No kidding! We need a current, on (or off) the Road Update. A Shemp Status Report! The holidays have scattered us a bit! I hope all is going well and on schedule, Bro!

Shemp,

Just wondering how things are going (feeling) in the tooth dept (or any dept), you took a course of sulpha for your tooth (and that got all finished up now?) but did you go for the dental work - I maybe missed that bit? Maybe you haven't gone for the dental work yet?

Have you been able to have some holidays at home or have you had to do some trucking work over some of these holidays, i hope you were able to be off work, home, resting and doing dental work if and as required.

Hope you are starting to feel a bit of recovery from/since the Mav treatment? C.

Shemp wrote:

---

Thanks Cheddy,you guys dance and me and Canuck will watch.Tooth is better but the antibios still have me feelin down.Couple more days.Just when I thought I was done counting pills....I'm still counting pills.

---

 right? i had to go on antibios shortly after eot. but they either made me deathly ill or i had some kind of stomach flu....either way i stopped taking them and hoped for the best....i hadn't been that sick in years.

i absolutely had to stop them at 8 or 10 days and will never take those again. lucky for me my immune system was able to kick in and take care of the rest.

thankfully my sinus didn't get that bad this go round.

but yea, yay for the last days of the pill counting

Thanks Cheddy,you guys dance and me and Canuck will watch.Tooth is better but the antibios still have me feelin down.Couple more days.Just when I thought I was done counting pills....I'm still counting pills.

Lovely for you that you were able to  pursue and get that EOT test done. Treasure that wonderful and hard-won UND result. Let that good news carry you through until your SVR12 UND arrives - until they make you "official", but for you it has already been a done deal and we all know it - so ya, me too, can't dance, but I kick up my heels for your win fer sure!

I am so glad you asked for and got that EOT UND, it is nice feedback to have early on, it gives you a little more time to be glad, relieved, to enjoy that treatment is over, to digest things, and to reflect on all the hard work you have been through and are going through while you launched into recovery mode.

Try not to work too hard or long if you can help it - keep conserving where you can and treating yourself the best you possibly can. I'm glad you are taking care of your tooth, and the rest of you, well. Keep drinking lots. 

So, you got your UND too early for xmas, is it just "all I want for xmas" is that tooth thing then? : )

I am so glad you are sharing your xmas with a great big UND in the room. ; ) C.

We're dancing, anyway.

Thanks guys,but you REALLY don't want to see me dance.It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.You know a disaster is moments away,but you just can't look away.I'm just thankful to be free of hep c.And 1 step closer to being officially cured.

hi shemp. woohoo on the UND!

i hate antibios too. so hard on me.

you are such an inspiration

WOOOOOHOOOO! 

Undetected, what beautiful music to dance to in your newly polished shoes! Gald to hear the uckies are leaving you and soon you'll be a new man, ready to rock this world! 

Blessings, Iris

Congratulations, Shemp!! That’s a continued sign of forward progress and tells me the future will bring the prize you fought so hard to win. My money is on Shemp, the loser in this battle is one weary Dragon. Keep taking care of yourself, stay on top of a good hydration program and break out your good boots. They’ll need a fresh coat of polish for the dancing soon to come! 

Hey y'all,it's been a few days.Sorry to hear to hear some are still down with coughs,and sneezes.I hope you get some relief soon.I'm on my way home from the great white north and I got the results from my EOT HCV RNA Quan.today.I didn't want to push the Doc for to many tests,I get the works in 11 weeks.As expected,UNDETECTED.1 less thing to worry about.I really don't know how I'm feeling yet,still taking Bactrim for the root canal infection.I hate taking antibiotics,never agreed with me.A few more days and I'll be free of them too.

Double good news, Shemp.  You are at the end of treatment AND you will be sticking around.

