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by gimini210 from Independence

Last Post 1 day, 15 hours Ago


Hepatitis And My Friend
Apr 23, 2008 | 10:07 PM
Category: News
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Just over a year ago I heard about hepatitis and learned alot about it. It is spreading silently but none the less in large numbers. It destroys your liver and if advanced far enough you need to have a liver transplant. It can kill but usually it just makes you very ill. When you get it you have to watch every pill you take because you can no longer take anything that may effect the liver. You have to stop drinking booze, and that means none at all. The treatment rivals cemo and if it doesn't work, which alot of the times it doesn't, you have to go threw it again.

The medication you take for it can give you hives, cause your hair to fall out, makes you sick and you lose wieght, and alters your personality. It can make you want to kill yourself and alot of people give up before they finish the treatment. I learned how families have broken up over it because the person on the treatment can get real mean. Some become so weak they fall down alot and need some one to care for them. It is not pleasant. Alot have lost everything they owned because of the cost of treatment and the length of time it takes.

You can get it from tatoos, blood tranfusion, and shared needles. It can not be found until it is active but you can have it for 20 years and not know it. When tested it just does not show. And when you think it is gone it can come right back because it is so hard to test for when the count is low in your blood.

Well my friend got it  he wasn't sure how as he had tatoos, and when younger did drugs. Could of been any one of those. He also use to drink alot but gave that up because of hep. He isn't young and figures he has had a good life so when his liver doctor ask him if his liver gets worse would he be up for a transplant, he said no. I ask him about why he would say no when it could extend his life and he gave me this answer.

I can not blame anyone for getting Hep-c, I brought it on myself and heck I have had a good life. I have lived longer than I thought I would so I am content. Some one younger may need a liver that I used to save my life when realisticly I only have a few years left anyway. I wont go threw that treatment again because what life I have left I want to live with friends and shoot they say it could be 30 years before it kills me if it is back (The treatment has cost him all his savings and put him in debt.) and I will have died of old age by then.

Now his teeth used to be so white and healthy but the treatment rotted them out, he hasn't much energy but when he does he is pretty busy living his life, he has aged in looks, and he doesn't have many friends but he thinks of others and their needs before his. How he got Hepc he doesn't know but he does think more people should know. He thinks it is not in the news as much as it should be. So I am putting it here and just letting you all know that it is a terrible thing to get and comes in many types, Hep-a, Hep-b, and Hep-c. This can cost a fortune to get rid of and you never know if it is gone.  Most people can't work when on the treatment so it drains your finances. Yeap Hepititis is not as well known as it should be.

 

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queenabell read my blog
Apr 24, 2008 | 8:32 PM

I am so sorry to hear about your friend. HepC is a terrible thing. My daughter was diagnosed with it 20 years ago. She got it from a blood transfusion before they screened for diseases. She's managed it pretty well all this time. She goes to the doctor every 3 months so they can monitor the disease. She refused the treatment, after talking with other people who had taken it and went through hell. One of her friends that had taken the treatment, was cured of HepC but her general health got worse and worse and she died last Nov.at age 49.
My daughter's doctor told her there is a new treatment in the experimental stage that seems to be more successful than the present one. However until it's approved by FDA it won't be available to the people that need it.
My daughter was told, 2 weeks ago when she went for a sonogram that her condition has worsened to cirrhosis. Most people think that's a drinker's disease but my daughter has never been a drinker. It has been caused from the scarring of the liver from the HepC. She's not to the point where she needs a transplant, but if it becomes necessary for her to live, her older brother has offered to donate part of his liver.
I wish you and your friend all the luck in the world and to let you know that there is someone else out here that understands what you're going through.
gimini210 read my blog view my photos
Apr 24, 2008 | 8:55 PM

Thanks, and I will offer a prayer for your daughter. The treatment is rough and his count was too low to find this last time, but even with screening if the count is less than 5 per you can't find it so it can be passed on without anyone knowing they are doing it.
queenabell read my blog
Apr 24, 2008 | 9:01 PM

I appreciate your thoughts. Just try to encourage your friend to be positive. That's what I have done with my daughter. She's tough and keeps very active handling her and her husbands 2 businesses. It seems to be what keeps her going. Encouragement is one of the best thing you can give to your friend. Prayer is the best thing. I'll remember you in mine.
BasehorLady read my blog view my photos
Apr 24, 2008 | 9:41 PM

I was diagnosed with Hep C in December, 2004. I started 48 weeks of treatments in June, 2005 and finished in May, 2006. The virus was virtually gone after 3 months of treatments, and I've been clear of it since, and am tested once a year. I was told to wait until school let out before starting on treatments because I would feel so awful... After I started treatments, I didn't feel any different, other than being a little more tired than normal. I kept up my regular routine at work, at home and even went to weekly dance lessons... Sure, I developed anemia, but I took a shot every 2-3 weeks for that, and overcame that too...
queenabell read my blog
Apr 24, 2008 | 9:46 PM

