i'll take a piece of cake from each luscious layer thankyou .

Wow, your PCR results came back so fast, we hardly had time to finish getting your cake ready! Big congrats. You've come so far and done so well.  Enjoy these milestones (along with that little bit of white cake). heehee  : ) 

thanks tig, it is a great relief to have that behind me now

I knew it! My Magic 8 Ball has never been wrong... 

In honor of your good news, allow me to break out the disco ball, boom box and some party music! We’re gonna have to put on our dancing shoes and shake a leg, woohoo!

Congrats 5, it was never in doubt!

hmmmmm i meant cheddy   

polo, obs , thankyou so much.... yes indeed it feels so good, esp after quant / qual thing , :clapping:

Yahoo, 5!.  Feels great, doesn't it?!

thankyou MB. these daa's are so good

Yay....awesome news 5!  So glad to hear this!!

i was waiting by the phone today . 

saved by ZERO ..... woohoo. still UND.

i didn't want to edit cos that was a long post.

i think hubby is a bit in denial about what a lifetime of injuries can do to an old body; maybe a way to cope?

hi C,

all i gotta do is think of what you have to go thru to get your labs and appointments and i get some perspective , my lab is a few blocks away, same with my fam. doctor.

still it's traumatic when we've spent so much time and years going to doctors so often, and labs so often.

anyway , it's done now till GB time in oct.

let's see, the CK journey of my honey.

he had high ana and rnp and demanding further testing to find out if he's got something serious. turns out no but it is often very painful.

they did not chk his heart but has had that looked at before this.

his blood pressure is normal now after having some drama with that, we think it was high due to flomax , and he quit that and the bp pills and is doing fine.

the ck was tested and it was high but only slightly, he wanted to know more so had planned another test; before that test he was having fun with tennis and also some heavy lifting. 

the next test he didn't over do it and it was normal again.

he just has awful pain in his arms and wrists and hands and hips.  His whole life he was rough on his body with sports so from my perspective this is kinda normal for old sports injuries... Still he thinks it was the harvoni and i'm not sure it is due to his lifetime of sports and car accident injuries.

anyway.... he takes a fourth of a vicoprophen now and then along with half a tylenol other times. the doc offered him steroids but i said i'd have to move out cos i've seen him on steroids and it's not fun....agitated and irritated is what he is when he took them.

it's sad that we have to succumb to various painful maladies as our bodies age

he is classified as having muskuloskelatal disease.... and that covers a wide range of aches and pains.

he will be monitored for that due to the pulmonary complications possible...just one more thing

Good for you 5! Impressed you got it done. What a LOT of work (or hassle) this stuff is sometimes! Good thinking to know to ask the gal to write the quant. req, instead of waiting for that doc (either of them) to do it. Great you had it all envisioned out and you made it happen. You just ran upstairs and got it drawn, AND you thought to bring the lab code too! Smart, diligent and prepared - and all done on NO sleep! And errands run to boot! Good job you are doing taking care of number. I certainly wish I could always deal with things like that, as well as you did. I am always running into "obstacles" (kinda like you were in this case), and many times they are not easy things to deal with. Hope you got a nice sleep sometime today! I wish you a long and deep restful sleep, right after some cake! 

Curious if ANYTHING in your labs shows up anything that hints at GB, like bili, AST or WCB.

Hm, ya the 1100 plus CK was s a significant increase - how long AFTER this 3 day bout of strenuous exercise was the blood sample drawn? And how long did it take for his CK to normalize after that? You said he was not feeling well after the tennis marathon, but I don't have the timeline for when his CK lab was done. After this elevated CK episode (that he associated with exercise), did they of course run through all the other regular health check things - like checking for heart attacks, ruling out heart muscle damage? What did the docs say about why the CK was high. Good that all is well with him now, it just I am curious how it all went down.

Later, C.  :)

thankyou missusB and tig,

this was a reminder of how that doctor tried to give me another type of daa when i wanted harvoni due to other ppl's tx experiences. 

but in the same way i guess it made it easier to have the right one when the time came cos i reallllllllly wanted it , wanted the harvoni and wanted the Quant, so i went ahead easier with both of them.

thank you for the support friends

i love the disco ball

I’m here to tell you, the first annual confirmation was a big, gnarly stomach knot for me, too! When you have the results, remember the joy you feel after knowing it’s true, you’re cured. Each year is good, but the first one was great! 

I’ve still got that Disco Ball

Yay!!! Where theres a will theres a way.  

i just finished my white cake with white frosting, a small piece to keep the gallbladder happy

i went in and signed up for the doc but it was a 2 hr wait, so i asked the nurse if she could write it in since i have to have it checked since it's been a year since harvoni. AND she did it no sweat, no wait, i'll see the doc another time when i need to.

i went upstairs and even had my codes with me for the quant cos she just wrote hcv viral load. But i was ready with the Quant code to make it easy

so....i can email doctor liver and say i'll just bring labs with me to the appt in NOV.

i'm so glad i thot this thru.....

i couldn't sleep of course due to having to be at the office at 8am, so just rested restlessly.. , then got up at 6 and started moving around.

it was yearly labs so there was no coffee due to fasting..... but i took a snack then went and did errands.

now coffee and digesting cake

sleep in a few hrs, too excited. i should know by friday or monday

thankyou missusB

yep, one day at a time.  and indeed i have been doing a very good job of this

i hope to go to bed early tonite and head on over to my family doc around 8am., her patient list fills up fast and it's a walk in which i like.

from there i'll go upstairs and get my labs with the quant. 

i will know better next time to just insist to the liver docs what i want.

