Love it Canuck.

Like in Pretty Woman when Kit says to Viv..."take care of you!"

Way to shout it out Sistas!!  Love that anthem Canuck!!  Very empowering!!

Well, despite the most trying of circumstances ... I see the whole of the membership of our little United Nations here, special mention to the Commonwealth division (you see I am a bit prejudiced), sporting very upbeat, trying-our-bestest attitudes. It's contagious!, no vaccine for that!, being "positive" for this particuar "positive attitude" infection is ineveitable and a very good thing - just let it spread. They say "stiff upper lip" in the UK, "no wobbling" down under and in Canada I had to tell myself over and over "don't wimp out eh!". Ya Jen your right about "the next thing", and also, about what makes us stronger.

I'm feelin' it (the Commonwealth strength), especially from just a few of us gals right here, what with our extra trials and tribulations we have faced with our "ladybits and other bits" backfiring on us! Carry on dear Jojo with the tamox - it's gotta be done, we can only do, what we can do, or got to do! - keep pulling. My sister-in-law did get used to Tamox and she did manage to stay on it quite some time. I was suprized to hear of your ovarian trouble Jen. I also had a wee scare and had one of my tit-bits drilled and a marker put in - just in case. Man, why do these otherwise perfectly good lovely ladybits threaten to backfire on us like this! 

Like brave, less fuzzy (fuzz-less?  yay!) marching Polo and her unquenchable positive forward motion ... ALL of us gals are all strongly facing (head up, shoulders back), in that same direction - I still say we need some kind of universal anthem! I'd like to see you on your Harley Jen!, I'm glad you are feeling a little better. 

We are all hanging in there! This one's for us then, sista's, (cause nobody takes care of us better than ourselves)! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtUWs6muGzg&index=1&list=RDVtUWs6muGzg

Jen!!!!!!!!

 Only 4 more sleeps!.docx  

Congrats on your final 5 days of treatment Jen!

I ended my treatment recently and I'm feeling energized, positive and life is good! I think visits to the gym and exercise routines help, I have more energy too than I have had in some time since taking the magic harvoni pills. I am grateful to no longer have brain fuzzies and to have improved amounts of energy and optimism.

ps

Hey, so glad your back! i was getting a little worried about you. its my final week on treatment - 5 days to go ! i have been feeling better everyday since about the 13th week and have had no issues at all, i have even started an exercise program again every 2nd day so i am hoping i will be back in full force by the end of November. Your trip sounds like it was a success wish i was travelling with you i have always wanted to go to Switzerland (I'm a little Jelly !).

I certainly will be contacting you when i arrive for the Big wedding next year I'll need a + 1 as my hubby wouldn't be interested.

As woman we certainly do cop it in 2014 i was going through ovarian cancer treatment so i feel for you - but, what doesn't kill us will make us stronger and better equipped to handle the next problem coming over the mountain because the one thing you can depend on in life is that the next problem is coming.

We have had our share (of pain) it's now our time to recoup and enjoy life.

I've even planned a ride on my Harley this weekend, first time in over a year " The BOMs" will be out in force this weekend - Lol (all 2 of us!).

Have a great weekend

Jen

Hey Jojo,

That trip with your choir sounds like fun! I doubt I'll ever get to see that part of the world, but I can dream anyway. I really enjoy hearing about different parts of the world. I would travel, but my money tree and Lear jet got blown away in the storm, ha! I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself.

Good luck with your Tamoxifen treatments going forward. The battle is different but similar to the goal of HCV treatment, success is the only answer and whatever it takes to do it. You have a wonderful spirit and enjoy the gift of music to keep it soaring. You rely on all of the good things around you to make your life better and I'm glad you're taking full advantage of them. Just remember to take care of yourself in between all of that fun. A good diet and continued proper hydration is so important. I know you've got a handle on it, but we like to remind people once in awhile!

Be good! 

Sweeeet Coco. EOT woo hoo

Congrats babe, I am three weeks and three days behind you (but who's counting) The day i farewell those Torpedo pills will be a day of celebration, i am a little sick of them at this point.

I am going to be hanging off this page for your blood results (just a little eager) as of course you are.

At the beginning it seemed so far away 12 weeks / 16 weeks  now your finished and I'm at the 300 meter mark of a 400 meter hurdle race doing everything i can to keep jumping those hurdles - haven't stumbled once whilst on treatment but i have felt like it.

