, taught me stuff, told me what i needed, etc., I traded them goodies, they would teach me how to break the fishes spine with my bare hands. eeew gross eh? I never was any good at beating them to death, I aways closed my eyes, but it was "real", and fun and delicious.  Haven't gone fishin for a long time now, really should again. 

Oh Lamont, I can't tell ya how happy I am to hear you say about all the things you are already noticing improving. Keep it up, I hope many things just keep gettin better and better. Do take care of that eye for now. Save that empty epclusa bottle, could make a nice float. Later, C. 

That's a stunning photo of the location and a gorgeous trout or is that a steelhead? Beautiful fish and I love to see people catch and release these big wild trout. They keep to species alive, none of that fish farm stocking is good for much, other than filling up coolers with faux mini trophies! 

Congratulations on finishing treatment tomorrow! Hooty Hoot, Brother!! Well done, you had a struggle to finally get to this day, but the important part is you made it. It's nice to hear you're improving in ways the medical profession continues to ignore or deny, take your pick. Just because it wasn't part of their crash course on treating HCV with these wonder drugs or it wasn't mentioned in one of the myriad studies performed, it can't be true. Well, we know better! I'm happy for you... 

PS: Was that "feeling like crap" or "feeling like carp"? Pretty low, either way 

Today, and Tomorrow! 

I have a lab test scheduled for tomorrow, then at 9:00 PM PDT......I will take my final Epclusa tablet. I still have to take 5 acyclovir a day for my recent eyeball-herpes, though....but hey, it will encourage me to drink a lot of water!

My NP has scheduled 2 more labs, one in late November and the last "Cure Test" on January 18. I have had Zero Virus since my first lab test at 4 weeks. Pretty remarkable drug, that can take you from 5.7 million critters to None in just a few weeks. We are fortunate to be living in the "Harvoni Era", and of course comprehensive medical coverage is a BigDeal.  That's why I still say "I'm with the Union!". ( I never miss an opportunity to do a little organizing..)

The really positive thing is that my gut/digestive issues are resolving quickly, and have shown no sign of hanging on. I had developed a sort of IBS/Constipation thing in late '15, with a low grade fever and joint aches, fatigue, rheumy, bloodshot eyes, and a general " Feeling Like Crap" all the time thing. All of those things are gone.....and my stamina is improving daily. 

Maybe it's my imagination, but I doubt it. Unfortunately medical pros seem to poopoo all the symptoms or minimize the way they reduce the quality of our overall health. As if the liver were an optional organ! Hello????!!!! 

I get the impression many of us HepC people aren't even diagnosed until our livers are like a deflated volleyball or we just get screened as part of some program or other incidental reason. I had gone almost 3 years in a definite decline and only was tested for HepC because my wife saw a Harvoni ad on TV, asked for a test and showed poz for antibodies. I got tested a week later and ...there it was, right IN FRONT OF THEM for years, even after years of saying "something is wrong with me, doc"....

I easily could have just died and they would have said "Gee, who knew?"

I have to admit I am not a trout eater, or taker. I just hook them up, bring them in, say hello, then let 'em go. Mostly because I prefer the taste of salmon and halibut, but partly because I am a trouthugger and conservationist, that uses barbless hooks and hand tied artificial flies. But... that is not to say that fishing for dinner isn't something I ever do.

I used to do a fair amount of backpacking, where I'd eat anything that moved, rather than pack my own full menu. I'd bring rice, some boullion, and a few dehydrated things, but depend on fishing for the bulk of protein. Hard to do that these days, since I am a lot older, and there are so few places to really get out in to the wild. Last time was in early 2000s and I hiked around the shore of Hudson Bay. But as it worked out, I was the food, the black flies, mosquitoes, deer flies devoured me for 15 days.....

robertsamx wrote:

