In January 08 I began a 6 month course of treatment of Vireferon & Rebetol, it was a very difficult time for me & my son, who really stepped up to the plate & looked after me at my worst. 12 months later the following January 09, we received the news we were dreading... Virus still detected.
The following morning of the result I logged on to the web using my laptop & visited the Hepatitis C Trusts website for the first time, I emailed them & Catherine Corr replied 10 mins later, offering a chat, I called her & we talked it through. I didn't know it then but my comeback had already began.
Through the trusts website a world of information came into view, vital information that would help me rethink my situation & arm me with the knowledge to move forward. I set about getting fit, walking every other day & by October 09 I was ready & willing to do treatment again , only this time it would be for 12 months, my son felt he couldn't go through another 12 months & who could blame him. My mother, who had also brought him up, had passed away in January 07, so all in all it had been a bloody hard two years & now I was asking him to go through another 18 months of hell.
He stayed by my side & in October 2009 treatment began again, only this time I was very well prepared, putting into practice all I had read through the trust & other sites along side lessons learned from my first shot at treatment, & so another 18 months of treatment began...
In March 2011 we got the news we deserved... SVR, sustained viral response. Success !!!
Now in 2012 after a hell of a year post treatment with depression along with varying post recovery health issues I now feel ready to fight another battle. That of the three peaks challenge & so having linked with the Hepatitis c Trust, Hi we can help & Compass drug & alcohol York with others yet to confirm their backing.
I once tweeted... Hepatitis c now killing more people than HIV, shout it from the rooftops. Well I aim to do better than that on the 28th July world Hepatitis day, we will be shouting a number of fact based HCV related messages from the highest points up & down the country. full details will follow, we also want others to do likewise, by reaching the top of a peak in any country & help relay our messages around the world. We will beacons of hepatitis c awareness, using one of the oldest means of communication combined with the most modern, only our beacons will be facebook & twitter
I wish to put a request out for walkers wanting to take part ideally from various HCV & rehab related organisations
We are also looking for sponsorship, there will be plenty of media interest generated by the organisations involved & by the individuals & their related stories. Everyone involved gets a mention & their logos will be posted on the challenges website.
In my opinion actions speak louder than words, so please get involved & help us do some good.
Peter.
1 comment:
TonyMc;Icontracted hcv inthe mid 1980s but was'nt diagnosed till i went into residencial rehab in1991 when they told me i would'nt be elegable for the treatment as it was self inflicted so just carried on as before untill 2008 when the drug worker told me if i got my act together she would refer me for tx my life was in termoil but just about managed it and grasped the opertunity with both hands the only sticking point was i had no suport my partner of sixteen years was also diagnosed around the same time,then by chance the nurses put me intouch with a small group of former paitents that had banded together one being the hepc trusts scotish officer who was on the second attempt at treatment.I started treatment for geno type1 full 48 weeks so with the fear of what id been told about all the side effects and the usual horror stories i took the plunge and started.I remember the first hit of interfearon was administerd at the clinic and for the first hour or so i was fine managed to get home thinking whats all the fuss about then like a bolt from the blue it hit me the only thing i can compare it to was a dirty hit when youre a ivu the stomach cramps the shivering feeling freezing cold and it didnt matter how many heaters quilts i coverd myself with then the anti virals kicked in like a smash over the back of the head with a baseball bat that night i admit i self medicated with sleepers just to take it all away the next morning i litteraly came too feeling like a server hangover and felt like that for the next week, so dreading the next one i went back to the clinic i'd been told the first is the worst and that it would get easier as time went on and each time got easier and easier i aplied for benifits because there was still no chance of me being able to work so went for a medical and of corse got the usual madetory nil points and had to go for a tribuneral this is were the trust came to the rescue and by this time i was half way through tx and just about managing to drag myself about somtimes litteraly bloods would fluctuate all over the plase they offered me to lower the dose but was aderment that i was going to get the full corse down my neck at what ever the cost.i managed to compleat 100% of the medication and 3mths later went for the first viral count post treatment and the result cme back all clear then the wait for the 6mths post tx remember the night before hoping that the second one would be negative and you know what yes!! it was i have now been 7mths post tx and getting better and better as time gose by i know voluntier for the hep c trust and have suported many of others to get tested suported them through tx and became an part of that small group of paitants that aiding people to keep some sort of normality to people doing tx but i'm affraid thats not where the story ends my partner and i went differant ways just before i started treatment and is now sufering from dementia at 51yrs old and to this date is unfit mentaly to handle tx so i deadicate this to her and to all the guys in the white coats who work so hard to improve the treatment for HCV and hope that some day they find the cure that will help all those none responders where ever you may be. and thats why i give help anyway i can so sponcer peter and all who take part(me inclueded)on the 3peaks challege and thanks to all who do...
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