That’s an impressive sight! I have never been to Europe. Closest I got was Southeast Asia. I can’t afford much, that’s why I’ll Captain the Cruise Ship, lol! I’ll take ya‘ll wherever you want to go. We can jump on the SVR Train and meet at the EOT port-o-call. The first round of fun is on me!

Walking out of a bistro, September 2017. 

Paris would be great, I havent been there in 35 years  

sooooo glad you can see the light at the end of the treatment

PARIS!! We'll take a cruise on the Seine!

Thanks, Tig.

Outstanding!! You have got the beast by the tail and it’s running scared now. You keep up what you’ve got going, it’s working for you! Drink that water and maintain the same course. By summertime you’re going to done and this will be a memory for your journal. A very positive entry into that journal!  

I‘m thrilled that you’re doing so well and have achieved your undetected VL so early. That kind of news is worthy of a celebration! I think it’s time to set up the party barge for the next SVR Cruise. Where are we going? 

6 weeks behind me! 6 more to go! And with a 4 week "undetected" push.  Whoo-hoo!!! 

Thanks, Observer - yes, it's an amazing time. I shudder to think of what Hep C patients had to go through not too long ago. With the pegs and almost a year's worth of treatment. 

Tig, you have been so kind to put up links for me to remember it all. I'm going to print it out so that when I'm reading posts, I can reference the list.

Thanks, I hear you, lamassu. I wanted it done at the 4 week mark and she didn't resist but said the drugs are so powerful that they don't even do the test until after week 12. There was sort of a smiling shaking of the head, like you SO don't need to do this. But I KNOW  that if these doctors had been diagnosed, they would want to know at Week 4. Ah, thanks for the quick lesson on the acronyms. 

Hey Tanner,

I want to direct you to our list of abbreviations. It helps to know what all of these different acronyms and abbreviations are. If you need any additional help, just let me know!

Abbreviations

Well, that was a fast turn around! Blood draw Tues afternoon and your UND result back by Friday! Good news should travel fast! : ) .

And a fast turn around in that VL too, (did you hear that screech sound?) that was a full stop, both feet slamming on the brakes, going from 3 million plus to ZERO flat!

Good going - these new DAA's are wonderful that way, so many of us doing exactly what you did ... stupendously "crashing" our VL's, often at the 4 week mark. Epclusa is great stuff.

It's always such a nice relief to see the early labs. I'm glad you decided to go ahead and request the week 4 labs from your doc. Improved labs show you the drugs are working. Happy week 4 girl. It's a done deal. 

We can see what your prior bloods/ALT/AST were, but did they do any LFT's or other bloods with this draw as well (aside from the VL)? 

I knew a lady who re-created a select assortment of her rings and morphed them into a totally new ring for herself, with the help of a jeweller. Maybe with your new found good news you might just turn those rings around into an added, new beautiful thing to mark the inclusion of this happy occasion that you are going through! Food for thought. Who says you can't celebrate your cure with a little bling!

So, you still have to nurse your injured hand, but how does the rest of you feel? After you got home, did you feel the skiing exercise in your body, or other bodily complaints from doing the stair mogals? Were you tired at all from your ski vacation?

Good labs have a way of making many things more tolerable!  ; )  C.

Yay Tanner  

thats wonderful news UND !!!! at 4 weeks....haaaaa...what an amazing time we live in.

Sorry to read about your wrist...hope it mends quickly 

Hi tanner.

Glad you are doing so well! SVR12 = Sustained Viral Response (virus not detected) at end of treatment (EOT) plus twelve weeks. SVR24 used to be the gold standard but with the new DAAs most hep c docs consider SVR12 a cure. I bugged my doc to do a viral load at 24 weeks because I had a hard time believing the SVR12 was all I needed. He laughed and wrote the lab order but told me I would be undetected:) You got this, Genotype 2 is the easiest variant to cure with Epclusa no worries.

Cheddy, 5-1, Tig, 

Thanks - you all are the BEST! So appreciate the cheers, humor and encouragement and of course, all the informative medical jargon from you, Tig. Can you tell me what  "SVR12" is?