Way to go Shemp

Canuck, I think you, me, and the rest of us here have earned that knowledge the hard way and that makes it even more meaningful when we share our stress management techniques with others. We are really just reminding each other of what we already know. And with my achy breaky brain, I need all the reminders I can get LOL!

Much love to all!

Thank you,EVERYONE.I am so thankful for having found this place.Your advice,insight and knowledge has made my TX so much easier.Now,it's time to start down a new road.My hope is that I can give back to the new members as much as I have received.

Shemp wrote:

---

Thanks Lamassu,didn't hear from my doc so I called him.I spoke to his nurse and she said there was a note about my HCV RNA Quan.He said he thought it was pointless because I had been undetected at 6 weeks.But,he also said he would put the order in so I can get tested tomorrow.See that didn't hurt Doc.I'll keep you posted.

---

Congratulations on reaching EOT Shemp  

Big agree Tig, Shemp doubly deserves this EOT VL good news. Not only for the good-news-feedback-reward at this stage, but also just for being diligent and putting in the effort to pursue it and get it when it was not being offered at EOT! Good for you shemp, I can't wait to hear the good news. The result will be a great moral booster.  C.

Hoodie, We are of like mind about stress and self-care, no one can take better care of number one than number one, my musing below only mimicked what you have been saying on other threads.  C.

Congratulations on completing treatment, Shemp! Well done my friend. I know the news will be good and progress, always forward. Even though that EOT viral load isn’t necessary, the application of the test at this moment, is the prize we all worked so hard to achieve. It’s a great morale booster. You deserve it!

Canuck said:

I am of the mind that there it is more a connection to the depletion of a bodies normal healthy reserves/defences (too stressed), more so than a direct connection between post-treatment maladies and the DAA drugs only.  Therefore, I am a big believer that we have to keep drinking well, eating well, getting good rest and treating ourselves as good a possible after cure.

I couldnt agree more. Stress management is a critical component of health. Along with taking good care of our physical bodies, we must not neglect neglect our minds and spirits  

Thanks Lamassu,didn't hear from my doc so I called him.I spoke to his nurse and she said there was a note about my HCV RNA Quan.He said he thought it was pointless because I had been undetected at 6 weeks.But,he also said he would put the order in so I can get tested tomorrow.See that didn't hurt Doc.I'll keep you posted.

Congrats Shemp! I had a feeling you have a failing root canal, also sometimes when a post is put in after the root canal to be able to build up the tooth for the crown the post can cause a root to fracture under stress. If that happened you would have to have the tooth pulled. That is why I am getting an implant and crown done. Keep bugging your liver doc for a lab order for that EOT viral load. It is going to say undetected but it is so nice to see it on paper:)

Thank you ALL so much,I couldn't have done it without ya.Lamassu,you win the prize.Dentist says I have an infection in the root canal.Tig,they're really not expensive if you keep going to a new one and telling them you're there for the free consultation.Just kidding but, I would feel better if he wore a mask and held a gun.Just when I thought I could be med free for a while,he put me on bactrim for 10 days.I hope it helps.I'm leaving for my last trip of the year on Sat.AM.I hope everyone is finally getting over all the ailments that have come up in the last few weeks.I havn't heard from my gastro yet.I'll bet if he went through TX he would be testing.Guess he's just following the script.

Yay Shemp, done!, finally, EOT! ... that certainly was a long haul for you (sorry, weak truckin joke) - all those weeks and months of prep, then the 12 weeks of treatment, not to mention all the "extra" hardships you had to work through (symptoms you felt/working/flu/now dental) - it IS a LOT of overall stress we can go through to get this cure, and then there is still this recovery period we all seem to go through (some of us longer, some of us shorter), but, thank goodness recovery IS inevitable now. During recovery you will start shedding the stress, bad feelings and with your HCV gone you will regain more wellness and a healthy balance once again. Give it some time, it is so wonderful you have been cured, it will pay dividends down the road, you'll see. You made a very good investment in you.

