Yogourt and Bananas

The end of week one brings you back to the clinic for your 1st set of treatment (tx) blood screens, this will continue every week for the first four weeks of tx, then once a month thereafter. This is so they can monitor your bodies reaction to the drugs & also to see how your doing in general.

My body coped with tx but only just. The effects of the drugs became more apparent with each passing week. Getting to grips with taking tablets 12 hrs apart ( in my case it was 3 x ribavirin 200mg in the AM then 2 more in the PM ), not only having to remember to take them on time, but also, having to eat with, to help them work & ease their toxic effect. Yogurts & Bananas...became the order of the day, washed down with as much water as a body can stand, this also eases the side effects, dry skin, cracked lips & helps to flush out your liver & kidneys. YOU MUST drink plenty of water !!!

My routine started to settle down, I noticed how  tx was effecting my body, the trick is knowing when to rest & when to push your body. I soon learned that in my case Jab day would be followed by a serge of energy that, as it was summer, would push me out into the garden, where I would dig over borders, weed & generally overdo it. Then came the payback, after gardening, would see me with such a temper & totally wiped out, as much as I knew this & would say" right,this time I'm going to slow down", but did I...No, did I Eckers like. I'd find some way to overdo it, be it a walk too far, or carry too much shopping home, it seemed I would always succumb to the Jabs effect.
This part was very hard for my son, as he knew, what was to come each week. I know now he would stay out, working in the libreray at university (it's open 24 hours ) or stay in his room, out of my way, because of my temper after overdoing it.

Then came the Ribo-Rage, in my case it manifested in the form of a tendency toward manic behaviour, I would go on & on & on repeating the same gripe, whatever it was, retelling it, each time as though it were the 1st. I would stand in the doorway of his room & vent, then walk away, as if that was it, only to turn around & return to carry on the story...This I would do over again, then I'd finish & usually go & lie down,( bed also became the new settee, breakfast, lunch, diner & super table all rolled into one ). My son must truly have thought I was going Bananas. He feared the worst, that much I know.

Those first three months pushed my body to it's limit, Having caught flu, along with a shit load of stress from various orgs,( the council & the phone company ) the fact that I was still grieving my Mothers passing, these & more all reflected in my platelet, T cells & other blood counts All reaching their cut off point,( this is when tx is usually stopped ).

I don't know how or why, but when my 3 month results were assessed, I was deemed well enough to continue...So I did.

.Rabbit