Oh boy Tanner!!!  

As Tig points out, this is what we're looking for, and I'm thrilled to hear about it.  Yes, just continue until done as a means of HCV birth control.

Wow, this will be over in no time.  New liver, new ring, new season looking good.

tanner

congratulations

UND!!! is the word is the word is the word

You should be thrilled! You can absolutely be undetected at this point of treatment and should know, it happens routinely. There are many that don’t test negative until further into treatment, but witnessing an early response like this is a sign of good things to come, namely SVR12. What a great Friday blessing! Congratulations on your early response. Your doctor is right, finish ALL of the medication. It takes the full course of medication to assure everything is mopped up and clean. 

RNA is “Ribonucleic Acid”, it partners with DNA. This medication breaks the DNA chain and prevents the HCV virus from replicating. It essentially neuters the virus. I’ll include a description of RNA, HERE. PCR is the name of the test used to determine the viral count. It stands for “Polymerase Chain Reaction”.

Got this from the doc today. She said good news but finish the treatment. Is this possible after only 4 weeks? I'm not saying I'm cured, until after the 12 week check and 3 months, but I should be pretty happy, right? And what does RNA mean? And PCR?

 Reference Range: Negative for HCV RNA

The Linear Range of this assay is 15 IU/mL to 100,000,000 IU/mL.

Canuck, I got the lab work done on Tuesday afternoon. Waiting for results now. Thanks for all your good wishes and encouragement. The swelling has gone way down; the ring finger is still pretty puffy. I wouldn't be able to put a ring on yet except for a cigar band maybe.  A big fat cigar.

The weird thing about the skiing is before we went, I kept imagining myself doing okay. I guess I forgot about gravity.  

Well, that was a bummer (to say the least), show up for labs and it turns out to be a big NO GO. Glad you got it sorted tho - and we will try, try again!

Well, all I can say is I am glad you dd not sustain another worse fracture on that same arm/wrist/hand! I suppose it could have been worse, but that was bad enough, including the insult to injury with the ring damage. Maddening, the whole thing, I can imagine, but with you having been through so much in your life and learning how to live through and past trials, this is why (no doubt) you are packing big patience and perseverance.

No, no - I am not going skiing - I haven't been skiing for decades and decades! - I meant ... if I did go skiing tomorrow, i would be just a bad as I was decades ago, afraid i would face plant myself down the hill at every turn! 

Hope your hand gets to feeling better each day, and that when your labs are drawn, the results will return quickly. : ) C.

Okay, let’s just write that up to an honest mistake. I’m glad you got it all straightened out. I think a business (lab services) that came to you would be incredibly helpful. I should’ve thought about that 30 years ago! Slow on the draw, I guess... 

Let us know, when you know!

Thanks, 5-1. Don't know why they get confused... it's not like it's the whole alphabet! Just talking A. B or C. 

Hi Tig,

Yes, I was tested for Hep B. Negative. This was a mistake on the order. The doc apologized profusely. I'll just go do it tomorrow. But of course I'm calling first again. And yeah, I can tell you are a seasoned lab subject. 

tanner, i'm so glad you called....yep, they do get confused

UNREAL!!  I mean, I guess it’s not the end all of mistakes, but that kind of crap really pizzes me off. It’s such an anticipated event and then you find out, at the 11th hour, that somebody made an error?!? Really? I’ve been through it and it always straightens out, but my thought is, who twisted my road in the first place? Can you tell I’m a seasoned lab test subject?

These viral load tests are the determining factor through all of this. Like any disease process, the test we all want and need to see, is the one that gives us truth. I’m confident that yours are going to be stellar. I’m sorry you have to deal with delays, but they’re no fault of your own. 

I didn’t look back into your history, but the Hep B test is required protocol. If you haven’t had that checked and your level of immunity to it, then the order for it, is probably legit. If you covered this before, forgive me for repeating it. When I’m using this phone, it’s more difficult to review previous posts. That and I can barely see this thing! Ha, ha!

