karyl, i love your new avatar with george as your copilot

Changing my Avatar as a reminder that if you are taking Harvoni, drink lots of water! I went in and out of feeling a rush of new energy, to tired and draggy with brain fog. I was at my best when I remembered to drink at least 8-10 glasses of water per day. Some need more, I'm a smallish person, so I found what was best for me. What was most important was to trust the process and let the Harvoni work its splendidly scientific magic in the body.  I recall in the first days feeling as if I felt different than the old draggy brain fogged Hepc'd person. I so wanted to give HepC the boot out of my body that all minuscule occurrences were noted. I came out on the other end HepC free. Hang in!

yes, I've been warned about the RA med costs but I just gotta put my pants on one leg at a time!  Onward!

Iris, I've been reading a lot of your posts and I'm so happy your journey has ended. I'm sure in a week or so you will be back to your old pre hep c self.  I have no idea how bumpy my ride will be but if yesterday, where I felt almost normal, is any indication, mine might go really well.  I'm just gonna take one day at a time.   Like you, I'm amazed and so very grateful that I was able to hop on this train. Got a letter from my ins. company approving 12 weeks should I need it and telling me my co-pay was almost 3900.00 but the pharmacy charged me zero. I'm wondering if the wizards over there got Gilead to pick up the co-pay or they don't charge one. Either way, I'm blessed.

I get ya Iris - it was your house cleaning frenzy you described that I was thinking of, that this "spring cleaning" coulda (sorta) been your Harvoni high (or your version of a Harvoni high) - the rest of it (from being lead to fatigue), well ... just was/is - this rule about how everyone if different? ... there sure IS a lot of truth to it!!, people may or may not get a "high" and there can be so many forms of highs, and you can't predict exactly if or when you might feel a high either! So hard to predict/anticipate these things. You have read here over the years how some people feel not really that much dif than normal and others get to feeling many things!

My experience was profound fatigue, with a shortish period of overlapping/underlying kinda "frenetic" feelings (hardly a "productive high"!), just a curious/cruel "mix" and twist to the fatigue - a fogged, tired, dead brain trying to be jittery and wired! - mostly it was just very thick fatigue - I did not enjoy what I was feeling while going through treatment but I was so, SO, SO relieved and grateful and hopeful and thrilled to be on my hard-won drugs - EVERY minute was gold and very worth it, those very positive feelings, the very positive "act" I was performing (being treated) made up for EVERYTHING negative I felt. (But remember, I DID have profound fatigue before I was on Vosevi as well). I was happy to take those pills no mater what i felt.  I was surprised how I felt on treatment, and how long it took for me to get feeling better, to feel stronger, more right - BUT - IT DID COME!!!!   Karyl's kids have put me to mind of a short period of time during my treatment when my partner took my car keys away from me, and i was glad he did and I cooperated, that no driving thing didn't last too long either. In fits and starts, bit by bit, here and there, in no predictable order, and sometimes in odd ways I got better post-treatment. I am STILL noticing improvements over time. 

So, keep being patient, and un-afraid - the past is past, the treatment part is over and has been a huge success, and you will start feeling better (quickly or maybe in fits and starts like me). You will feel better when you have recovered longer. How you felt on-treatment, and this part, is temporary.

Karyl you mentioned "work", do you mean work/work like ... as in "a job" work, or did you mean just as in everything else we have to do everyday??  Like Hoodie and 5 and Shemp and nathanW and many others around here who speak of their jobs, we do have to juggle and balance our energies necessary for treatment safely to our demands of work, for me the decision was easy (or easier) given my personal circumstances - me modifying my "work" or duties I was needing to perform, even such as not driving for a while, was OK and good (required/acceptable). 

We have to treat ourselves with kind kid gloves, like we are the precious tender commodities we are, to help ourselves through treatment and recover and regain our new-found HCV-free balance.

5 said ... "no matter what weirdness happens it's happening for the good" ... and she is right.  C.

hi karyl, keep a notebook of symptoms and t:climes of day. it's also allergy season. stay home as much as possible. if work becomes troublesome then see your doctor for an fmla or time off.

i had fog brain, fuzzy wuzzy headedness and eventually some dizzyness. hubby got the wired thing, but he's always moving anyway.

no matter what weirdness happens it's happening for the good of your whole being:float: , you can ride it out for 8? weeks? 

somehow we manage since we know the goodness of the harvoni

i'm so happy you have george

I have read about the Harvoni High and people say it's a speedy high.  Mine is not.   I was wondering if anybody else felt like I do.  Like I said in my previous post. Mornings I'm good. I'm curious how this will play out.  In the meantime, my kitty George is riding this train all the way to the end with me, he follows me around like a dog.

aaaweeee ,sweet george on the harvoni train with you at every nap and bedtime

He has his moments.  lol.  We lost his littermate and identical twin sister a couple years back due to thyroid issues and kidney failure. He has the same thyroid problem but he's hanging in their, to torment the dog and my daughter's cat.  LOL. He can be a mean boy.  He only has eyes for me!  Everybody else gets boxed by his left hook!

i find it warm and exciting also C

WOW, IRIS!

That's simply wonderful!  Your train ride has been so much longer than mine.  You have really persevered, and I think it's great.

I agree, it's time to get back to the business of life.  I hope you will find a way to celebrate, to give yourself something you couldn't have or do during treatment or before, or to repeat a favorite thing, maybe tap dance on the train tracks.  Whatever it is, I wish you fun.

