Miracles do happen!

[HippyHal]

Well, as you may or may not recall.. my last post was early March when the Dr. pulled me out of the triple therapy .. cold turkey..  like.. stop now...after 2 months and 1 week.  They pulled a couple of gallons of fluid out of me, sent me home and started talking about introducing me around Mayo for transplant.. I could hardly get off the couch, was up to 205lbs from 175, and looked like death warmed over.

Fast forward to last Friday when I received a letter from the Dr. that my latest tests show the Hep C virus as undetectable for both the Quant real time and the Virus Log tests!..  along with a note from the Dr. that said "Although the treatment was cut short, it appears to have cleared the virus.  Great news and congratulations!"

Wow..  the side effects are mostly gone (evidently the Riba stays in your system for 6 months) My liver function test are in normal range (first time in 40 years)  and only my platelet count (80) and my bilirubin (1.3 and 0.7) are out of range..

I just stopped taking the diuretic and will see if my liver is functioning well enough to stay off those..

She is having me do semi annual ultrasounds to be proactive for potential liver cancer, but otherwise feels that unless something stupid happens, my liver should last as long as I do :-)

One of the weird things is that now, after the treatment, I was diagnosed as "prediabetic" (never the case before, no family history).. but glucose is running just above 110 and my A1C is at 6.0..  so am controlling with diet and exercise.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to all who kept me in their thoughts and prayers, to me, there is no other explanation..  and I count my blessing daily.

Cheers!

[willbb]

Hey Hal,

Nice to hear from you again and with great news...Congratulations!

Enjoy and stay well...

~Will

[pooh55811]

PS: Looks like your 747 did not crash after all, just a very close call.

Best to you.

[LookingForward12]

Major congratulatioms to you! When that Incivek, which is such a heavy hitter, works......it works! And you are living proof that the drug does its business pretty darned quick in treatment.
I know you are o er the moon with all the good news!

[belle19]

congrats!!  so happy for you.  belle

[frijole]

Unbelieveable.  You will get another viral load test about September when you have been off tx for 6 months, won't you?  That will be your official SVR

Hal, this gives hope that maybe they will be able to shorten treatment for all of us someday.

Congratulations
frijole

[2mlbb]

Amazing story. Nothing like a good old fashion miracle to hit our forum. Congratulations sir! So very happy for you    :)