We’ll be waiting for some news!

Hi Canuckl, Sounds like you're going skiing today?? Good luck and have fun!  It is the same hand that I've broken (left) and I've also broken that wrist (left). Yes they took an x-ray. The swelling has gone down a lot. It's tender but not painful now. 

As to the week 4 blood test, I am pretty PO'd. I just called the lab to double check that they have the order to draw blood to check my viral load. The person on the phone said they had no order for a Hepatitis C blood work check, that  they did have an order for Hepatitis B. A typo? They won't draw blood  until the doc changes the order. 

I'm pretty impressed you got those ski lessons and skiing in Tanner! I am not so sure I would have been that brave/adventuresome, and I do not even have any known left or right sided deficits. I did not do a dang thing while on treatment, I just didn't feel up to it, I just treated myself as good as i could, slept, watered, fed myself as good as I could, minimal exercise happened - that was about the best I could do - I even stopped driving long distances as I just couldn't seem to handle it. Nice I had a chauffeur for just about every trek to the specialist. Real shame about the tumble, hand and rings! On the other hand (no pun intended) you all shared time together in what was likely a beautiful snowy place and you skied! I am afraid to imagine me skiing tomorrow, knowing how I would tend to crash at every turn, pick myself up and head off in the next tac direction, only to crash down the whole of the hill mostly in this zigzag accident fashion - I  burnt a lot of calories that way, picking myself up all the time to change direction! 

I hope the sprained hand is not the same side as your old fracture? How does the hand feel right now? Did they xray it?

Happy 4 week bloodletting tomorrow! : )  C.

omg tanner! what an exit 

seethelight and i both fell down during treatment , but you take the cake on the injuries for that

i hope you recover quickly and can enjoy your eot..... done!!! done!! done!!!!

take it easy over there

Dang it Tanner!  A flight of stairs!?  I've fallen down plenty of ski slopes but not the stairs.  I hope you can get your ring repaired, but as you say, it's the health you care about most. 

Well, more rest for you.  Keep up the wonderful attitude.  I have no doubt your blood work will be uplifting.

Hello friends,

Returned home from Wyoming on Thursday night. My skiing was sub-par but I'm okay with that; I took 2 ski school lessons.  It's not like that old adage about riding a bike. Left side just too weak to make proper turns, resulting in some pretty out of control runs. But my husband patiently worked with me on the last day. Some melancholy moments remembering my brother and all the time we spent together skiing. (He died of a brain tumor at age 29.)

However, on the last day, walking down the steps in the lodge and feeling pretty tired, I fell down a flight of stairs. OMG. Really?? Sprained my hand pretty badly. Had to go to the ER to have them cut off my rings. Bummer. The diamond one broke in 3 pieces because they didn't have spreaders.  Ah well. Rings are just things, not important like health.

I am finished tomorrow with week 4! Getting my blood work done on Monday to see the viral load number. Just don't feel like going in over the weekend. Anticipating good results! 

Hi Canuck, I am okay with re-learning how to ski but it's not something I would do, if not for my family wanting me to try again. It's a good opportunity to spend time with our son and his family. If it were up to me, I'd say let's go where it's warm! I learned in high school (50 years ago!) and skiied then and in college. It was fun because of my brother and I learning together.  Back then, I could keep up with him on a red or occasional black. He went on to race (downhill, GS, slalom). Not me. It will be all green for me with maybe a blue but I won't be pushing it. I'm surprised you had no poles until you were on the green runs. Snowboarders don't use them at all. 

Oh, the wrist was excruciating because they had to re-set the bone. You know how you have to clench your teeth so that you don't start screaming. 

Exercise: I row and jog and use small arm weights but I'm ready to go to a personal trainer. I love dead lifts. Anyway, I can't stand not exercising. The way it clears your mind, the way it makes your body feel tired, the way it helps you sleep. 

I messaged my doc and asked for an order for blood work at week at the end of week 4. Btw, I started 2/9; I'll be home on 3/7. I'll get it done 3/9. (My lab is open on Saturdays.)

