Introduction

Like many others suffering from the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), I have started this blog to track my progress along the long and windy road of treatment. I think there are 3 main reasons for this. Firstly, to allow me to monitor any changes that occur during treatment. The HCV treatment is not particularly nice and there are many not so nice side effects. This blog will allow me to track these side effects and hopefully identify any patterns. I think this will be useful from both a medical and personal point of view. Secondly, it will allow friends and family to follow my tratment journey. Of course you cant beat face to face talking but sometimes that is either not possible or can be slightly awkward. Thirdly, it will give me a place to let of steam. The side effects of treatment are both physical and emotional and I am sure I will feel the need to rant and whine! Anyway, about my journey.................

In many ways it has been both a long and short journey to reach this point in time. It is likely that I have been infected with HCV for over 20 years....thats the long part. Over those 20 years a lot has happened in my life, a mixture of life events that have been both happy and sad. Not wanting to bore people from the start, I wont go into these now but do intend to touch on some of these events during my blog. Looking back with hindsight and the knowledge of HCV I now have, I feel a lot of the sadder moments can be linked directly to the Hep C virus. Unfortunately, at the time I didnt know this.

The shorter part of the journey is that from diagnosis (dx) to treatment (tx). Hats off to my local PCT who managed to push me through the system in less than 10 weeks. I've heard stories of people waiting more than 10 weeks for their first appointment. I received the first suspicion that I may have chronic HCV on January 21st 2008, two days before my birthday! The results from the standard antibody test had come back positive and there was around an 80% chance that I would still be actively infected.

Over the course of the next 10 weeks I had an ultrasound scan, an initial meeting with my specialist consultant, an MRI scan, a Liver Biopsy and started treatment on March 27th 2008. All these test threw up a mixed bag of results but all in all I have to be happy with them and the subsequent treatment prognosis. The extent of liver damage is probably the worst result....Stage 5 borderline cirrhosis which in a nut shell means my liver has taken a bit of a battering. This has a slight negative impact on the chances of successful treatment but even so I should still have around a 50:50 chance. Add a good dollup of positive attitude and shear determination and compliance to the medication and I reckon the chances have got to be in my favour. At one stage, prior to the MRI scan, a cancer marker (AFP) test showed elevated levels and for a few weeks I was in the horrible position of having to consider the possibility that I may have liver cancer. Thanksfully, the MRI scan came back clear and now the borderline cirrhosis diagnosis seems a little easier to swallow and accept.

I say I have around a 50:50 chance of getting what they call SVR (sustained viral response), which to all intents and purposes equates to a cure. The chances depend upon the type of Hep C virus I have. Unfortunately, due to an initial cock-up, I still dont know my type (genotype). Types 1, 2 and 3 are most common in northern europe so I am assuming that I have one of those. Type 1 is the hardest to cure but this is what I basing my above chances on (i.e. 50:50). If I am fortunate enough to have Type 2 then my chances of SVR increase to around 80%. In other words, it is a lot easier to treat. Type 3 is also supposed to be easier to treat but I have seen quite a few Type 3 relaspsers and am not convinced.

Having Type 2 is a double whammy....not only is it easier to treat but the treatment length is shorter, typically lasting for 24 weeks. Treatment for Type 1 lasts a standard length of 48 weeks with the possibility of extending to 72 weeks if the virus shows signs of resistance.

The short of it is that at the moment I do not know which genotype I have, but treatment has been started on the assumption that I am genotype 1. At this stage this basically boils down the the dosage of medication. I will be starting on maximum dosage. Whilst this is going to increase the chances of any side effect (sx), it does mean that I will be hitting the virus as hard as possible in the first few weeks. I understand that this is a fairly critical stage in treatment.

Anyway, thats a brief introduction to this journey I have just begun......