Hep C Discussion Forum

Hey JB,

It’s good to know you’re feeling well and things continue to improve. The likelihood of continued fibrosis reduction and improved liver health is well documented. We see and hear examples of that all the time, so you have every reason to be hopeful. Considering the fact that you have witnessed this improvement so quickly, you should continue to improve.

Now that you have achieved SVR, the need for a Hepatologist isn’t required for follow up care. If there is ever an elevation in your LFT’s, your primary care doctor would advise you to see a specialist, if necessary. The chance of relapse is very, very rare, less than .5%. There isn’t much you need to worry about going forward. Just take care of your health, treat your liver right and you’re golden! Keep hydrating remains important for all of us. 

Congrats!

Thanks, Hoodie, you little bundle of Joy!

Happy holidays to you JB! Happy holidays to all of us!  

I am so grateful to all of you for sharing your courage, your vulnerability, and ultimately your STRENGTH publicly on this forum.

2019 is going to be a great year for all of us. Many happy thoughts and wishes for good health, peace, and prosperity for every person on this forum.

Hi Iris,

Yes! Fatty liver (steatosis) does improve over time. The articles I have read, give clear indication that fatty infiltrates, secondary to CHC and the many manifestations it presents, can lessen. Sometimes rapidly, but typically shows continued reductions via ultrasound and Fibroscan. Very good news!

Hey JB.

Now that's what we like to hear, and that attitude, too. I'm happy to see you keeping things checked out and are taking care of yourself.  Keep up the good work and let us how your new year progresses. 

Cheddy

Wonderful news JB, about NO artifact seen this time around via MRI! I know you were worried, darn thingies, why do these extra events happen to us just to worry us more! All that fretting over that artifact, not fair. But doesn't this feel good, to get a nice clean "negative" MRI, that (basically) only imaged a liver that is now trying to smile back at the camera for us!

I was kinda like you, GT3, some fatty liver, F3 and then F4, but look at me now, right shortly, starting quite soon after cure, super-quick my Fscore started to drop, my fatty liver is no longer mentioned anymore, tidbits seen on a CAT (thought-lymph thingie), funnies on my U/S (granuloma), left and were never see again.

I bet your Fscores and fatty liver will be improving too. You can look forward to seeing many improvements.

Sounds like a very good follow-up plan, i am glad you are on it. We can all rest easy now, now that you are OK! 

How are you feeling generally, comparatively, pre-treatment compared to now for instance? 

I am very pleased, my fellow 3, for your very good news on all fronts! C. 

HOORAY!! Thanks for the update JB. What a relief that must be. Really happy to hear this good news

Great big congrats on your lovely SVR12 JB! A lot happened to you in 2018, this cure being crucial and such a good thing, you've gone through a lot. Good on you, for toughing it all out so well. None of this stuff is easy, we know. You have a lot behind you now. Good you had your MRi done, that will soon be behind you as well. Keep us posted. Maybe glucose was just a one off thingy. Sorry about the slo toe, they can notoriously take time to heal, and they remind you of it all the time! C.  

Thanks, Tig and Cheddy and everyone else. All is well. Toe is much better, but believe it or not, still not 100%. Doc says just to be patient and let it slowly heal. I had my second abdominal MRI last week to take a look at the spot they saw the first time. Nothing back from doc yet. To be honest, The past 12 weeks have been hard (well 24 actually). Lots of worrying about toe, the labs and MRI. I've been thinking of y'all a lot, but just needed to keep my mind off this for a bit. I'm ready for 2019 and ready For 2018 to be in the rear view mirror! I'll keep you posted on MRI.

-- Edited by JB on Monday 26th of November 2018 10:15:17 PM

Yep, the antibody will forever be positive. It’s the quantitative PCR that we never want to see detectable again! Good to hear from you, JB. Hope all is going well!

lamassu wrote:

---

Do you have a result for the Hepatitis C Viral RNA, Quantitative, Real Time PCR test yet? That one should be undetected.

---

 Yes, the quantity says "not detected". All numbers, ALT, AST, etc are normal. From what I've been reading tonight online, I'm good! Having not talked to the doc yet, I freak myself out and need someone to tell me that! Lol

Hi Everyone! It's been a while. I've been very busy with work and other things. I had my EOT + 12 week blood work and just had a slight panic attack when I saw the color red on the results for my HCV Ab coming in as positive >11. But then I remember reading this was normal and it'll always test positive as long as my HCV quantitation comes back as not detected. I'm good, Right? Please help calm me down.... All other numbers were normal (except my glucose).

Canuck - Aside from the VL, the doctor ran a comprehensive metabolic panel, CBC w/Plat Automated Diff and Protime INR. There may be others, but these are the results I got back so far from the web portal. Everything seemed normal, but one thing stood out to me -- the Total Bilirubin was 1.0 mg/dl. The last time I had blood drawn it was .07. Should this be concerning? If I get any other results, I'll keep you posted. Anything else I should look out for with all these results that I don't understand?

JB

Ah! Welcome to Club Zero JB!  We've all been awaiting your arrival to this exclusive club for some time now. Armed with your UNDs, and you already have that nice beach umbrella, you've got every important thing you need right now. All you got to to is put your feet up a bit. Celebrate! Rest that toe a little. You're UND and done. More milestones coming your way, SVR12 party coming up next, and, boring MRI's are in store for you. Now, what were the other bloods they took along with this last VL (and ALT/AST, of which you said both were normal)? - I am interested in all the bloods they took, what bloods did they test for aside from VL/ALT/AST? And what was your ALT/AST result BTW? Congrats on being a Club 0 member bro.  C. 

