Shot #2 and other stuff

Quick recap of the last few days: I felt better Tuesday and Wednesday for the most part. Thursday about lunch time I really started feeling ill. My body hurt, my head hurt, my stomach hurt. Like I should puke but couldn't. Lovely, I know. So I left work an hour early on Thursday and slept for somewhere around 10 hours, most of you know that's a LONG time for me. I don't get much sleep, some would say not *enough* sleep either, but whatever. ;) I went to work Friday though I didn't feel great. Thought I would get some work done and be on my way. Unfortunately it was a lot of meetings all day which really left me even more aware of how not okay I felt. I left work a couple of hours early. Went to my moms house to sleep then came home to take my shot.

I had some issues getting the needle set this time and also felt horrible physically and was exhausted as well so nothing was okay for me. Thank god my mom was there to help otherwise that shot might have ended up in pieces on the other side of the room and well, that would have been a very costly mistake on my part lol. I really allowed myself to get freaked out this time, even broke down and cried. I tried to tell myself over and over that you can't feel the needle and it's not a big deal, but I sure didn't want to believe it. I poked my leg a couple of times before actually administering the shot. I now have a teeny, tiny Mi Vida Loca symbol on my left leg, haha.

I didn't sleep more than thirty minutes at a time last night. That pretty much sucked. I was up from 5a.m. to 6-something a.m. and up again at 9a.m. to go to the dentist. After the dentist my mom and I went shopping, stopped and ate breakfast and went back to her place so I could sleep. I only managed to sleep for about an hour solid then found myself extremely pissed off that I was sleeping in the middle of the day. *sigh* This is not easy for me. I am used to being so active and the idea of having to lay low on the weekends is not my idea of a good time. Thankfully, I only have 47 more weeks to go. Right now, that thought hardly helps.

We then went to P.F. Chang's to partake in their happy hour food. I also had a virgin pear mojito which was very yummy! I love soda water with lime, but sometimes you gotta mix it up! The bartender who helped us was the same as last week and she's very nice. I love how cheap (and good) their happy hour food is!

I'm also realizing why anorexia and/or weight loss is a common side effect of this treatment. I haven't logged it specifically but it seems to me that I feel nauseous after I eat anything that isn't a small snack. As a friend also mentioned I need to make sure I'm drinking lots of water as well. I do really well drinking water during the week, especially at work, but not as much on the weekends. *Pauses to grab a tall glass of water* Okay, that's better.

Honestly, when it comes down to it I have to say I'm pretty happy with how treatment has gone in it's first full week. It feels a helluva lot longer than a week though that's for sure!

Think that's all I got for now. I was thinking about hanging out with a friend tonight but I'm almost thinking sleep is a better option.

moving right along

Yesterday was the first day I didn't feel completely dead tired. That was a nice change. Headaches are still consistent as well as body aches which mostly come in the form of my legs hurting for a five or so minutes then subsiding. This stuff is odd. But seriously, if this is the worst I have to deal with on a consistent basis I'm pretty stoked. It's gonna be annoying, but way more doable than I expected.

I saw the specialist this morning. It was very much a simple "tell me if you're having any side effects" type of appointment. He reiterated not drinking alcohol, practicing safe sex, and filled out my FMLA paperwork. The doctor also warned me to pay close attention to mood changes. Since depression is common, especially among those who have suffered from it in the past, I need to stay really aware of how I'm feeling and make sure to tell him and/or my shrink ASAP if it gets bad. I also had to have blood work done (this is going to be a very regular thing) and while it was only one vial this one HURT! At least from this point forward I only have to get my blood drawn once a month. "Only," that seems so weird. It could be worse, like once a week. So yeah, again...trying to stay grateful.

It's been snowing here this morning, a weird rain/snow mix, mother nature can't seem to make up her mind. I think I'm going to walk to get coffee in it and then catch the train to work. Have a great day everybody!

Shot #1

Last night my mom picked me up from work. We hit up the store to buy all sorts of goodies and head back to her place. Pretty immediately I decide I want to take my shot, just get it over with. After feeling sick off and on all day I found that walking around the store didn't help either, and made me tire rather quickly.

Once we're back at my Mom's house I ran upstairs to pull out all of my instructions and got ready to get down to business. I went through all of the steps to prepare the shot. After the needle is in, the top of the redipen has to be pulled out in order to "dial" the dose. It wouldn't budge. Mom and I both tried, no luck. We decided we should go back to my house, get another shot, and try again. At this point I've laid the redipen down and start getting ready to go. My Mom grabs the pen to package it back up the best she can and it suddenly starts to leak. She grabs it again and sure enough top pulls up easily (just like it was supposed to). Weird, I don't get it, but thank god! I wanted to freak out so bad when it wasn't working, I allowed myself to stay calm though, yay for progress! After a few minutes of contemplation I finally gave myself the shot. It didn't hurt at all and I seem to have got the full dose in. I immediately fell tired which I'm sure was a direct result of stress finally leaving my body. Woke up this morning and seem to be pretty good. I've been a bit shaky and have had a headache off and on, but all in all not too bad.

Midday update

So far things are pretty good but a little weird. I'm nauseous but that seems to come and go. I have a pretty bad headache and feel a little out of it, but still able to work. Drinking plenty of water, making sure I eat, and remembering to stay in the moment. I think I'll get through work just fine. Then headed to my moms house tonight for my first shot. I'm glad I get to crash there. Even if I don't have any major side effects it'll be nice to have my mom there for support.

**FYI I was NOT at Pizza Hut automatic GPS deal on the Blogger app wouldn't let me change it, ha!**

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...