Hep C Discussion Forum

Oh it's working alright JB!, epclusa is a most powerful thing - lucky you, your virus is not long for this world.  

I am glad you remained upright for labs, you can be uptight, as long as you remain upright I say - nice lab etiquette. 

We can't wait for you to get some happy feedback in the right direction too! Betting you will see a much happier ALT by now in these labs.  : ) C.

Hey JB,

Congrats - 1/3 done coming right up! 

Woozy is worth it, for a 4 week draw. For finding out your VL and LFT's, and whatever routine bloods they may draw ... it's very worth knowing! A draw is the ony way you will find out where you are at, and with good news coming your way, look forward to it! Tell the lab person about your woozy hx ahead of time, don't watch the draw, bring muzak and those ear buddy thingies and ask if you can plug in, just before they do the deed to try and distract yourself from the task. If they say no, no muzak/ear buds, well then, I suggest you plan to hum (in your head) the most unexpected off the wall tune you can can come up with ... like ... (sorry UK, nothing personal! you just happen to be kinda far removed from the situ, but, stiff upper and all that, so i picked you!) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l65_1S3qNBw .  I would be surprized if the labby would object to you bringing and playing some kind of muzak via ear buds, but if they did, then I might be tempted to hum (out loud) for them " Rule Britannia" for their benefit! 

Yes, I would fast 12 hours - but do NOT fast the water, drink lots of water the night before (we assume you ARE already drinking lots of water anyway) - being fully tanked up on water the night before, and on the morning of a draw, will only help the draw go well/easier. Stay warm the morning of your draw, don't get stuck in some dreadful cold waiting room parked in front of a A/C and get chilled/cold before the draw, bring a jacket or sweater with you. Keep yourself comfortably warm for your draw. Most people miss having their morning tea or java, so, on my fasting blood work days, I usually treat myself to a couple mugs of hot steamy boiling water instead for the morning of the draw - better than nothing and (oddly) surprizingly comforting.

Glad you get your labs and your doc visit as well on Monday - I know you have questions for your doc re: your imaging - and we'll be waiting right here, for you to share what more you find out. Knowledge is power, having your actual imaging reports now and being able to read them yourself (versus carrying around "verbals" only in your head), helps to better clarify things, subtle diffences between words, (semantics) broken blood vessel in back (not really) - hemangioma is the correct name for what the radiologist is best-guessing he sees at your vertebrae, and hemangiomas happen (generally) to be notoriously benign things, so, all good to know. I am sure you are going to have a better opportunity to suss things more now with your doc on Mon. 

No one likes having to have a blood draw, but I sure learned to appreciate them (and what news and info they brought me as I went through my trial and beyond)! I am pretty good at them now, and they usually go fairly well, using all the self defense tactics I have learned to muster up along the way - even having to get a needle can  have it's bright side! You are about the witness some "epclusa power" !

Hey, are you a 3a or a 3b, do you know?

BTW - now that you have the actual fibroscan data, we could update your sig line - and show you are F3 only (not F4), being that your kPa's were at 11.1 (thus just another nice indicator showing you are not, according to kPa's, in the F4 cirrhotic range), unless of course you had other tests or other seperate blood tests which were supporting a possible F4 range, then you should include all results, by all testing methods - and, maybe we could squeeze it into your sig. line, add to the sig. line, (after the MRI bit) that the MRI also showed (aside from no cirrhosis) that there is likely no fatty liver as well (as was first suspected via your U/S).

I like your docs' thoughts/terminology ... "artifacts"! Could be! Could be just minor nuisance dinosaur dung, just what similar unexplainable kind of shat/abnomalities came (and went) in some of my imaging, of "perhaps" some upset "lymph gland something" cruising by in my imaging, then, a "perhaps" calcified granuloma thingy (which has not been seen for a while) ... hide and seek/history ... it could be same for you too. Try not to fret, you need more time/assessing for full info. Good you had the MRI WITH contrast, sometimes they can first do them without, so, you are ahead in info on the imaging front. I like the sounds of your doc BTW! I am interested if she thinks she IS going to send you to somebody else about the vertebral thing.

Keep us posted. Can't wait to hear your good news 4 week lab results!  C.

Hey guys! I've got my 4-week appointment on Monday. Today was day 27 - woo hoo - 1/3 done.

Question... I'm getting blood work done. Do I need to fast? My doctor didn't tell me anything about not eating or drinking for xx hours before. My appointment is at 8:30am, so it isn't a huge deal since that is when I'm normally starting to wake up. But, I just want to be sure. I get woozy with blood work, so...

JB

Hi JB,

Glad the name change worked! 

