My Experience with Hep C
In 1992, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I was 42. During treatment the blood work showed I was positive for hep C. The gastroenterologist I was send to see was a jerk, and made me feel ashamed, that I must have done something bad or hung out with bad people. (I have no idea how I got it, but I did have some small tattoos done when I was a teen, in the 60's.) Needless to say I never went back, nor did I seek treatment. I admit I kept drinking wine, not daily but still..... In 2005, that changed and by then I had cirrhosis. My life had gone off track, I made dumb decisions, and I became a homeless person. Some one cared enough to get me to see a Dr. At the time I had no insurance, and was told about how I could get free interferon and ribavirin. from the manufacturers. A free clinic kept it for me in their fridge, they gave me the shots, and I found a woman's shelter to stay at for the year. We did think it was gone, blood test looked good until treatment was done, it came roaring back worse than before. I gave up, I got so depressed, no need to be here any longer' that was my out look, here I was, single and spayed, feeling "dirty" all over again, I was suicidal. Some how with help from good people I managed to get benefits, a small room, and started to climb out of the depression. It took another 12 years to seek treatment again.
On Sept. In 2017, I started on Harvoni, by now cirrhosis was in 4th stage. Treatment for the half year was not bad, lost a lot of hair, that was painful as it was waist length and I had to cut it off. No other symptoms, I was done with it on Feb 15, 2018. I felt blessed until the Gastro guy left for a new practice elsewhere, and I feel left in limbo. I do have a different Gastro Dr. just got the blood test results in the mail, and no Hep C detected!! AST and ALT are still high, all else is good. No new date has been set up for test or bloodwork to get done, makes it somewhat scary. I have never told this to anyone, there were no ears for it by friends or family. I feel sad today, and lonely, I do not know why, it might be the "after" feeling of the Harvoni treatment, I came here looking for an answer, I gave you my story instead.
I feel better now I told my secret to the whole world, thanks for listening. Carin
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