Aa
just got news of biopsy.
i just got the results of my biopsy but my dr is out of town so his assistant gave me the report over the phone. as you can imagine i am full of questions. diagnosis is type 3 stage 3 hep c. she asked me if i wanted to treat i said yes so she could start the paper work. i dont see my dr. until 2/2/12. can some one tell me what type three stage three means as the assistant could not tell me. and what my treatment is likely to be. thank you in advance.
mike in denver.
mike in denver.
Welcome to the forum, MP and it's great news that you are starting treatment so soon. WOW, your doctors are right on the ball, with it happening that quickly! Less time to get yourself all nervous. :-) You will find great support here and it's been a blessing to me. Seemed like yesterday I was just starting and I am already at week 17. Good luck on Tuesday! And keep us posted on your progress.
Blessings Starshine
Blessings Starshine
Welcome to the forum, but, sorry it's necessary. Hang on to your positive attitude. It will serve you well.
well i did it, after being on hold for quite a while i talked to my inceveck case mng. she is very nice and we seem to have hit it off well. im not shy talking to strangers.=). any way i will recieve my tx tue via ups. and will start tue evning. i figure that if i start tue i will feel better by the weekend so i can be a part of the family. yes i am very lucky that i dont work so my schedual is pretty flexible. well i cant say im excited to start but i am ready to start to get to the end of a hopefully succesful tx.
Hi there,
I also found out on a fluke, went to the doc for high blood pressure and came with Hep C...did not see that one comin...telling people was very scary for me, especially telling my ex...but like you. it went much better then my imagination would have me think...Although my ex still won't get tested, told me...i don't need to test, I don't have that sh**...which kind irritated me, but I digress, I told him, that's all I can do...
I am only on the dual therapy (G 2b), but I am not having horrible side effects so far...I'm tired on Mondays and Tuesdays (do my shots Friday night), one day had a little nausea, and kind of itchy, but nothing unmanagable. The side effects are different for every one, and the ones that post the most that we get to read are the ones who have the sides and are looking for advice, the ones that don't get sides really have no reason to post as much, but they are out there...I am hoping you are one of them! But if your not and you do get some side effects, the people here know alot and have very helpful advice...
Good luck on getting started on your new healthier life style!
I also found out on a fluke, went to the doc for high blood pressure and came with Hep C...did not see that one comin...telling people was very scary for me, especially telling my ex...but like you. it went much better then my imagination would have me think...Although my ex still won't get tested, told me...i don't need to test, I don't have that sh**...which kind irritated me, but I digress, I told him, that's all I can do...
I am only on the dual therapy (G 2b), but I am not having horrible side effects so far...I'm tired on Mondays and Tuesdays (do my shots Friday night), one day had a little nausea, and kind of itchy, but nothing unmanagable. The side effects are different for every one, and the ones that post the most that we get to read are the ones who have the sides and are looking for advice, the ones that don't get sides really have no reason to post as much, but they are out there...I am hoping you are one of them! But if your not and you do get some side effects, the people here know alot and have very helpful advice...
Good luck on getting started on your new healthier life style!
MP most of us had no idea we had it until a physical or some reason that our blood was taken and our liver enzymes were spiked, so we know what you are experiencing.
Treatment isnt very much fun but at stage 3 you are definitely right to be doing it. Fibrosis can reverse but cirrhosis would be much harder and if it could, and it would make your cure rate go down. god knows you want every single bit of the odds to be on your side.
It will all become second nature to you. Then when it is, it will be over. Remember - tx has an END date and that is a good thing to look forward to.
Welcome to the forum. Learn what you can, ask all; you can and definitely get hard copies of all your test. You will learn how to read the results and as you can tell...nurses/patient communication isn't always what we think it is. half the time we are too nervous to remember anything!
Good luck.
Treatment isnt very much fun but at stage 3 you are definitely right to be doing it. Fibrosis can reverse but cirrhosis would be much harder and if it could, and it would make your cure rate go down. god knows you want every single bit of the odds to be on your side.
It will all become second nature to you. Then when it is, it will be over. Remember - tx has an END date and that is a good thing to look forward to.
Welcome to the forum. Learn what you can, ask all; you can and definitely get hard copies of all your test. You will learn how to read the results and as you can tell...nurses/patient communication isn't always what we think it is. half the time we are too nervous to remember anything!
Good luck.
thanks again everyone. i cleared my first hurdle today, telling my wife's somewhat judgemental family. it actually went much better then i thought it would. and i think they actually might have a little sympathy for my condition. =) I'm glad its out in the open now so i can start my treatment completely stress free. now if i would just pick up the phone and call the treatment provider to set up a time for them to teach me how to poison myself. =) ok im doing it right now.