I can't wait to hear how you are feeling and coming along outside of the tunnel.

With all best regards,

Cheddy

Thank you, that last sleep was pretty good, the sound of the whistle blowing didn't even wake me once.

And here I come out of the long tunnels ...3 tunnels ...three bottles of pills, the first was the hardest. (I intend to return with a complete  list of side effects and other strangeness, when I get a moment)

This clip ends in Chatsworth California and is actually from the town I had lived in when I got sick. I loved this area lived next to the hills and hiked around on the rocks ALL the time. Went through all of these tunnels while hiking. The long tunnel one starts in Simi Valley @ what used to be Corriganville. The middle one is where we spent many summers escaping the heat and it was an excellent place to play music! Many trains passed by whiling away the summers and lemme tell ya, what a rush! That was exciting! They have since paved the inside of the tunnel so you cannot sit in there anymore. The long tunnel has cubbies you can slip into when the train comes, you will see those in the clip, you cannot see a thing in there and the first time I went we didn't have a flashlight. The last tunnel goes under Topanga Canyon Blvd and come out next to the famous Stony Point in Chatsworth, a San Fernando Valley landmark for many years. I don't know how I had the guts to hike through those tunnels then, Probably chalk it up to young and dumb, but in the 1970's it was a very happening spot. It would scare me to try that now. I'm speaking of all this because It would be nice to start again in a sense, I still live very near Chatsworth, love the place, and I have learned a lot in these many years. I recently went up to the Park where the tunnel is, It is all monitored now they do not want anyone in the tunnels. Well... I'm OUT OF THE TUNNEL NOW! EXCELSIOR!!!! let's get on with the business of life :)

EOT< I see the station coming up!! Woo Wooooooooooo I'm going to be getting off now, bu-buy Harvoni train! Have a good journey Karyl !

The area was known for many movies, westerns mostly so here is a  fun clip from the same middle tunnel, (had a hard time choosing which one to use)

MANY BLESSINGS TO ALL!

Iris

Well Iris,

It's one more sleep eh?!

Well, here ... we'll turn down the bed for you tonight and tuck you safely in.

Sleep well, it's this part of the journey's end tomorrow.  

It's been quite a trip you have been on so far - is it true?, that it is never quite the same way twice! I think so, except ... for in the cases of the trips that are only once in a lifetime. This one qualifies as wonderful, and, once in a lifetime, and will never be duplicated again! Happy arrival to your welcoming destination stop tomorrow - Autumn!  C. 

Thanks Tig!  You are so helpful. I spoke to the pharmacist yesterday and asked her if I can drink coffee before or right after and she said yes because coffee is very acidic.  I will take the PPI and Harvoni immediately upon wakening with a lot of water then wander down to the kitchen for my coffee. I truly appreciate all the advice you have given me.

Yesterday a nice man from the pharmacy delivered to my door my first bottle of Harvoni!!!!!  I am going to take the first pill tomorrow, Sunday.  I have a couple questions first.  I have been reading that if you are on PPI's that you need to be sure to take the Harvoni at the same time as your PPI. And on an empty stomach.  The instructions from the pharmacy say 4 hrs before or after can you take antacids. Do they consider the PPI an antacid or is that like Pepsid and Tums?  I'm a little confused and don't want to start off on the wrong foot.

Wooo Woooo,  I'm getting on the train!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS.  I will add my stats to the signature line as soon as someone will tell me what they are! ?Waiting on the lab to send them and my dr.s office to tell me more than "minimal liver damage"

I have shared this photo time and again. It’s my vision of us fighting through the smoke and fog, onward to our destination. The last Warrior that used this Locomotive, was RC. I invite you, no, WE invite you to board the train called Success! As Cheddy mentions, use the light and envision the end of the tunnel. This train won’t be stopped!

ALL ABOARD.......

Ya, well .... OK ... I must admit THAT video was a bit of magic alright, really neat echoey particular acoustics (almost a song/melody to that whistle music the man played there!), it does evoke some neat feelings, and made especially enjoyable looking at that really neat windmill and farm wagon in the foreground.

Trouble is, I have a love/hate relationship with train whistles, for decades now, no matter which house I lived in, I ALWAYS seem to live on the wrong side of the tracks! Trains have rumbled past my houses and through my head so many times, I have automated to it, been deafened by it, been driven mad by it, infuriated by it, when (right when you wish and need quiet) the malicious whistle blower decides to try out a new prolonged irritating whistle number right on top/next to your house while you are trying to sleep or in the middle of a phone call - you know - I think I would appreciate train whistles more if I could actually ever get on a train and go somewhere! 

Oh, hey wait a minute - that was a Harvoni train right? Sorry then, those Harvoni train noises SHOULD be (are supposed to be) especially gloriously noisy, strong, loud and heart poundingly beautiful. heehee   C. 

You must’ve been an Army or Air Force Brat! My daughter and her Army hubby are living just outside of Ft Bragg now. He’s currently deployed to the Persian Gulf. I’m leaving tomorrow morning to spend two weeks with her and my grand children. My wife and I try to split up his deployments, just to help her any way we can. She’s an amazing woman, two younguns, a full time small business and is a full time University student. I honestly don’t know how she does it! We’re very proud of them all.

Congrats Iris, you’re well on your way to success! I’m anxious to hear all the lab results.