Hep C Discussion Forum

Gidday Everyone,

I've thought about it occasionally since I finished tx, and I'm not sure what makes people think climbing up the hill after a stint on HepC tx, is going to be any easier than the actual tx itself was.

I guess whether you've done a relative 6 month "sprint" or opted for something like the more "luxurious" longer options like I did, has some bearing on whether recovering from tx is any easier than the tx itself.  Before I write anymore, those that know me, know I often 'speak' with a tongue in cheek as it were, so I do know that we all go through the same thing regardless of how long we endure tx, and fully repect the hardships felt by all, whether they do 6 months or 18.

Anyway, having done the longer version of things did leave me with a profound feeling that recovery was not going to be easy, and everyone reminding me of that fact a lot as first, only added to that resolve.

It'll be 14 months since I finished tx soon and while I often feel things are a bit of a struggle at times, to be honest, if I'd not gone through tx, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing again these days, in the first place. 

I'm lucky in a way that I didn't get to sit around and take it as easy as I'd have liked, because some of the gang that were around when I was finishing will remember, my last shot was celebrated as a category 5 cyclone slammed into our town and region, so taking it easy was a bit difficult, particularly when you had to cut your way out of your property with chain saw !

Once the immediate problems caused around home and across the farm were sorta' put at bay, things did settle down and allow me to go "Wow !! this recovery business is not all it's cracked up to be". I see people finishing wanting to get back into the gym and hit the ground running at work, and if you hit the gym like I do or work like I have to.....it just isn't possible.  Doing tx and getting our livers back into shape is a serious job that needs to be nurtured not only with persiverence and patience, but aided with big doses of rest and recovery, or the problems we are trying to achieve will not happen.

I know I worked when I could during tx, but it was younger backs that mostly did the tasks at hand while I mostly 'directed' and post-cyclone actvities were greatly aided by large amounts of horsepower and lots of people treating me like I was 110 years old with two broken legs.:)  Hey, now that it's 14 months post-tx I'm back bending my back and doing things I haven't for 15 -20 years, and that's after undergoing 6 months of supervised training and rebuilding on one side while on he other I got all my choppers fixed post-tx and had a dietician laying into me in collusion with the fitness dudes.

I was lucky that I had friends and family support me when I said I'd need their help and managed to commandeer the services of trainers, dieticians and dentists to aid in my quest of getting back into shape.  HepC had slowly robbed me off a lot of time over the years since I retired from playing rugby.

I was cutting through 6 inch concrete floors and then jack hammering them up last week.  **** !!  If I hadn't done 17-18 months of tx, got rid of that bludger of a virus and then got back into shape that wouldn't have been possible, and with my 55th approaching later this year, I have to admit I did have a few lay-ins in the days that followed But because I didn't expect to be 110% a week after I finished tx and had help with strenuous things untill I could cope, I've managed to get to where I am now.  I should also add, I'm all but 55 and feel it every morning, but seeing that I felt 75 before tx, I reckon' I got a good deal.

I know everyone might not have the resources and support (covered by Medicare here in Australia:) or maybe the time or inclination, but if you don't go out of your way to improve your conditioning, diet etc; after completing tx, you really are cutting yourself short, especially with the wonderful second chance we get, when we can get rid of the virus and reclaim some of the years that the virus quietly stole.

It's just that when I see people at our clinic here in NQ wonder why they aren't doing backflips, I can't help wonder what makes them think it might just happen without a lot of work.  It's more a personal thing with me....I use to finish a day on the farm and just sit in the truck for ages, completely watsed and unable to drive over to the house.  Sometimes it'll have got dark before I could turn the key and drive home.  Not any more and I hope it's another 20 or 30 years before I feel like that again.

I hope everyone is doing really well in recovery and cruising along at their own pace.  I guess I'm not around as much as i use to be, but if anyone wants advice or help just drop me a PM.

Cheers,

Brendan.

Lifes what you make out of it.