Lam brought up that dental things CAN just happen, anytime, one does not need to be on DAA therapy to have a weird dental issue crop up.

Weird things, things going off kilter, new pesky afflictions can be "just us", just because we are not 100% up to snuff after enduring this 12 weeks of strong drug treatment, after being under such stress, waging and winning a great viral war, fighting so hard, for so long, under trying and depleting conditions, duressed, I think that the arduous endeavours, depletions of our energies, those alone sometimes helps to tip us beyond defending ourselves from colds, flu's, infections, etc. post-treatment (for a while anyway). We can only expend so much, then we tend to cave to something or other - it seems to happen. I think for most of us, in the weeks and months post-treatment, we progress exponentially with recovery. 

I am of the mind that there it is more a connection to the depletion of a bodies normal healthy reserves/defences (too stressed), more so than a direct connection between post-treatment maladies and the DAA drugs only.  

Therefore, I am a big believer that we have to keep drinking well, eating well, getting good rest and treating ourselves as good a possible after cure.

Very good you asked for the EOT VL! I certainly hope heard and understood your well-put comment about having enough to worry about - that should be a point that i hope he takes good note of! I appreciated/appreciate knowing every one of the many VL's I have ever had done!

I am so glad you are done - huge milestone.  C.

That's right, Shemp.  I did have to have a silver post pulled out and replaced after inflammation set in some years later.  By now you probably have the picture from your dentist.

Last pop tonight, eh.  Excellent.  I'm glad you called for the EOT to cut down on the worries.

How are you feeling otherwise?  Still feeling overmedicated.  Tomorrow actually is a new day.

shemp, i had swollen gums post tx. , all my teeth felt bad.

congrats on eot and asking for an early quant.

hang in there shemp, you really are doing very well with all of this.

Congrats on finishing treatment today! Root canals can fail and infection can set in (happened to me) but you would probably have some swelling. Also could be another tooth acting up so glad to hear you are getting checked out today. I have had a lot of dental work done so have experienced some complications. Had a tooth break in two last year and am now getting an implant and crown done. I don't know what is going on with these treating physicians making patients wait until EOT + 12 weeks to learn the viral load. After suffering through months of DAA therapy they should respect we all want to know if we are undetected at end of treatment!

Welcome to the last day of treatment, Shemp! It’s a wonderful thing... I hope the tooth is going to be manageable and less painful following your trip to dental rescue. Dentists, gotta love em! Too bad they aren’t affordable 

Hooray for EOT and best wishes on both your viral load AND your root canal situation Shemp. Excellent self care!

Thanks Cheddy,A root canal removes the nerve but they also insert a post into your jawbone.I believe thats where the pain is coming from.I have an appointment a couple hours from now so I should be enlightened.And yes (drum roll please)no more beans after tonight.Doc wants me to wait 3 months for HCV RNA Quan.but I called his office yesterday and told them I have enough to worry about so can I have one this week.I should know tomorrow.

Yes, that is strange because a root canal is intended to remove the nerve.  However, there are associated reasons such as infection.  Google: painful root canal years after.  Sounds like a happy go lucky trip to the dentist may be coming up.

Isn't it great to be over the flu!?  Next, no beans, and a readjustment. 

Thanks Tig,the reason I think it might be DAA related is it comes on out of nowhere,hurts for a while and then just disappears.Really strange.Here's to the first of many revelations.

Hi Shemp,

You’re the first to mention dental issues with the new DAA’s. The old drugs, Interferon in particular, caused terrible problems. It attacked the supporting bone and many of us lost or broke teeth. I don’t think Mavyret is doing the same thing, but wonder if there isn’t some nerve involvement or inflammation secondary to treatment, which is responsible. HCV also is known to do the same thing.

I’m just throwing stuff at the wall, wondering if it’ll stick. If you know what I mean. I do know, the next several weeks and months will provide you with additional revelations. Seems like that’s the period when we discover the improvements and differences of being Hep C free can provide. I hope as you progress with recovery, there will be more noticed improvements, than questions. 