Keep reminding yourself that youve done a good job! Be patient with yourself, and remember that big things are achieved not all at once, but one day at a time.

hi C,

the GB goes out in mid Oct . since nobody at the liver clinic sent labs i decided to ask way in advance of Oct.

I will see the surgeon a cpl weeks before the surgery, for more labs , but no ultra sounds or upper gi's [i'm thankful for that], he's convinced AND so am i. [ the surgeon is a completely different medical group...yay].

i should have just said right away that i only wanted the quant, but i felt i shouldn't. wtf?! it's my body and i'm paying them .... so this is my karma for not standing up for myself right away.

now i have to wait till next monday to see what Doc Liver has to say.

OR i can drag my tired butt to my fam doc and just get a request from her... i'll see how i feel on wed or thurs  or if i want to wait till next week. i'm betting on next week, either way i'll get the quant not the qual  no matter who i get it from.

hubby's creatine kinase was high  at 1180, and now it's normal ,  it seems that aggressive exercise makes it rise, and he was playing tennis for a few days.... he felt happy for a few days then crappy for many days after 

So, it's your hep doc that has gone away on vacation? - so you will not find out by Tues whether he will, or he won't give you the quant you are requesting versus the qual he wants to do?? So, does that mean that you will go to your GP then and get them to add the quant to the other lab work that you are having through them?

Most people seem to be getting quants in follow-up.

BTW, when is it again that you are booked to get your GB out? Was that supposed to be in Sep or was it Nov, i forget? Or, do you have to see the GB surgeon again, first, or do you have to have any other imagings done again before GB surgery is done?

Hey, that's really nice that nasal spray is working well for you! I am happy about that, after all the suffering you have had to do with those sinuses of yours! : ) Good for the reprieve from the sinusitis and the antibiotics, you sure needed some relief from that.

Earlier/elsewhere, you had mentioned your hubby had a high(er) creatine kinase, just how high was it? Any word from his doc(s) for their opinion on that? Just wondering. Later.  : ) C. 

hahahaha, he's on vacation. it's too hot to go anywhere anyway. maybe next week

so, hubs got the quant from the same Dr. so i wrote again and they will get it in the morning. if they don't email it to me by tuesday at 5 i will go to my fam.dr and have here add it on to the labs i am doing for her... plus get some more azilastine, the antihistamine nose spray that has cured my sinusitis .... no more sinus infections and antbiotics.

>>>>Dr.  gave my husband the Quantitative test one year post tx. My insurance will cover it and I feel it's the best test for me too. 

thanks so much,

The quantitative test is useful for monitoring the amount of HCV in your blood over time or measuring your response to treatment intended to reduce your viral load. Once the measurement of your viral load drops to 615 IU/L or less, the amount of the virus is considered undetectable.

At this point, the qualitative test can confirm whether the virus is actually no longer in your body or if only a small amount is still present.

well allrighty then, i guess this is what i'm going with on tuesday if they just say no to quant.... and i either have it or i don't. ANd if the quant says no i presume the gual will agree

at least this is all going on before the gallbladder steps up to the plate.

OR.....i'll wait and see my fam. dr. , the more i read the more i just want to go straight to the quant to avoid having to test twice.

C, yep hubby got the quant at one year.

so the truth is....... i'm worried the qual will read positive and freak me out, when the quant would show it's a normal viral amount.

i hope that they are tired of hearing from me and give me what i want.

but the qual can only read down so far too  I THINk ,thus saying pos or neg depending on the VL, or so i think that's what they are saying in all those many google pages

5,

Good plan, either way (any way).

There is no harm/no foul to have a qual. in your file, as (by hook or by crook) you can figure out a way to get yourself the quant. as well.

If he remains adamant he will only provide you a qual., despite your requests, then you always have the GP to assist you in getting a quant. requisition.

Both you and your husband went to the same clinic? (I think?), just dif. docs? (maybe not, I can't recall now), so ... what testing did they do for your hubby post-treatment (qaul/quant-wise)? C.

yea, just more blood draws the way i see it.

i will go to my fam. doc and have her add the quant on to yearly labs if the liver doc says no , or i will keep asking til they give in.