Lady.........glad to hear you did well with the treatments and they worked for you. My daughter had Hep C for a long time before the treatment was available. She was told she would have to take 12 month of the treatment and there was a 50/50 chance it would help. Maybe if the treatment had been available when she was first diagnosed, she might not be where she is today.
BasehorLady read my blog view my photos
Apr 24, 2008 | 10:07 PM

I could have had mine as long as 25 years ago, when I was working with blood at a local hospital in the emergency room... My treatments lasted one year almost. Another lady I know was diagnosed about the same time as me, they figured she got it 25 years earlier during childbirth and a transfusion. She just started treatments about 3 months ago and is having an easy time of it like I did, thank God. She was so scared, she kept putting it off because she had a daughter that got married, this or that, there was always something. Well, I wanted it OUT, I didn't want it to sit and fester and develop into something that didn't really have to be there... If I didn't do anything about it, and had I developed something down the line, would I blame myself for NOT doing something about it? Yes, I would have, and I didn't want to do that. Treatment was the ONLY option for me. Luckily, I never drank or had done drugs, I was a young white female and the doctors said it was all in my favor. My sister knew of people that had a horrible time with treatment, but those people had also been drug users. I don't know if there was a correlation with that, but it makes you wonder when the people that go through treatment that weren't users have an easier time of it. I don't know, but I'm just glad it's over. But you know, if I had to go through treatment again, I would gladly. Luckily insurance paid the cost of roughly $6,000 a month for the meds.
queenabell read my blog
Apr 24, 2008 | 10:20 PM

My daughter never drank, never did drugs either. She had her gallbladder removed when she was 20 years old, that was 1976. She was diagnosed in 1981 and nothing was mentioned about treatments.
Two of her friends that weren't drinkers or drug users had the Hep C and both took the treatments and said they were hell. Maybe it affects different people, different ways.
BasehorLady read my blog view my photos
Apr 24, 2008 | 10:27 PM

I think it really does queen... One good thing... You can always start treatment, and if you don't do well with it, you CAN quit... You don't have to continue through the whole treatment. and a huge part of it for me, personally, was my attitude about it... When my mom had had cancer treatments before she died, she had a great attitude of getting through it. I thought of her constantly at that time, and thought if SHE could do it, I WOULD do it too! She was a very determined person, and I'm a VERY determined person too, ask my friends and my poor husband! LOL
BasehorLady read my blog view my photos
Apr 24, 2008 | 10:27 PM

I think it really does queen... One good thing... You can always start treatment, and if you don't do well with it, you CAN quit... You don't have to continue through the whole treatment. and a huge part of it for me, personally, was my attitude about it... When my mom had had cancer treatments before she died, she had a great attitude of getting through it. I thought of her constantly at that time, and thought if SHE could do it, I WOULD do it too! She was a very determined person, and I'm a VERY determined person too, ask my friends and my poor husband! LOL
BasehorLady read my blog view my photos
Apr 24, 2008 | 10:27 PM

dang double posts...
queenabell read my blog
Apr 24, 2008 | 10:34 PM

It's amazing how much we have in common. I was born in Dec.26, which makes a Capricorn and believe me I'm as stubborn as a goat. LOL
My kids have dubbed me Queen Mother. One reason because I've been the Matriarch for so long and secondly because I rule with a iron fist. LOL
BasehorLady read my blog view my photos
Apr 24, 2008 | 11:00 PM

shouldn't all moms have iron fists??? LOL
queenabell read my blog
Apr 24, 2008 | 11:03 PM

It worked for me. Talk to you later.
gimini210 read my blog view my photos
Apr 25, 2008 | 8:52 AM

Yes and he went threw 48 wks of treatment and is clear so far. There is a hep site where they give you support and advice as well as knowledge of all forms of hep. Sadly for every 4 to 5 that are clear and stay clear more than that have it come back. The point is it is hard to find in the blood and you can have it for years and not know. In the mean time you give blood and it is undetectable. Janis and friends hepititis c support is how I found it. I learned alot there.
queenabell read my blog
Apr 25, 2008 | 2:08 PM

Thanks for this information. I certainly hope it helps a lot of people.
gimini210 read my blog view my photos
Apr 25, 2008 | 4:15 PM

I hope so too. Just because you can't see it in the blood does not mean it isn't there. Go by the rules.
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gimini210

I am a reformed democrat now republican and mother of 5, have 10 grandchildren and one greatgrand child. I have lived all over the US and love to sit on docks and fish. Waiting for the big one. I love my family and a good joke, reading and painting. My siblings all think I need to be taken care of as do my children and I'm the oldest so don't know why. I watch Fox 4 News because you are about the fairest all around on T.V.

Member Since: 6/28/2007


 

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