The First Six Months

The treatment started out O.K. but I really got sick with my first shot, just like I had the flu. The symptoms only lasted for a couple of days then they started settling out. I decided if I took my shot on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I would have the weekend to recover and then start all over again on the next week. Sunday was my best day. I worked the whole six months but I wasn't on all eight cylinders. The treatments seemed to be working because my blood work looked much better, so I just did the best I could but it was hard to continue at the end.

At last the six months was up; I completed the marathon. My viral load had dropped drastically and it looked like I made the 5%. I thought to myself that wasn't so hard after all. I had to do blood work every week after the treatments. Then one day after the lab work was completed my doctor asked if I could meet with him. He told me that my enzymes had shot up and they were even higher then before. So with some collective thinking with his colleagues the recommendation was to double the dose to six million units for another six months. I felt like someone just pulled the plug. I got very sad because I just didn't think it was possible to go through it again with a double dose; so they gave me Prozac to deal with the depression. I was never one to give up so I agreed to continue treatment. Deep down inside I was very concerned about work; I just knew I was going to get fired.

Check out this link for an explanation on viral load.

http://www.hepatitis-central.com/hcv/whatis/vl.html