Good luck at the dentist!

I'm over the flu and way past the what if's.Today I take my last three magic beans.I do have a question about DAA's and teeth.Years ago i had a root canal and never gave it much thought afterwards.Since I began TX there have been times where that tooth would just start to throb.It would last a few minutes and go away.In the last couple of weeks it became more frequent,and now that I'm at the end,it's almost constant.There just doesn't seem to be much info out there about DAA's and their effects on teeth.I have an appointment with the dentist today but it just seems really strange.

That should make things better.  I can hardly wait myself.  

I don't know which is worse - a case of the What Ifs or the flu but they will both be over soon.

Keep resting.  

EOT in 4 days HOOYAH!

Iris,5-1,thanks for the get well wishes.I'm much better now.Lamassu,Canuck is this your way of telling me I need to start acting my age?Cause thats NEVER gonna happen.Seriously though,that is good advice and I should have known better.TX is kind of uncharted territory and I didn't know what to expect.My Doc never mentioned it.I had so many what-if's floating around in my brain,it just never occurred to me to get a flu shot.Hindsight really is 20/20.

I think that could be correct shemp, what you said, that just going through/being on tx, can put us at a disadvantage for a while. (Not the meds to blame exactly per say, but just all this stress of undergoing a bigtime treatment of our HCV, and our resources swinging widely within the pendulum of fighting for wellness, we need time to come back into balance). We arrive to treatment disadvantaged with this health burden and all that HCV can do to us, keeping our bodies very busy and taxed, we can already be in a depletion state, and maybe even more so we can arrive to EOT depleted. A lot of us have experienced some issues of this and that, some big, some minor, all bothersome and maybe curious or worrisome, unpleasant anyway after EOT! Succumbing to infections/cold/flus, skin things (sinus things such as 5 is going through right now), sometimes old complaints exacerbate - but we see people reporting that these maladies that are experienced while we are in hepc recovery, do stop occurring. Some people are more easily disadvantage than others, other get off much lighter with very few penalties. I too used to brag about NEVER or rarely getting flu or colds much, not like those poor folk who always seem to get them every year like clockwork or multiple times per year!, but as i aged and the longer I had unknowingly been packing this health robbing HCV around for decades, things were starting to catch up with me in the flu and cold karma dept., I started to get the odd cold and flu - so, lucky for me!, once i realized i had HCV, that was the good deciding factor for me to start getting immunized, for everything possible! And I will continue doing so, I certainly wish to avoid cold and flu if i can, prior, being so spoiled not having them. I was kinda a sickly kids with lots of other kinds of infections - kidneys, bronchitis, tonsillitis over and over again, thankfully i seemed to slowly outgrow those things in adulthood. So, in recent times I especially did not welcome any increasing bouts of colds and flu that I was starting to get! I will keep getting my flu shots - these last 3 years now I've gone every year for my a flu shot.

Some days feel very long don't they! - I bet your 5 days or so, before you sensed your flu starting to weaken, must have felt long and yuck! Yay for your immune system taking care of you, and for you, taking good care of you. : ) C. 

oh no tig and shemp . i'm keeping my woes at bay with the antihistamine and ibuprophen and feeling thankful.

tig, did you get antibiotics yet? bronchitis gets better sooner with them, maybe only with them.

hang in there shemp, anitbiotics can't help your woes.

get well soon guys

Hey there Mr. Shemp, glad to hear you are feeling better. Seems really unfair to get so ill this close to the finish line. Best wishes!, Iris

Shemp,

Thanks for the clarification. Glad you are feeling better. I think it is essential when you are over 60 to get a yearly flu shot before the end of October as advised by the CDC. Since I am 65 the shot is even free on Medicare. Cheap insurance against a miserable bout with the flu. Surprised the doc who is treating your Hep C did not insist on it.