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Hi Lamont, Fly fishing in N. Calif sounds so good to me right now. Fly fishing again is on my bucket list. I use to do a lot of float tube fishing. I have a few SAGE rods. A nice two piece 4wht RPL, a 5wht 10 foot used to really lift the line off the water in a float tube. A couple POWELL rods. I use to tie my own flys, still have the fly tying stuff up stairs. I stoped fly fishing when I got my boat and started throwing hardware at the fish.There is nothing like the purity of fly fishing. Its so Satisfying. I dont think Im cut out for float tube fishing any longer, however stream fishing is something I want to get back to. Congrats on your stellar finish, with just 6 left!! Soon it will all be behind you. Getting the monkey off your back will feel so good. Keep a tight line Lamont!    RC

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 RPL ...wow, brings back memories of my 2 piece GPL that was executed by a screen door. Sage replaced it under the Lifetime Guarantee but the GPL was long discontinued. It was one of their first rods. It was amazing.  My current fishing Girlfriend/Rod is a Winston Boron IIIx. Fast, direct, pinpoint accurate, but I can never get my wife to let me Use it. She takes it "just to get to that fish over there", and I end up fishing with her rod, which as you might imagine is one of the 15 rods in our arsenal. But there is only one Winston Boron IIIx.

Float tubes are fun for small lakes, but why does the wind always blow Away from where you want to take out?

I'm jealous! All this talk of fly fishing makes me want to get out there with you guys. Like RC, I've spent my fishing life throwing "hardware" and live bait at them. Especially here on the southern Florida Gulf coast. We do have quite a following of salt water fly fishermen/women. Lots of good flats to do that on, but the gear they use is pricey and out of my reach! You also need a very shallow draft flats boat or hire a guide... $$$ again, lol!

Glad you're almost finished. Geez, only 9 pills remaining? Hard to believe after the time you had just getting started. I'm confident you're going to continue to see improvements. Just know they don't all come at once. So often people mention they realized one day that something they had been dealing with for years, just disappeared. I had some vascular insufficiency and my legs from the knees down were darker and kinda spotty looking. It looked quite odd and is common if you spend any time looking at legs (woohoo). Well, that has up and nearly disappeared. Back to good looking legs, mine! Ha, ha! That's a joke....  

Let us know when the final day arrives. We always celebrate EOT around here, so be here for your party! Good luck with eye, sounds like you're just getting better all the time. That's good stuff, Lamont!

Well....down to 6 Epclusa pills.....and if I didn't know better, I'd say I am actually feeling somewhat healthier overall. Certainly my digestive tract has been operating at about 90% normal, even through a whole 8 days of boonie-crashing and flyfishing in far northern California.

The dam eyething is incrementally better, at least no more itching eyeball and a little bit less cloudy vision. Hopefully I will get clearance for a more aggressive treatment of eye once I am finished with the Epclusa. We shall see what we can see. :)

It's great reading through so many hopeful postings from others who are recovering and making progress. Thank gawd for these new drugs. 

 Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends! 

So, ALT's and AST's no problem. Check.

VL's decimated x2 UND's at 4 weeks and 8 weeks. Check.

The poor eye being cared for. Check.

Allllmost there - might as well hang a sign - gone fishin! : )

As long as you are back for your EOT bloods on Oct 16! (and eye doc Oct 19 - so when did your oral acyclovir start and when will you run out?)

Glad to hear nothing else too bad, too uncomfortable or intolerable seems to be happening for you this last part of treatment.

Is your gal a fisherperson too, are you both going?

Trout are so pretty (don't laugh, they ARE!, and happen to be delicous too). : )  C. 

Yay for the UND  

boo for the sore eye 

I sure hope the eye treatment works quickly.

i second Canucks request, tell us your ALT/AST please

Alison

Lamont-Great news about your lab results!  So sorry to hear about your eye issues, but thank you for the heads up on steroids!  I had a steroid shot in my hand shortly before I started treatment, so glad I had it done then!  Hope your eye clears up soon with the acyclovir!