Hep C Discussion Forum

 Thanks everyone, for all the well wishes for myself and for my husband. The party was a hit! I am back down in Naples right now. My mother fell in the shower and ended up in the hospital. So I am taking care of her for a week and Im just grateful that shes OK. 

Great news! Im late to the party, truly happy for you Tanner!

Genotype 2, back in the dark days of Interferon, had a better SVR rate than Geno 1. Compared to today, the differences in success rates are night and day. The new DAA’s changed everything and the term “cured” became our new buzzword. 

Here‘s an article, recently updated that gives you good insight into Geno 2 history.

Genotype 2 Tx Hx

Cheddy, I am doing well. Thanks for asking. How are you? Spent much of the summer in Muskoka; still walking through this heavy burden for Emily. Grateful she came to Canada with her 2 pups. As far as celebrating goes, I am throwing a 60th birthday party for my husband this Friday on the beach! It's all about celebrating life, isn't it? 

tanner! 

Big congrats! Welcome to club zero. Me and lamassu and many of the other sof/vel folk (or, in my case, sof/vel plus) we welcome you to this great viral holiday! What a wonderful und. You have been velparized. I like your docs' text BTW announcing your SVR - nice to see those words written out in full! Even tho (I hear ya!), you KNEW you were cured! : ) Oh what good days these are. Wonderful results and news.  : )  C.

congratulations   dragon slayer!

WOOHOO!! Congrats, Gail!

Tanner,

Approved and being ready to go is good, (I know) not as good as actually having the drugs in hand, or putting that first pill past the lips and down the gullet, but still ... knowing the drugs are coming is relieving, just to know that, for sure ... "help is on the way"!

Your epclusa will be arriving by snail-mail eh? I bet you are a better, more patient "waiter" than i was. To kill time, while we are waiting (if you have not read this old thread yet) here is a thing about waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting

It won't be much longer now, and you'll be starting off on your cure. C.

Yay Tanner !  I know what that wait is like, I think I chewed all my nails off waiting for those pills to come.  Wishing the BEST for all of us starting on this journey. 

Thanks 5-1

 

-- Edited by tanner on Tuesday 15th of January 2019 11:40:15 AM

tanner, i just copy and paste. the smaller ones that don't move too much are the best :D 

Thanks 5-1-18! How did you get a gif to work on here?

Tig, that works!

That's fantastic! Nothing like a quick approval to send the Dragon into a complete panic. Bwahahaha! You're going down, Dragon. Let the slaying begin...

How bout this one?

Hahaha - same one I posted! Thanks, Annie!

Epclusa approved yesterday!!! Where's the emoji for jumping up and down? 

Tanner,

I made a couple posts to you (here and there), i think some over where you started out, over on Annie thread and then elsewhere i think, but I will drag a snippet over to here to discuss this particular bit further with you before it gets buried - just because of importance of what you have been through, a survivor of a ruptured AVM! Any kind of brain bleed, whether it be the regular cerebral vascular "accident" or one of these rupturing mass types, all kinds of brain bleeds can be critical life-threatening (if not fatal) events, often they are life-changing even when survivable, you have certainly beaten the odds in many ways, in being the unlucky recipient of having owned one of these undiagnosed masses in the first place, they are seen and are well-documented "thing", but are not that common in the population, and less common for people to survive a rupture of same! - you certainly dodged a bullet there - i can see from some of the comments you have shared you have suffered from the aftermath of the bleed, but it was amazing and lucky you survived. You were lucky to get to the doc who saved you.

(moved comment) ... " about your family members who died of an AVM. You probably know that it is NOT heredity. The vessels just do not form correctly in the fetus. It's a terrible "coincidence" that both of them died of the same thing " ...

I agree that (technically) until proven otherwise, AVM's are not "hereditary", in my in-laws case, the docs told the rest of that family to get tested in an abundance of caution, and to make the rest of them feel better (I think) - in AVM's it is not really well-known/well-defined (the causation) - exactly WHY/HOW/or WHEN these AVM's form or start to form and what the exact cause of them can be blamed on, some reasons may be more likely than others. It IS semantics really, but if they cannot be deemed "hereditary" per say, they are thought "congenital" (might be seen at birth, forming at some unknown point in gestation, perhaps not found for very long times), AVM's can and have been considered "familial" too (familial weirdness like this has been documented in limited cases, where siblings have AVM's and/or parents and offspring have AVMs, so, they cannot rule it out as "being familial" it seems), and, they maintain to stress possible unknown "genetic factors" as potential causation. 

As hard as it has been for you, i am so glad you survived your AVM, that your family did not lose you, my in-laws were just so devastated with losing two of theirs to the same thing in such short order. 

You are meant to be a survivor, you are meant for greater things, this next step, getting rid of the hepc will be far easier.

Oh BTW - you had been speaking with Observer about her being in BC, and asked where in Canada I was from? - I am like Obs, in BC, but I am many hours away from Vancouver I am afraid.

I note your "not high" ALT/AST blood levels, that's good, we'll take anything good or better for now! Regarding ANA alterations and blips, we see that happen sometimes, and, we have also seen these aberrant blood tests resolve, all on their own, after cure! Wait and see. It will be SO much better for you to not be packing this virus anymore. I hope things get approved soon for you, you will feel better about things once you get started. C.

 

Thanks Ashenvale!

Tanner, fingers crossed, really hope they approve it so you can start the treatment soon!

Tanner,

As 5 said, as soon as the treatment stops hcvs evil replication, the liver can start to heal...

I think there was one member who was at cirrhosis and 5 years after his UND I believe they started to see a regression of his fibrosis.

I had a small setback in my recovery, I felt better but not BETTER. Then a year after my treatment, my AFP was continuing to be elevated a titch, and it turned out, I had a tumour. It was zapped and my recovery became really life altering (in a good way) So although Im 3 years clear of HCV , I feel like Ive only really got 2 years of real healing. 

So... I still show cirrhosis on MRIs but Im super hopeful that with healthy diet and exercise my fibrosis will eventually reverse.

 

I sure hope your insurance company okays your treatment soon.

 

Thanks, 5-1-18!

Hi Observer. I'm so glad you got rid of that MONSTER! Can't believe you were at stage 4. That does bring up a question. Once the Hep C has been eradicated, do new liver cells begin to grow? I'm probably not asking that correctly but I'm wondering once the virus is gone, can the liver heal itself?

Your days sound lovely; peaceful and calm. As I just responded to Annie, I don't live permanently in Canada, just the summer. After the treatment I received there (air-flighting me to Toronto for a seizure that put me in a comas), I sure wish I did.

My daughter-in-law took that shot around 5:30 AM from the dock a few summers back. 

Your relief is palpable. I hope you continue to thrive.  

 

Hi Tanner.

I'm from Chatham, Ontario, down in the banana belt :)  I've been to Muskoka a few times...such a beautiful place.

According to this article from the London Free Press, the drugs should be covered.  I'm not to that point yet but will be asking.  Dr. Marotta is the specialist I will be seeing Jan. 31.

https://lfpress.com/2017/03/07/london-liver-specialist-urges-people-to-get-tested-treated-cured-and-move-on-with-their-lives-because-new-drugs-have-a-98-per-cent-cure-rate/wcm/7f4f6226-f26a-259c-9c52-290eb956bd53?fb_comment_id=1722897001156893_1897533680359890

 

Cheddy - very very helpful post and helpful link to definitions and acronyms. I can now fill in most of the numbers in my signature. I went through all my labs but I don't know what other numbers to list.  (under your etc.) The only one off the charts is the ANA (autoimmune antibody)