Oh boy.  Sickly Season.  It can be so overwhelming.  Unfortunately, there is nothing to do but let it run it's course and give yourself enough time and rest.   I hope you have some remedies help to give it the boot.  

Shemp, this sounds awful.  I can't imagine getting the crud while on treatment. I hate that overmedicated feeling. It's like you can't find your own self in the midst of a thick fog. I felt lost and fearful that it was permanent.  Good to be wrong. I had a pretty quick return, especially at about 3 months, and let me tell you, finding your old self is a thrill! I'm glad you are so close to end and onto the next phase of natural recovery.

It's a funny thing, feeling like your'e whining when you know others have had it worse.  It helps me count my blessings, but everybody's own life is as real as it gets.  When you feel sh*tty, you feel sh*tty.  Just don't get stuck.  Another case of moving through it.

Besides, you've been plenty optimistic for others.

Tig and gang,  It's time to brush up those old party boots.  There's a happy dance coming up for Shemp.  Right??  

Thanks guys,Tig I feel for ya.You have to be careful that nasty bug can turn to pleurisy or pneumonia.There's a better way to get that six pack.Excercise,or just go to the 7-11.Seriously,if you can get a nebulizer and some albuterol it will help a bunch. My wife got that every winter,it ended her driving career.I can't remember the last time I had the flu but I know I haven't had a flu shot in about 15 years.I just don't usually get sick.Maybe the changes in my body because of TX.I dunno.Hoodies virtual chicken soup works wonders.

(((((((Tig))))))) that bronchitis sounds super rough. Please take good care and continue checking in. Have some virtual chicken soup and hugs from me!

Hi Shemp,

Did you just forget to get your flu shot or did you get the flu even with the vaccination? Glad to hear you are feeling better.

Hi Shemp,

Glad to hear you’re past the worst of it. I on the other hand have what I believe is bronchitis. No fever, but awful trouble breathing, productive constant cough. So much so, I think I’m developing that abdominal 6 pack that has eluded me my entire life! I cough so much my ribs hurt. Sounds like we have a few people around here that have been afflicted by one thing or another. ‘‘Tis the season I guess, but that doesn’t make it any easier to tolerate. 

You‘re right about your meds clearing quickly. Within a week and you’ll be drug free. The time it takes you to get back to normal is purely subjective. Some feel different right away, but more often than not, you’ll adjust back to your normal slowly. Your system went through a thorough Dragon stomping cleanse. Even though you experienced little in the way of side effects, your system (internally) got creamed. It took time to ramp up and it’ll take time to smooth out. The things damaged by years of chronic infection and damage don’t repair overnight, but I assure you, they’re under repair now. Some things resolve completely, but others take time and some not completely. The good thing is, now you have everything going for you. A virus free body, a happy, healthier liver and the open road in front of you!

It’s gonna be a great new year

Glad youre over the flu Shemp.  In my experience you can expect to feel better in a few weeks after EOT. Sorry I know that seems like a long my time. Maybe youll feel better sooner though especially in contrast to the sickness of the flu. Hugs and best wishes

I think I'm finally over the flu,thank God.My wife didn't come down with it(a miracle).It's really wiped me out.5 days till EOT.Right now I feel very tired and really,really medicated.I guess 11 weeks of super meds will do that.I'm hoping after I'm done with the meds the super medicated feeling will end.If I have my info right it should take 4-5 days for my system to clear the meds.I wonder what that will feel like?I really should stop whining,when I think about Tig and others that have gone through the stone age TX.my road has been a blessing.Just wanted to update and thank you all for your help and support.

Thanks 5-1,feelin a bit better today.I hope I my wife doesn't come down with it.I've been telling her to stay away from me.In a nice way(of course)

shemp, i'm so glad you are on the mend from the flu. 

i'm happy to say i have been able to donate twice and will continue weekly donations for a while.

i hope you feel well soon.