I would love to meet up someday - i am hoping to be in the UK in the next 12 months as part of our Euro Tour, so i will be looking for my fellow slayer the minute i get into town .

Jen

Job well done COCOJO.  The time really does fly by with these NEW DAAs. Pretty soon they wont be called the NEW DAAs anymore,they will just be the standard treatment. My thanks and gratitude go out to all those folks who forged our way to the new DAAs. Without the brave people who participated in the early DAA Trials this couldent have been possible. I have gone back and read many of the early clinical trial storys and some of them were grueling, I don't know how they endured the S/X of the early DAAs.

I have a needle stick to tell you about.  The night before my L/T my male nurses was trying to get a I-V removed from my left forearm And place it in the normall location like the top of my hand or bend in my elbow. ( I am very hard to hit ) So he pops the I/V out and applies pressure to the puncture area and when he pulls the gauze away my blood spurts out all over his arm.  I mean it was a bloody mess on his arm. Mind you im Already pretty emotional and I freaked out. He tried to play it cool, but I insisted he leave now to address the blood on this arm At which time I informed him of my HCV+ status. He kinda turned white, thanked me for telling him I had HCV and he left the room quickly.I continued to hold pressure on my arm and a different nurse came in to assist me.  Thirty minutes later my nurse came back into the room to settle me down. He had done the normal protocol for blood splatter and assured me he did not have any open wounds on his arm. I have always been super careful about blood exposur. Well thats my prick story!!    COCOJO your gonna be fine, you went UND really fast and Tigs eight ball has it right.   RC

Hey, Yay Jojo DONE!

DONE, da da DONE, da da DONE, da da DONE, da da DONE DONE ....! 

This song reminds me of being "done", sounds like it!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ7z49weIE0

Congrats on finishing, Coco! That’s awesome   I know you’re anxious for your results, and so are we. I’ve got a good feeling, I already know the good news is on the way! Zep is the real deal and is showing us that, each time another Warrior completes the protocol. 

I really gain confidence after my Magic 8 Ball chimes in. It has never failed me! 

Hi Jojo

Just wanted to check in and see how your doing ? I think of you often and hope your are feeling positive in life, how are those pesky side effects you were experiencing?

I seem to be doing ok the longer on treatment - or my body is accepting the treatment better - or I am no longer sick and my body is no longer fighting it's war within whatever the reason it's certainly better than those first 8 weeks.

We have come along way and traveled a hard road to slay our dragons - Now it's time to finally cut off it's head and say goodbye to it forever.

But no to say good bye to you, I hope one day we can meet in either the UK or OZ in fact i am hoping one day we will have a meet up with as many as possible from the group and get the chance to really thank everyone for the best medical advise received regarding treatment.

Looking forward to your results girl so post pls as soon as they are in  - mine will be another week away at least.

Have an awesome week ahead 

Jen

That sounds a lot like my story. In for minor surgery and scrub nurse stuck herself with a needle. I woke up with the lab drawing blood for viral screening. I had forgotten about it and got a call from the surgeon. I had tested positive for Hep C. I don't know about the nurse, they don't tell you about that.

The risk is pretty low in most cases. Thank goodness the treatments are so effective now. It's something we do our best to avoid, Medical personnel train to avoid this sort of thing, but accidents happen, Canuck's right. When it does, it can be handled it pretty quick. It's far better to know than not know! 

Accidents happen! And, thank god, so does good fortune (good luck). Mistakes also offer us much.

What others may consider "mistakes" in life I have found, from these events, I have done some of my very best learning. Would have never happened otherwise for me! You learn SO much from good, bad luck, accidents/mistakes.

I very much relate to your radiologist stabbing herself, same thing happened to me, not so long ago, to a hygienist I was seeing at a dental speciality office! Shat happens.

I love the way you revere her now, two-fold. Perhaps you will find her again some day.

At my stabbing, I did have the benefit of knowing I was UND when she stabbed herself. I also have the benefit of being able to see her again tho, in the near future, and will be able to see where she is at with her testing protocol. 

What rides you have been on my dear.

Of course you will fret for the well-being of your radiologist, but do NOT be feeling guilty or beating yourself up over this, you happened to be a victim of a nasty viral infection, nothing about this is your fault, it just happened to be you that day that she simply had an unfortunate worrisome needle accident with, it could have been the very next patient after you that she accidentally stuck herself on! If you could hear her, she would likely be saying the very same things to you - an accident/not your fault. Of course I too felt guilty about my hygienist stabbing herself, and for her subsequent worry and trouble with getting screened and tested, but she told me exactly that - "it was an accident" (first time she had ever stabbed herself in her career!) Don't be feeling bad about this - you are right, they very well possibly saved your life, twice! You might not be here, right now, undetected, if it had not played out exactly as it went down. C.