I haven’t read any recommendations or suggestions by the medical community to use the qualitative testing over quantitative as a way to confirm SVR. In the (unlikely) event a test comes back positive (following an established SVR), they would have to turn around and run the quantitative test to determine if a viral load exists. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

i just don't like this un-needed extra drama after all this.... it looks like it's common tho to use the qual results to determine cured.

i was passing the quant just fine, adding a pop quiz in at the end seems rude

thanks Tig, 

here is my answer :

The Quantative will check if there is any viral load in your blood,  the  Qualitative will only tell us if you are positive or negative.  

-------------------

I went ahead and emailed them asking for the quant, saying i want to know if it's in my blood... we'll see what they say; if they say no i will go to my family doc

if it comes back pos willl i have to do the quant to see if it's under the legal limit? hahaha

BUt, yea, it has to be UND. still

That’s interesting 5. I’m curious why your doctor prefers it. Either will be accurate. My experience with the Qualitative test is limited, but basically the results are yes or no. It also costs less than some of the Quantitative tests, so it could be a provider request when permitted. 

It’ll be a Zero -0- anyway!

• If a patient has a quantitative test that shows no detectable virus, but has a positive result with the qualitative test, it means there is a very low level of virus that can be detected only with the qualitative test.
• The qualitative test will become negative during hepatitis C treatment and indicates a good response.
• A negative qualitative test 10-12 weeks after finishing hepatitis C treatment means you are cured.

thanks C,

i see the doc in nov, unless of course there is drama in my blood test so i will ask him then and of course he will get me more tests if i need it.

maybe they want to see if the qual is neg or pos but not the VL.  and i don't know why they changed the test after all this time.

i get stone walled when i ask about other tests.... they want to see me first even tho i have the gallbladder appointments and labs soon.

i'll just go with the flow, the Qual shouldn't be misleading in any way; but i am suspicious why they are doing it this way.

I just sent another email to the doc's nurse and asked why they changed the test after all this time. we'll see what they say.

5, 

There is tons available out there to read about "antibody" testing, then about the "qualitative" type testings that they can do (TMA and such) following a positive antibody test result, and then about the "quantitative" RNA PCR most of us have had here through treatment. Unfortunately, there is still really quite "old" articles and info about just "how sensitive", or how much better one test is over another, and how low the tests can measure. Over the years (and really not all that long ago), they were only able to actual count down to about in the 600's! - you can still find articles that speak of this 600-ish being the lowest level of detection! - other articles speak of a PCR-testing-low of 20. I found an article once that spoke of a testing-low of 8. There is some lab equipment that expresses the lowest level of detection at 12. We, of course (around here) have had the most experience with and exposure to the RNA PCR testing where the lowest "number" might say <15 (less than 15).  There is no one good single source (an all-encompassing article/study) where one can go to, to find the whole of the most current info to compare all forms of viral detection testing. 

Bottom line that most of us go by is the "und" results we get on our "quantitative RNA PCR" (which, number-wise would mean they cannot detect any virus in us, if they DID detect virus in us with this test, it would say "detected <15IU". So all we can say, is that this test can only count a low of 15 (or can count an unknown quantity of virus that is below 15). 

The test that your doc is wanting to use, the one he seems to prefer, the one which he perhaps is suggesting is "better and/or MORE sensitive", I have no idea if this is true or not, you could ask him to clarify (exactly) what test (which test) he is using - the name of it, just to clarify which test it is, and then you can suss it further by google, and/or by speaking with the lab. Ask your doc how the results are expressed - simply as "detected or undetected" or is the test going to provide you "a number", a viral load "count" ("a number" of viral particles counted)? - you can ask him if it is a TMA.

I asked my doc, real early on in my drug trial, what kind of VL testing they do, if they ever would be using the TMA on me, and his face went all funny and he said "no", like as in "of course not", I just dropped it, and saw all my testing evermore through trial and today was always with RNA PCR's. 

Here below is a very short portion/excerpt that kinda differentiates "qual." and "quant." testing ...

... The HCV RNA PCR test is conducted through a process called polymerase chain reaction (PCR). There are two approaches to this process: qualitative and quantitative ...

Qualitative

This test is often used to make a hepatitis C diagnosis. It confirms whether you have the virus in your body without providing a specific number.

The qualitative test is often the second test that your doctor will use to confirm whether HCV is present in your blood. It often follows the hepatitis C antibody test.

The antibody test lets you know whether your body is making antibodies to fight off an HCV infection. If your doctor gets a positive result from the antibody test, they will use HCV RNA PCR testing to confirm and measure the amount of HCV in your blood.

Your doctor may also recommend a similar qualitative test known as a transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) test. Some researchTrusted Source suggests that it's a much more sensitive detection test for HCV. Your doctor may not think that it's necessary for you if the PCR test gives sufficient results.

from google. maybe they want to see how low it went?

If a qualitative RNA test is positive (detected), then it is confirmed that the patient has chronic hepatitis C. The "qualitative" test is more accurate than the "quantitative" test because qualitative tests are able to detect very low levels of the virus.

hi everyone,

my doc insists on the qual after using the quant over the past year and half.

does anyone have input on this? i can always go to my family doctor since the liver doc is being stubborn.

thanks , 5