SVR 3 days later, and thankyou

[bassetgirl]

I found out I reached SVR last Thursday, and have been processing my new lease on life for 3 days now. I'm still emotional and cry at times, but tears of pure happiness.

I told my husband I feel like I fell off a 100 story building, landed on my feet, and walked away!  

Since my surprise Hep C diagnosis last January, I was told I had a liver lesion which according to numerous MRI's and CT scan  was 80% certainty of cancer, I started the battery of tests to be put on the liver transplant list, and re-did my will and got my affairs in order- I honestly didn't think I'd be around 5 years from now.
When my liver became less inflamed during treatment, the MRI's started showing the lesion to be benign- while it still needs to be monitored, I'm on a 6 month schedule now instead of every 12 weeks. With the Hep C gone, I'm doing everything in my power to live a healthy life style and hope some of my liver functions will improve, my platelets are already up to 72 from around 60. I am optimistic.

I am thankful to God, thankful to medical science, and thankful for the existence of this forum for all the support and knowledge here.  Because the folks here have lived this fight, they know things that the doctors don't know, and understand what this battle is all about more than loving family and friends.

I want to thank everyone on this forum for their knowledge and support. I intend to stick around and if there is anything helpful that I can add to a discussion, I will try to contribute. Thanks to everyone from the bottom of my heart.

Mary

[Livelife777]

Hi Mary
So happy that your life has changed in a positive direction with the wonderful news that you've shared.  I've been Hep C free for 6+ months and at times have to pinch myself to now remember that I'm cured.  I feel your elation and join in your happiness.  Congragulations.
As an addition:  The current technology that we have lean toward accuracy when monitoring nodules or legions present in our organs.  The fact that you now have a wait/see approach and an extension of timeframes for follow-up indicate they think your situation is benign.  I would move forward with that thought with relief.  Do tho continue with your scans but everything sounds very positive.
Enjoy this exciting freedom from the virus life!!!!!  On a personal note I continue to feel better everyday.  Life once again has wonderment and meaning.  Yours will too!
So very happy for you.
.....Kim

[Magnum]

Very very happy for you. Smooth sailing from now on...

Magnum

[mzkity]

Congrats!!! Always happy to read about SVR. But really rooting for that lesion to just disappear.  Keep the faith!!! :))

Kitty

[AugustineMama]

Way to go. Every post of a cure just makes me jump up and down. I hope this is my news in January

[bassetgirl]

Charlie-Thank you for posting the AALSD Guidlines. I've bookmarked your link on my computer- this is really good information!

[Ekkiemom]

I'm truly so happy to hear your great news Mary!  You have been blessed. It's so nice to hear that you will come back to the forum to give your help to the newbies.  Enjoy your Hep C free life!  Another dragon buried.......:-)
Peace
Deb

[Aquisi]

Congratulations Mary on your cure of HCV. As per the AALSD guidelines.

Clinical Benefit of Cure
The proximate goal of HCV therapy is SVR (virologic cure), defined as the continued absence of detectable HCV RNA at least 12 weeks after completion of therapy. SVR is a marker for cure of HCV infection and has been shown to be durable in large prospective studies in more than 99% of patients followed up for 5 years or more. (Swain, 2010 [3]); (Manns, 2013 [4]) Patients in whom
an SVR is achieved have HCV antibodies, but no longer have detectable HCV RNA serum, liver tissue, or mononuclear cells, and achieve substantial liver histology improvement. (Marcellin, 1997 [5]); (Coppola, 2013 [6]); (Garcia-Bengoechea, 1999 [7]) Assessment of viral response, including documentation of SVR, requires use of an FDA-approved quantitative or qualitative
nucleic acid test (NAT) with a detection level of 25 IU/mL or lower.
Patients who are cured of their HCV infection experience numerous health benefits, including a decrease in liver inflammation as reflected by improved aminotransferase (ie, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase) levels and a reduction in the rate of progression of liver fibrosis. (Poynard, 2002b [8]) Of 3010 treatment-naive HCV-infected patients with pretreatment and posttreatment biopsies from 4 randomized trials of 10 different IFN-based
regimens (biopsies separated by a mean of 20 months), 39% to 73% of patients achieving an SVR had improvement in liver fibrosis and necrosis (Poynard, 2002b [8]) and cirrhosis resolved in half of the cases. Portal hypertension, splenomegaly, and other clinical manifestations of advanced liver disease also improved. Among HCV-infected persons, SVR is associated with a
more than 70% reduction in the risk of liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) and a 90% reduction in the risk of liver-related mortality and liver transplantation. (Morgan, 2013 [9]); (van der
Meer, 2012 [10]); (Veldt, 2007 [11])
http://www.hcvguidelines.org/full-report/when-and-whom-initiate-hcv-therapy

Best wishes to you and to all of us who are fighting this terrible disease.
Regards,
Charlie

[keepingOnkeepingOn]

Go S/O! Congrats to you. Very nice post.

[bassetgirl]

Hi Mac790- this VL test on Oct. 23 was my 3 months test after ending a 12 week course of treatment on July 30 with Sovald/Olysio . I will have another VL at the 6 month end of treatment mark, but my hepatologist is confident that the   3 month EOT treatment test will define the outcome, as this is the protocol given by the drug manufacturer.

[patra_]

Don't know what happened. The rest of that post read.

.So glad tests are showing benign!  And so glad you have improved enough, so far, that you only have to have the test every 6 months instead of every 3 months. You are doing all the right things, healthwise, to help your liver

Congratulations on all fronts and just keep on keeping on!  Be well.  Pat

[patra_]

What great news!  It has been a really great week for you, newswise

[mac790]

Mary, I'm relatively new on this forum, so please take these remarks knowing I have nothing but good intentions. When you say you "reached SVR", is this your first ND VL test, or have you been ND for 6 months, a year, etc...? Different drug mfrs. have varying definitions of SVR. To most, it means you have had VL tests showing Sovaldi combo therapy, Sov/Olysio tx, etc... I reached ND at day 14 on these trial meds, which was Aug 20. I have been ND ever since, and EOT is either 10-31, or I get a 4 week extension. With substantial cirrhosis, I would prefer the 16 weeks, but these drugs are so new there is no data to conclude 16 weeks leads to more, or prolonged SVRs, than 12 weeks. So, I would counsel just a tiny bit of caution in your elation. These new drugs, like the DAAs, and  new generation protease inhibitors, such as I am taking, are so new we don't really know for sure what will happen years >EOT. I could replapse, or become detectable soon > EOT, or develop who-knows-what side effects from these new meds that are so effiecient at quickly eradicating the HCV. You are obviously on an emotional roller coaster's very peak, and I hope you indeed stay @ SVR forever. However, perhaps it would be advisable to keep a small amount of an emotional guard up in the back of your mind, at least for the first year or two >EOT. If I'm @ SVR 2 years >EOT, I'll be able to read the VL test results without my pulse quickening. It is sadly too late for so many that have been in our situation, who never got the chance to be treated with these new, extremely successful types of meds. Who, for some reason, the virus did its' damage very quickly and completely. Those of us who live on owe it to them to do the best to make the most out of our lives I guess, and to ourselves, of course. It isn't as though they made access to these new gen meds easy or inexpensive, did they? Anyone who got treated obviously has a survivor's instincts, and did what was necessary to obtain the meds. I wish you a continued SVR, with just that modicum of caution, for a while at least.  Take Care, mac790

[dontworry_behappy1]

Mary, What a nice post.  So happy you found out you lesion wasn't cancer
and you platelets are going up.  

Best to you