Have you had the opportunity to talk about your results with your doctor? We’re not docs and aren’t able to interpret these reports. Sounds to me like they aren’t recommending anything except some repeat imaging in the near future. The radiologist will pass these results along to your liver specialist and you’ll be advised of the results and future tests. Anytime they recommend watching something in our livers, it’s important to do so. It can be nothing or something that needs to be investigated on a timely basis. This is why we all go through this stuff on a periodic basis and some of us will do it every 6 months for life. When do you get to speak with your doctor again? Let us know what his/her impression is.

Some labs, depending (on where you are and where the lab is located), go by 8 OR 10 ng/mL - yep, yer AFP looks really good and low to me and lamassu, and as any kind of "marker" it is a handy, good "rough" guide to use, but it is not the "be all and end all", all of you is taken into account wholistically by your docs (from ALL of your labs/tests, to your imagings, to your physical exams with them). 

These labs tho always drive me batty, complicated language they use and tests to understand, and then they always seem to be changing things up or down too! Like the cut-offs and such! Calling sometthing one thing in one country and another in an other! Using dif measurements. sigh. But luckily, AFP levels and measurements are pretty universal - and a fairly useful tool at times too!  C.

Hey JB,

Good to start your very own 'On Treatment" thread, altho we were talking and sharing over on the prior thread, this will be a very good place to do so too!. Great job on the sig. line as well (if I do say so myself - heehee)! Makes conversing, recalling details, so much easier.

Thanks for so dutifully getting back to us about your MRI results and keeping us updated - so far, so good I would say. Try not to fret - I think you are very lucky, not only are your getting a stellar treatment with epclusa, but it sounds like you are getting the best of care - your doc sounds very diligent and thorough. When ANYTHING turns up from the "usual" lab blips we find in HCV to other minor malfunctions (once they are discovered) of course we fret (some or a LOT, depending on the folk involved - I always labour over every lab thingy, until it gets put in it's place, and then ... I don't anymore - that's just me -  you can fret over the treatment (but that will be a waste of time - as this stuff WILL cure you and set you free from your viral infection, and your body will thank you mightly for it). And, you can fret over the MRI, until they find out it is likely just "one of those" nothing benign things appearing just to confound us. Murphies law. The wait and see tac on your doc part is telling. Wait and see is a good plan, next time around it may not be there! Maybe they will do another further kind of imaging test on you, next time, or sometime in the future (with dye) just to help further define it, should it still be there. (You didn't have any dye with this MRI, right?) Maybe they will do a dye CAT next time around, or at some point if necesaary.

I had a "thing" found, quite long after I was cured, not visualized by anyone prior, via U/S/imaging, in just showed up to make me ponder, it might have been there for some time, just no one could visualize it, in the end it turned out to be a nothing but a benign "granuloma" in my liver - an aftermath thingy resultant of my prior long-standing HCV infection and complaining liver trying to do something ineffectual about it - my cure took care of the viral infection, my body (on it's own) freed to do it's work "better" than ever (in decades), had created and then decided I also did not need the granuloma anymore - it has not been seen since, gone now as far as we know!

This may happen to you too (thingies here today, and gone tomorrow). People get weirdness thingies in their livers, hemanginomas, granulomas, etc. etc, and they are most often just gloriously benign creations that rarely cause ANY real harm to you or themsleves, and they may just sit there OR vamoose.

Don't waste any worry. Your AFP is grand, nice and low, low, low.

Good your fibroscan is showing 11.1 kPa's, keeps you firmly down in the F3 range estimate.

The blood vessel bleed in back/spine is a weirdness too, sounds unrelated and strange - I suppose they will give that more thought too.  Glad she will help you get checked out on that front too.

It is EX-ellent she is taking such good care of you with imagings, seeking concensus opinions and a plan to make sure you are well followed - this is a good doc in my book. Lucky you! Don't waste any worry. They would tell you when to worry, until then you are getting some mighty-fine care there! It is a GOOD thing that she looks and finds these things, then everyone knows what is there, able to check it out, and rule out any it importance it may hold. Bet ya a bundle both things turn out to be nuttin's! But now you and they will have opportunity to check things out. The extra stuff will only help to keep you busy, distracted and pre-occupied!   C.

-- Edited by Canuck on Friday 15th of June 2018 05:19:54 AM

Thanks, lamassu.

I've been doing well with the pill. No need for a log. I've got an alarm set on my phone every morning at 9:30. Today was day 19 and it does seem to be going quickly. My 4 week followup is just 11 days from now.

My AFP-Tumor Marker was 1.8 (ng/ML?).

For my fibroscan, it looks like my E (kPa) was an 11.1 (I took a photo of the screen/results).

My concern now is the "something" they saw on the MRI and the broken blood vessel on my back.

I'm hanging in there. Trying to keep my mind off things by staying busy.