Thanks all you guys and gals. You've made me feel so welcome here and it is wonderful to have people who understand to share the good news with. Especially when you bring ice cream like that to the party Canuck!!

Looking back to how I felt on the day I got the phone call telling me I'd tested positive for HepC, I can't believe how much calmer and more positive I feel now. And that's thanks to this forum and the UK one.

I said I'd tell the story of how I was diagnosed. It's the one thing I still feel bad about. Bear in mind that it had never occurred to me that I could have HepC. I was dimly aware that a good friend from 'back in the day' had been ill with hepatitis, but in my ignorance I thought that because I'd never been ill, I had dodged it. So, May this year, I'm a dull, respectable middle-aged woman, in a senior post at work, my days as a wild young party animal looooonnng behind me. I get called back after my first post 50 routine mammogram because there's something odd on the X-ray. The radiologist who spotted this does a needle biopsy - and slips, catching herself with the needle. She is embarrassed and not sure what to do but the nurse assisting her quickly runs the affected finger under the tap and sends us both off for a blood test for HIV and all forms of Hep, as per hospital policy. I forget all about it, then two weeks later I am at a conference when my mobile rings and it's the breast care nurse. Not to talk about the biopsy, but to say 'I'm really sorry but you tested positive for HepC'.

So I feel so guilty and I still worry about that radiologist. She probably saved my life twice over. I hope she didn't get it from me - I have said so many prayers. And the hardest thing to get my head round is that if I hadn't had cancer, or if that freak accident hadn't happened, I would still be unaware of the virus I've been carrying for years. Like I said, someone up there watching over me.

Ok, that's off my chest now. Will report back in 'On treatment' when I have more news!

Jojo x

UND.      UND    UND

HURRAY and YaY

and 25 AST.. well that's just fantastic.

You are going to be healthy.

yay,

Alison

Hi CoCo-  To go UND in just four weeks is a very good indicator of how well the R/X is working, and that AST of 25 just proves it.  Your ast is in the normal range!! Your doing a good job slaying the dragon.  Congratulations on UND its a great feeling.  RC

What a wonderful introduction.

Welcome !

JimmyK

Hey Coco,

Grand news indeed!! Lovely to know your first Und isn't it. Congrats! It will be the end of this virus for you. You were causing it MAXIMUM harm as shown by that stellar VL count of only 110 not so long ago - now we are in the exterminate it forever mode - kill, KILL, KIIIIIL! Yer doing it alright!

Lovely your ALT drop from 29 to 25, all the right indicators. It's a done deal.

Hey I saw your post elsewhere, talking to Jen in Australia, right after one of my posts to her, and I chuckled thinking it was like an impromptu, inadvertent Common Wealth meeting there!! heehhe

Interesting the glimpse you provided into the "system" over there - no Rav testing (per say), no AST's, and one kick at the can for treatment - interesting indeed. How to make many people it within a public system fit a budget. In Canada we have many piecemeal levels of governing bodies, magnified differently in each dif Province, all having influence over what you "may" be offered via the "public" helath system(s) - public health care here too can be extremely limited (why I was VERY lucky to get into my trial instead in British Columbia). In my Province (fine print) they also have language about "no provision" for re-treatment. That is a shocking thought or thing to read eh? (NOT "only in Can. We ARE the lucky ones -  getting our cures. 

All these "major jolts to life as we know it" hurdles you have overcome! - I think you are right - someone up there is watching out for you.

OK - what kind of canapes? Will they go with this?  ; )  C.

Congratulations on the undetected viral load and beautiful ALT! That's what it's all about. I'll look forward to your next chapter in On Treatment!

Hi Wendy and Alison and thanks for the welcome! Wendy, it looks like we are at the same age and stage in life, my two boys are just a bit older than your twins, 24 and 22 at the moment and both graduated university last year. And yes Alison, the relief when it was confirmed I hadn't passed it on to them was the sweetest ever. I spent much of June/July in a state of panic, waiting for their results, waiting for the post-cancer surgery pathology report, waiting for liver test results, it was just the worst. But every little bit of good news since then has been a step forward and now here I am in September, with cancer beaten, and already half way through HepC treatment.