I am a sorry excuse for a human with any sports or exercise hx. It all came to me late in life - tried to teach myself how to ski, bunny hill for 2 seasons -horrible clutz and coordination with any kind of physical activity, but still, it can be fun and rewarding. I was never shown nor learned how to use poles, didn't use them at all, for the 2 years I was learning how to fall and plow on the bunny hill, when i finally started to rent big girl skis and brave the big girl green runs, they gave me poles, i just carried them around not knowing what to do with them, i found out the hard way what you CAN do with them, you can accidentally stab yourself in your solar plexus with them!

Be careful out there! Too bad about your wrist last year, yes that must have been VERY disappointing, let alone painful, yikes. You will find a new method of motion/activity/exercise that will work for you (I am sure), you sound like me that we enjoy that reward of exercise, so you will have to find other ways.

If your SOT was Feb 2, then week 4 will be on March 9 - where will you be then (away or home)? You could just ask your doc (just as a favour to you), to do LFTs and a VL at week 4 (just for your own peace of mind, to show you that you are responding to the drugs, and as a comfort), so that you will feel reassured. She may relent and say OK (to do a set at week 4 just to humour you) as well as (and in addition to) the other sets she planned to do. A lot of docs still do week 4 LFT's and VL's, as well as EOT LFT's and VL's. You could pick up and carry a requisition around for the March 8/9 labwork, so that you could have the blood draw done at any lab anywhere you are, with results sent to your doc's office where you could access the info from whereever you are.

I am glad your Mom is home again - hope she stays good and stable. C.

PS - I see you DID say your doc would do 4 weeks labs, so then, it is just up to you, whether you wish to pursue this testing or not - I would always do so, but i'm jes that kinda gal, if it was offered i would want to see what's happening - i am always up fer good news and seeing my labs starting to move in better directions. : ) 

Thanks, 5-1. I'm grateful to be going. 

Thanks, lamassu. That would be so great if it happens!

have fun in wyoming tanner; i'm so glad you are up to it 

Hi tanner,

So glad to hear you are doing well on Epclusa! If you have not experienced major fatigue so far you probably won't. However don't discount fatigue caused by HCV, even though you are on anti-seizure meds: I bet you will feel less fatigue once the HCV virus is gone.

Ha, ha! Yes, it’s a work in progress. I think it needs refining. I used to post different fuzzy photos in years past. Just goofing around more than anything! 

(Looks like me on Ribavirin!)

Tig, is that a self portrait? 

Hi, I'll try to respond to all 4 of the most recent posts in one post. Sorry it's so long. 

Observer - thanks! I do treasure her. I feel very blessed that I was able to be with her through this tough time. And I see the value of anecdotal experience. My husband wasn't questioning anyone's experiences; just wondering why so much water. And my doc - she just feels there's no hard and fast rule; just drink lots of water.

Thanks to you, too, 5-1 and Cheddy. Like I said, I feel good with the amount I'm drinking. Other than a little spaciness or fogginess here and there, no other side affects. Not headache (except initially) and no extreme fatigue, just what I normally feel.

I have had fatigue and lethargy, lack of motivation (and possibly even mild depression) for 10 years which I have always attributed to the anti-seizure meds. I'm very curious, as I already mentioned, to see if that fatigue is gone once the HCV is gone. Maybe the HCV has been the cause and not the anti-seizure meds. But I will be very surprised if that's the case. The anti-seizure meds are very powerful; Lamictal and Keppra every day, and then Clonazepan only for auras. Had an aura in FL; thankfully 2 of the Clonazepan did the trick. (Sometimes I've had to take 4 to stop the seizure, which is a literal overdose. I sleep for at least 6 hours afterward.) All of these drugs literally suppress brain activity and the normal firing of nerve cells. So you can see why I think my fatigue for a decade has been the result of those drugs...a constant sedation, so to speak. And Lamictal is also administered to patients with bipolar disease. So I'll wait and see.

