Pete finding a little ray of hope

It's my lucky day. My liver Dr. said I will be able to do interferon again. the first time I did it was two years ago, I had to work the whole time because I was single and had to pay cobra prices for the ordeal. I felt lucky I even could do it. I was clear of the virus after 3 months of treatment and was feeling pretty good. But my white cell count kept plummeting. They put me on a drug called neupogen that made me feel BAD. I had to take pain meds when I went to work or I never would have made it. Usually I only had to take the neupogen a couple of times a month and then only one or two shots consecutively.

But at 10 and 1/2 months I was instructed to do three shots. I got sooooo sick. Couldn't keep anything down or in. Had to crawl to the bathroom, ect... this lasted a week. And the Doctor took me off everything. And I still had no virus. After about a month I started to feel good. Really good. And at six months better then I felt in years. And I did an other test for the virus detection. IT WAS BACK. And now for the last two years it has been eating away at my liver. That Dr said I was no longer a candidate for treatment.

So I played the waiting game.. when would I need a transplant. What would be the signs. Should I enroll or something. I no longer had insurance as the company I worked for cut insurance benefits for all their massage therapists, nail tecs, hairdressers, and estheticians. I couldn't even buy insurance. I would have to marry into it:+{.

Then I met a woman who had been thru the ordeal. She told me about a Dr. in Phoenix that had a good reputation but was had to get in to see. She was a wonderful mentor in the next phase on my journey. She gave me hope. And has always been there when I'm down. Just a phone call away as she now resides in another state.

I wasn't sure I wanted to even have a transplant. I new a few people who had been down that path. Some had died. All gave the virus to their new liver and one had to have another transplant 5 years later and was working on getting a third. I questioned the integrity of that. I questioned karma. I questioned Gods will. And I questioned my new Dr. about ridding myself of the virus.

The best I thought I could do was keep this liver I was born with as long as I could and hopefully there would be a cure for hep-c by the time my liver number came up. The thing I really wanted was to do interferon at a low dose to keep the hep-c from degrading my liver any more. This is relatively new thinking in the medical world and the State Insurance I receive is not very receptive to it. But my wonderful Dr. said he can make it happen. Hooray Hooray.

But.... I'm gonna get really sick when all this starts. It will probably be at the end of July or into August before approval will happen. After that I have to be monitored weekly. Stay close to the home front. Sooo I need to figure out a way to do a road trip in the mean time. I'm working on ideas. And that dear friends is another post. I'm tired and my fingers are getting forgetful.