In 1992
I was working at my first teaching job out of college. One day the blood mobile
came to campus and I decided to donate blood. A couple months later I received a letter in the mail saying they could not
accept my blood because it tested positive for non A non B hepatitis. I called my Mom and she got me an appointment with her
gastroenterologist. The doctor explained that I had been exposed to non A non B hepatitis. She took some more blood and scheduled
me to return in a couple weeks. When I went back she told me I had Non A non B Hepatitis. She explained that I should have
an RNA by PCR blood test to determine if the virus was active. So they drew more blood and shipped it on dry ice to California
for the PCR test.
The
test came back a couple months later saying the virus was active so I made an appointment with the head of gastroenterology at Duke. For the next 5 years
or so I would go to Duke twice a year for blood work and to see my doc. My liver functions (LFTs) were always within normal
limits so he would send me on my way to come back in 6 months. In between visits I didn't think much about having hepatitis.
I had no symptoms and as far as I could tell it was not causing any problems. I had no idea that it was damaging my liver.
At
some point the doctor began calling it Hepatitis C. On one visit he said that
interferon treatment was available but he did not recommend it for me. He said that the interferon was similar to chemo and
that what it did was bring the LFTs back to normal. Since mine were already normal he didn't see the point. He explained that
there was little research as yet because this was a relatively new disease and they just didn't know very much about it.
Then
in 2000 (I think) he told me that he wanted me to consider treatment. The research showed that ribavirin taken with the interferon would give me a better
chance to clear the virus and prevent it from damaging my liver any more. He said that they now knew that since my virus was
active it was causing damage to my liver. I told him I would think about it, and I did off and on for a couple years. I finally
called him and asked him to recommend a good doctor closer to my home. He sent me to a doctor in Greenville, NC which is only
an hour from my house. Duke is 2 hours away. So I went to see the doc in Greenville and the first thing he wanted to do was
schedule a biopsy. He said that was the only way to determine how much damage there was to my liver and that we needed to
know that to be able to make an informed decision about treatment. I was scared but went ahead and did it.
The
results came back grade 2 stage 2 with some bridging. At the time I had no idea what that meant. The doctor explained that I was half way to cirrhosis. He thought it might be a good idea to consider treatment. He
said that treatment was hard and the shots would make me feel like I had the flu. He wanted me to continue taking my zoloft
(which I went on after my father-in-law was murdered, but that is a different story).
When
he told me that treatment was hard I had no clue what I was in for. I figured how bad
could it be then I started doing some research on line and got scared. Well I started treatment on September 15, 2002. I had
the nurse at work give me my shot on Friday afternoons because I was scared to do it myself. A few weeks into treatment I
began to feel really bad the day after my shots and no so great during the week. I needed to talk to someone who had been
through it already. I did a search for Hepatitis C support and found the Hep C and Me chat room on Delphi.
I began
coming into chat on a regular basis, talking with people who were on treatment and people who were finished. I was still worried but not as scared. I even began giving myself my shots at home. I would do
it in front of the computer with my friends in the chat room. Several of us would do them at the same time on Friday night.
Friday night shot parties began to be the highlight of my week. I made many close friends and I would laugh so hard I would
be crying. My roomies got me through those rough nights and the days in between. I will always love my roomies!
Now
I am the Wizard of the chat room and I am doing the best I can to keep it open to give support to those who need it like I
did. Many have completed treatment and moved on, but every once and a while they
come back to check on us and say hi. Having Hep C and going through treatment has definitely changed my life. Evidently
I am stronger than I ever imagined. Now I know I can survive whatever life throws my way. The biggest blessing is that now
I have some very special friends that I never would have met if it had not been for finding the chat room.
I have been
Virus Free since August 2003.