The reason this is a question I have is because so many of you have expressed how sick you felt over many years. I just don't get it. I never felt sick, unless you count the fatigue. The only time in 10 years I have felt really great is when I joined Crossfit. The exercise, conditioning, strengthening, etc. did wonders for me - increased energy, increased motivation, etc.  We all know how exercise positively affects the brain and mood. But as I said in my bio, I was injured too many times in Crossfit because of leftover deficits on my left side. I had to stop that kind of workout. And that alone "depresses" me. 

5-1, you asked about Wyoming. My husband and I, our son and daughter-in-law and our granddaughter are going to Jackson Hole/Grand Targhee for a week. I missed the ski trip last year because of a broken wrist (from Crossfit). Last year would have been my first time skiing in decades before the AVM. So I'm a bit nervous. I'll be taking it very slowly to be aware of my balance and coordination at all times. 

And Cheddy - fatigue in winter... lack of sunshine? Or too little physical activity? 

Canuck - I asked my doc about a viral load test before end of treatment, because she had told me tests would be the last day of treatment and 3 months later. She said she didn't think it was necessary in the middle of treatment because of Epclusa being so effective, but that if I wanted a test done, she would order it. Aughghgh! I'm frustrated with so many different opinions. 

Once again, I can't tell you all how much I appreciate everyone's wisdom and experience and support here. There is a facebook Hep C community. Started reading through it and it was all such a jumble and felt a bit disconnected. I only made one post to a woman who was struggling with vertigo by sharing the Epley maneuver. Ironic, huh? After just having been with my mom whose vertigo attack landed her in that hospital in Naples. 

Have a great weekend!    

Day 14? Wow thats great! Its going to fly by and then youre going to feel soooooo much better.

re: water.... I think antidotal experience is far more valuable than the Drs opinion. She aint the one getting the headaches or feeling extraly fatigued. Tell your hubby, theres no data or science...just a bunch of folks helping each other out and sharing our experience/observations.

Its great that you could be there with/for your mom. Im glad shes recovering and home. Treasure her... (I miss my mom everyday)

Regarding sof and vel, and absorption - it was within this older thread you were posting in before  1/15/19 Day 1 begins tomorrow EPCLUSA Journey  , where we first started to delve into water intake, and where we started to get into the why's for a moderate fat content meal, stomache ph info, and the monograph insert Epclusa Monograph  which helps explain things about absorption and blood levels, and which systems bear the brunt in dealing with excretion. It is too simple an explanation to say it is just a matter of whether something is water or fat soluble. You have already twigged onto the timing of your water intake to maximize volume in, without drowning yourself at pilltime, and creating the most convenient time for the required output! 88oz. is not too bad, that's about 2/3rds of a gal (getting near to 3/4 of a gal, which would be about 96 oz). If your 88 oz of water per day is on top of other fluids and watery things you are consuming everyday- you may be getting a fair bit closer to a 3/4 of a gal into you. You would have to try to judge how much "other" fluids you might be consuming aside from the 88 oz of water.

I had been a terrible water drinker all my life (I was always a slow learner) but, I became more acutely aware of my need for extra water during treatment, I coulda/shoulda/wished I had done better with water while ON treatment, but the lesson is still paying off for me now - i drink more water nowadays than i have all my life! 

We had one gal here with a complicated scenario, and she had kidney issues (actually, we have a several here who went through treatment with kidney issues) where she was (due to her particular medical status) NOT allowed to push water on herself. 

I do not know how long you plan to stay on Wyoming time - but changing the time over in the 15 min increments you suggested of course would work (to make up for the 2 hour time dif), but it will take you about 8 days to achieve the time change over - something to consider if your stay is short? You could ask your doc what he/she suggests as far as how quickly you may complete the 2 hour time change over. 

Glad you are home and hope you are getting caught up on some rest. Will you be getting a trip to the doc and a lab blood draw for VL and LFT's at week 4? C. 

Hi Tanner.  Really? Day 14 already. Step, step, step. 

Fatigue is one of the side effects of HCV.  I got way better but still struggle with fatigue sometime, but mostly in winter.  What does that tell you?  Otherwise, I felt way way better within months of treatments.  Your personal answer will come.