So today I rang the hospital to ask about the results from my 4 week blood test and....drum roll.....it's UND!!! And ALT is 25 (they don't test AST in the UK apparently). Wow this Zep stuff is good!

I guess I should really move over to the 'On treatment' section of the forum now. So once again, thanks to everyone for the big welcome and I'll keep you posted over there xx

Hi Coco! Wanted to welcome you and let you know you never have to feel alone with this gang around. Congrats on be a breast cancer survivor, one down one to go. I too am a 52 y/o 1A and also have 2 sons. (20 y/o twins) 

And when we are not around, the search button works wonderfully!

wendy

Welcome to the forum, hurray you beat breast cancer and are over 1/3 of the way through slaying that dragon!

I know the amazing feeling of relief to find out you didn't pass it on to your children....phew... eh, wot? 

Post that 4 week number when you get it and I will join the celebration 

Alison      

Hi everyone - thanks for the welcome, feels good to be in the group rather than peeping in from outside!

Tig, yes, seems that Zepatier is good stuff! I was disappointed to find that my NP pronounces it zep-ah-TEE-er, with the emphasis on the 'tee' because I imagine it as Ze-PAT-eeyay, like the fourth musketeer, sword-fighting with the dragon!

Canuck - yes - the 2 week result is pretty impressive! But believe it or not, I was disappointed with it, because I'd seen a fellow dragon slayer on the UK forum get UND at 2 weeks. So I'm worrying that I may have some Zep resistant strain in there (they don't seem to routinely test for resistant strains in the UK and although the NHS is wonderful, they only get funding for one shot at treatment per patient). So I managed to take the silver lining and turn it inside out to find the cloud! Hey, I'm a Brit, what d'ya expect, it's in our DNA! But if you think it's time to start preparing for the party, I will order in the canapés if you bring the ice-cream!

RC, I may be a tough bird but I am nothing compared to you. Your story is amazing and inspiring. I was so lucky with the cancer. Caught early and didn't need chemotherapy. In fact despite the shock of the double diagnosis, since then it's all gone as well as possible. I'll tell you the story of how I was diagnosed later. Safe to say I think someone up there is watching over me. I'm so glad I found out.

Cocojojo xx

Hi JOJO.Thanks for jumping in with us. The folks on the edge have a slight chance of falling off, but those in the middle are on solid ground. Im really glad to hear your boys are ok,What a relief that was!! ZEPATIER is a great drug with very high SVR. No dought in my mind you have this one in the bag. This is a great place to go over your labs (blood work).SOOOO much knowledge on this forum.Any questions you have should find answers here. You must be a tough bird- beating cancer like that- your strong.  Looking forward to see how your journey goes!   RC

Hi Coco,

Welcome here. Glad you joined in. And glad you had folk over there to help you walk through the treatment maze thus far. You have come a fair distance (in many ways) and now are almost half way home on this leg of the journey!

An excellent sharing of your hx and info and details BTW, thanks for that, and for a stellar sig line! I'm impressed.

But, if I read your details and sig line correctly, you have already crashed your VL from prior 440,000 to a mere 110 at only 2 weeks!!!!!!!!?? So, for your 4 week VL that you are awaiting results for? ... we can safely guess ... that all of us have been missing out on a really good celebratory party, ever since week 2!

Never mind, it's never too late for a good party, who's doing the punch, I'll bring icecream! And you can put your UND candle on top of the cake.

If I am reading that 110 VL correctly, do you know what your ALT/AST was at the time of that draw?

I am glad you are here. Please do share whatever you want to here, or ask away for ques. if you wish.

Somebody is always home here. : )  C.

Hi Coco,

Welcome to the forum! I'm glad you introduced yourself and are no longer lurking on the edges. You're among friends and yes, we have some characters, including their humor, humour for you! This forum originally started in the UK and until last year was owned by our member Cinnamon Girl, a UK native. She still pops in for a look around to be sure I'm behaving myself! We have several members from your area, so don't surprised when you run into them.

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm happy to know you have beaten the breast cancer and are being treated for the Hep C. Zepatier is good stuff! Lucky you! Thanks for the information provided in your signature. That's so helpful! I look forward to the updates, but know they'll be stellar. 

I'm looking forward to following your progress and the results of your recent viral load. I know others will be along to say hi soon. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.