 

 

Awesome JB! Good luck with your liver MRI we will keep our fingers crossed and pray for the very best!

My EOT blood work came back undetected again! Thank goodness! ALT/AST and everything else were normal, the doc said. Now I've just got to pray that the "thing" they saw on on my liver is nothing. I'll be doing another MRI in November, along with EOT + 12 week blood work. I'm very thankful for this treatment and all the support and my new friends on this message board. Thank you!

//With a new day comes new strength and new thoughts//

 Thank you JB and thank you Eleanor Roosevelt for that one Im going to hold onto it during this new phase of my treatment. 

Saw this quote today and had to share it on my social media. Perfect for today. My alarm went off at 9:30am as it had for the past 12 weeks - and I just smiled. ”With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.“ -Eleanor Roosevelt

Glad youre finished your treatment, JB...    

I hope your toe heals quickly and you can get back to your walking. 

I still drink a lot of water... almost 3 years after my treatment, its a great habit/practice to stay in.

 

Congrats on reaching the end of the line, JB! It always seems like a mile away when you start, but when you finish, it seems like it went by in a blink of the eye. That’s another one of the benefits of these new DAA’s, rapid action and short treatment times. So many improvements, thank goodness!

The EOT testing generally includes the LFT’s, a CBC and a viral load. Same thing at EOT+12. Please let us know when you get them back. I know the anxiety, but these new drugs are miraculous and it‘s rarer than worm teeth that the results are anything but great. 

Good luck with the toe/foot. It’ll be nice to get back to those 10K steps per day. Just get back into easy and build your strength and endurance back up gradually. I’m sure your foot will remind you if you overdo it. You’ll get there in no time, I’m certain of it!

Thanks, Canuck. I think I need to update my signature. Sorry for the confusion. I have had blood work done at 4 weeks and 8 weeks. I'll get blood work again on Wednesday for 12 weeks and then again in 12 more weeks. Make sense? Do I need to specifically tell the doctor that I want LFT's AND a VL, or is that assumed?

Tig - I've also kept the empty pill bottles. I'll probably hold onto them for a little while as a reminder.

I am so thankful for the new drugs and the ease of this process. I can't say it enough. I just pray now that my followup MRI in November shows that the "thing" on my liver is nothing (or gone for that matter). That's my big worry now.

As far as my toe goes... It is my big toe, Canuck. An important one. Haha. It is still hard to walk on and and I still am walking with a limp. I went to a different doctor last week to get another x-ray and get a second opinion. I thought that after 4 weeks I would be walking a little better, but I wasn't. The new doctor told me that things are healing nicely and that it is normal for the toe to still be stiff and difficult to walk. He said in another week or so, I'll start to see a big difference. It is generally a 6-week healing process. I am wearing the walking boot only when I am going to be on my feet for a while and have to walk a lot.

I'm just bummed because when I started on Epclusa I was walking 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day. Heck, as you know, I even participated in a 10K . I feel like I've been a lazy bum for the past 5 weeks. It stinks, but as soon as I can start walking well again, I'm going to get back into it. I want to keep my body healthy and active. And yes, I've already told myself I'll continue to drink water. I lacked that prior to treatment.

The final pill is in my stomach as I type this.

Thanks guys!

JB

Ah lovely JB, just one more sleep, and just one more pill, and hoo-rah you're done!

I thought you got an "early" optional VL done at 8 weeks (and then you would not be getting another VL done until EOT+12 weeks, but, i must not have understood you before - I do hope it is true that you will be getting LFT's AND a VL (again) at EOT - I always fnd the lab feedback SO rewarding. You deserve more and more rewards (and you will keep getting them) your liver has already starting to thank you, and we can all thank Gilead for making things right.  

So, toe-man, how is that toe now, is it still hurtin'?, did you wear the boot long and did it help? (are you still wearing the boot?) I hope it is healing OK, if not, please do go back for another xray and opinion. BTW,  I don't think you ever said ...WHICH toe was it? 

Soon, no more middle of the night urgency trips (and tangled up in the bed clothes foot trips!) to the bathroom for you due to all the water drinking you had to do - you can drink much more conveniently as soon as you finish your epclusa, but still, do keep the water drinking up, I found I needed to even after I finished my Vosevi,  it was like my body was insisting that i still needed to keep flushing things out of me with enough water.  

Nice the sound of that last lonely pill rattling around in the bottle and then ... the blessed silence of none - and virus gone!  C.

Tomorrow is the big day. Last pill... Thank goodness this was a pretty easy ride for me. I go to the doctor on Wednesday for followup and EOT blood work. It'll be weird when the alarm on my phone doesn't go off anymore at 9:30 a.m. reminding me to take my meds.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

There can be a similar adjustment period, as your body readjusts to life without a powerful anti-viral floating around killing Dragon spawn. Some people that have noticed a surge of energy while on the medication, come back down over time. Don’t confuse that with fatigue, it’s just a normalization of sorts, if that is ever a question. You may notice a change in your sleep habits, better or worse, again during this brief period of adjustment. That said, nothing will be cause for concern. Continue to hydrate and don’t add any supplements to your routine. Wait until your EOT+12 bloodwork before adding anything that can alter those test results. You shouldn’t have anything unusual, just adjusting to being healthy again!