I'm glad you are wending your way home and I hope you can sleep in and watch movies as much as you want to.

Ched

good to hear from you,  tanner ; and that you made it thru the hurdle of being the caretaker

whatcha doing in wyoming? i hope it's fun. is there a lot of snow?

good idea to find what works for you re: the water, yea i'm sure the size of a person matters too.

and also , great idea to adjust your time. i had to do that and it all worked out since i did it carefully with the pharmacy's advice.

the good news is, these pills work so i'm glad you are focused on taking it at the right time and way

see you here next time

Canuck and Tig, thanks for the replies.

Tig, I had to smile at your "divide your weight by 2 and drink that." I'd have to weight around 250 lbs. to arrive at drinking 128 oz. (a gallon) of water!

Just so you both know, you are confirming what I've learned about how the water diminishes the side affects. I drank at least 4 Camelbacks (22oz.) all day every day for the whole time I was down there and I felt fine. Just a little spacey at times. Then yesterday I didn't drink enough water and could tell right away. 

As far as the timing goes I have taken the pill every day within a 15-20 minute range. I do have my alarm set on my phone. I'm pretty good at remembering taking meds because of the anti-seizure meds. 

Canuck, my doc is not forbidding me to limit my intake. She just said it's not all that important if I don't drink a whole gallon, but that everyone should  be drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day. Just so you know, the difference in intake spread out over 24 hours is me getting up 6 times a night to go. I'm trying to stop drinking water after 9 PM. That's remarkable that you were part of a Gilead trial. 

There's a blog in this Hep magazine where I found some helpful info. That's where I saw the first mention about the Velpat not being water soluble but the Sofos is.  Found a good support facebook page from that Hep mag, too. 

https://www.hepmag.com/blog/tips-taking-epclusa

Anyway, this is only day 14 and so far I'm feeling pretty well.   I'm really anxious to see if all the fatigue I've experienced over the past 10 years hasn't been from the seizure meds at all, but from the Hep C. But I probably won't know that until the end of treatment?

I think it is just the "routine" of taking the dose at the same time everyday that is important, as (1) it is a sure way to help us to NEVER forget a dose, and (2) helps us to never be late with a dose - it is always best to keep the blood levels of drugs at their most consistent predictable maximal peak levels and to try not to allow blood levels to drop below what was intended in the daily up and down cycle.

I was in a trial, carefully guided by Gilead, my administrators of the drugs were very careful to make sure I took my meds at the same time everyday, they forgave one hour (only if it was unavoidable). If i normally took my dose at noon, but for some reason i could not take the dose until 1 pm, then they were quite ok with that, but generally, everyday, they wished me to take the dose at the same time everyday.

There are details in the insert about peak blood levels of the drugs and when those happen. Also, if you read all of the details in the insert about how the sof and the vel are metabolised, and excreted, and the kidneys doing the lions share with the sof, the gi/liver doing the lions share of dealing with vel, your ample water intake will only help you in excretion of the metabolized sof. Kidneys appreciate dilute ample fluid flushing through when taking many meds. Water is so basic to carrying systemic drugs via every cell to every crevice of our bodies. As we have mentioned before, ample water intake can be done over a 24 hour period. Not over-drowning yourself just at pilltime. Tig is right about 'experience" counts - in my case of experience, as hard as it was for me to believe, i learned the hard way that i could prevent and minimize some of my drugs sides, just with ample water intake alone, ample water intake alone helped fend off and prevent/minimize feeling yuck and headaches and constipation to name a few.

Everyone is different, we all come to these DAA's at different ages and states of health, some of us with a lovely set of kidneys, other not. A moderate increase in your water intake would not be an outrageous event to practise (for anyone actually, on a new systemic drug therapy), the dif between the 1/2 gal (you are already drinking) to increase it by a couple litres to be near 1 gal per day is not that great - it is very hard to harm yourself by drinking this extra 2 litres of water per day. But if your doc forbids you to increase your water intake by 2 litres per day, he may have some (unknown to us) specific health reason for you not to do so - so, you have to go by what he dictates. If there is no health reason why you cannot increase your water intake then, you could go by feel i guess, that didn't work for me, I needed to be on an increased amount of water the whole time - i often did not get it in and i tell ya, I felt it!  

