The day has finally come

I found out I had Hep C back in November 2006. The results came back from a pre-pregnancy screening and guess what? It came back positive. Now this doesn't mean you have HCV, but my doctor wasn't nice enough to explain this to me. (This is actually surprising the more I learn, I'm sure I'll rant about that at a later time). The short version is this: I went to a specialist, tests were ran to confirm I did in fact have Hep C, which we also concluded was contracted via blood transfusion at birth) but he also gave me the impression that insurance was not likely to cover treatment because I was too healthy. I decided to stop pursuing treatment and went about my life.

Fast-forward to November 2010, exactly 4 years later... I go to the doctor for what I figure is just a cold or something that won't go away. The doctor I see at urgent care thinks it could be related to my Hep C and that I should have blood work and ultrasounds done again since it had been about a year. This time I go to a different specialist and he moves me right into action. Now the treatment was approved at the beginning of January and it took until the beginning of Feb to receive my first round of meds, but wow, it's finally here. I should note that the sickness I was feeling was just a bad cold and not related to the Hep C, but I'm sure glad it got the ball rolling in that direction!

For the next 48 weeks: 3 Ribavirin pills in the morning, 2 at night. One shot of Peg-Interferon alfa 2b once a week, I've decided on Friday nights as I have weekends off and there is generally recovery time needed.

I took my first 3 pills at approx. 8:30am, and will take my shot tonight around 9pm as well as the other 2 pills.

I plan to keep this blog updated not only on my treatment process but anything HCV related I might come across and feel the need to share. Awareness is not where it should be and I hope to do my part to change that.

More later, time to finish getting ready for work...