Goodness, there is much on your plate, and lots of travelling too! Hope you can catch up on some rest and concentrating on you. C.

Hello T,

I’m glad to hear your Mom is doing better (I hope). I’m sure it was more than stressful for you, especially considering you’re dealing with your own health concerns. I hope you’re finding time now to do some relaxing and taking it easy. Yes?? Try anyway!

There isn’t much in the way of documentation on the gallon of water per day requirement. I can tell you, most of these doctors are woefully under educated when it comes to dealing with their patient’s side effects, related to these DAA’s. We have over many years, discovered on our own, what works and what doesn’t minimize these SFX and it’s water. Just through my experience here and through discussions with patients and healthcare providers alike, I have learned that water works. Normal intake is somewhere in the area of,  divide your weight by 2 and drink that many ounces per day. Let’s say that’s 64 ounces for Patient A. If that patient starts one of these DAA’s and starts experiencing headaches and increased fatigue, our recommendation has always been to increase the water intake as close to a gallon as possible. 9 times out of 10, they start feeling better and the headaches decline or go away entirely. These drugs have a way of dehydrating you, without you even realizing it. These doctors don’t get it, because it’s not written on that little manufacturers insert of side effects. Some docs are finally realizing that they need to listen more and recognize a solution for their patient’s discomfort, and is as close as the kitchen sink.

You’ll be fine by adjusting your pill time over several days. 15-30 minutes per day won’t cause any problems. Just try to keep it as consistent as possible. 

Hi everyone, I missed you! Got home Wednesday night from Naples after 8 days of caring for my mom. From hospital to skilled nursing facility (for rehab) to home. I know you all said take the time to relax and rest and that was not possible. It was a tough week. 

I'm sorry I missed all the goings-on. How is everyone? Any good news to share? I did see STL's good news but now cannot find the thread. I think I rejoiced with all of you, but the last week is a jumble. 

For you experts: my husband asked where is the data and science behind drinking so much water? I googled and found a large amount of water (8 to 12 8 oz. a day) is sufficient to keep side affects to a minimum. But doesn't require a gallon. Talked to my liver specialist as well. She said 64 oz. was fine. 

I also found out that drinking a lot of water right after taking the pill is not recommended. You want that pill to hang out with your stomach acids to work better. And I found out that you don't need to be so legalistic about the exact minute you take it every day. If you take it in the morning, keep taking it in the morning.

However, this last point is important to me because in a week I am going out to Wyoming (Mountain time compared to Eastern time), which is a 2 hour difference. I have started to take the pill a bit later by 15 minutes each day so that by the time I get there, I will be taking it at 8 AM local time, which is 10 AM here. Then I'll likely start working it back to Eastern time when I return. 

If anyone wants to jump in and comment on the conflicting info around these 3 issues, I'd be really grateful.   

I’m in East Naples, about 4 miles from the hospital. I have spent many a day in that hospital. That’s where I had my last two liver biopsies. Fond memories!

Good to hear your Mom is feeling some better. It really takes time with them. I’m glad she gave in and took something stronger for pain. Back pain is the worst!

Don’t forget to take care of you, too! Plenty of water and rest as much as possible. It’s important!

Tig,

 Thats just crazy. Where are you in Naples? My parents moved down here many years ago.

 Shes in NCH.  I dont think she really wanted to go there but it was an emergency.   You can read my update in my post to 5-1. I know tomorrow is going to be sunny and beautiful. Im looking forward to it. Pretty tired tonight after being at the hospital all day.

My dad died here in Naples in 2016... complications from Parkinsons. Fought it for a long time; a real warrior. From what you described about your dad, they probably wouldve liked one another.

How unlikely is it that 2 people in this Hep C family are in this town right now?