Hi, and welcome. My husband is in week 18 of triple therapy with Incivek. He just found out 4 years ago that he has had Hep C, g 1a, for 35+ years. He was pretty upset and scared when he learned about his diagnosis. He was between f1-f2 in 2007, did treatment with Interferon and Ribavirin in 2007, which failed. He was very disappointed. He progressed to f4 by 2010, did treatment with daily Infergen and Ribavirin, which also failed. Again very disappointed. We are very hopeful that with the new triple therapy he will have a cure. He has been UND since week 8 and we are looking toward a total of 48 weeks of treatment since he is f4. Treatment has gone pretty well for him so far. You will have lots of support here on this forum. Best wishes and may you have minimal side effects.
Advocate1955
Advocate1955
Hi MP! Welcome to the forum. We all were shocked, and some still are, when we found out we had Hep C. Not to mention several other adjectives to describe how we really felt...which I can't type or Emily will send me to my room!
Anyway, keep on coming back to this forum and asking a lot of questions. There are wonderful people here who are full of knowledge and will go to great lengths to help you. You sound like you have a wonderful attitude and keep exercising...and as for running the Boulder to Boulder...you might have to run a little slower than normal. You will be with your son and that is all that counts.
Once again welcome and best of luck to you!
Jules
ps....(hcvJames)...I use to set up my stationary bike next to the fireplace where I could set my glass of wine and ashtray on the mantel. Never got a DUI in my living room HA!
Anyway, keep on coming back to this forum and asking a lot of questions. There are wonderful people here who are full of knowledge and will go to great lengths to help you. You sound like you have a wonderful attitude and keep exercising...and as for running the Boulder to Boulder...you might have to run a little slower than normal. You will be with your son and that is all that counts.
Once again welcome and best of luck to you!
Jules
ps....(hcvJames)...I use to set up my stationary bike next to the fireplace where I could set my glass of wine and ashtray on the mantel. Never got a DUI in my living room HA!
Congratulations on getting started on treatment (soon).
I think everyone has a lot of apprehension and anxiety before treatment. Your side effects may not be so bad and anyway, you won't get all of them even if you get some of them.
However, if you do get some bad side effects, please post. There are many of us who have been or are taking Incivek so we can probably tell you how to alleviate whatever side effect you may get.
Just another nore, be sure to eat the 20 grams of fat with your Incivek and be sure to take it every 8 hours. It does not have a long half life and you need top keep the blood level consistent so you do not develop resistant mutant strains of the virus. When you eat the 20 grams of fat try to eat something solid with it too, like toast or a bagel or an egg.
I wish you the best.
I think everyone has a lot of apprehension and anxiety before treatment. Your side effects may not be so bad and anyway, you won't get all of them even if you get some of them.
However, if you do get some bad side effects, please post. There are many of us who have been or are taking Incivek so we can probably tell you how to alleviate whatever side effect you may get.
Just another nore, be sure to eat the 20 grams of fat with your Incivek and be sure to take it every 8 hours. It does not have a long half life and you need top keep the blood level consistent so you do not develop resistant mutant strains of the virus. When you eat the 20 grams of fat try to eat something solid with it too, like toast or a bagel or an egg.
I wish you the best.
thanks ninjamonkey, lol cute name. yeah im a little anxious not knowing what to expect for me. having read alot of others experiences im hoping im a lucky one as far as side effects. have you started tx yet?
It will be okay! And look at it this way you're starting a heather life still... You didn't know you had hepc and now you do you will fight you will win you will ne healthier so you are doing what you set out to do. Don't let other post make u sad or worry just try to get he knowledge you need from the ones you can read and if u need something just post a new post or private message one of us we will all try to help you in every way possible! Glad you are getting to start so soon after finding out ive been in wait mode for month and months seems like years! Good luck and if u need something let us know!
Cas
Cas
OK first off hello every body. well i went to the Dr today and got my real results. i must admit that it was a little bit of a let down compared to what i thought the nurse said. anyways here's what he said. I'm type 1A, grade 3, stage 3. my viral load is 5,000,000. ast 240. and something else i forgot was but was just as high. my liver functions is 5times normal, not sure what that means. i am starting treatment next week with interferon, ribavirin* and incevex,he has me assured i will do well with this treatment as I've never gone in tx before. I'm not sure i like reading peoples stories as i find myself feeling sad and afraid. i only went to the Dr because i wanted to start a healthier life style. so anyway I'm sure i can beat this thing if mental attitude helps. i will continue to be positive and just take the next 8 months on a day to day basis. and i look forward to getting to know the folks here better in time as from my understanding i'm gonna need a support group to get through this tx. whew!! its definitely real now. =)
james your post had me laughing out loud and my wife also. thanks. and yes, quitting tobacco was harder then any other vices i had.
I quit smiking some time ago too. In some ways it was more difficult than becoming clean and sober. Now I just smirk. I'm smirking now. haha, just teasing about the misspell ... though I am smirking .. smirk
Oddly the Urban Dictionary list smiking as :
Smoking while simultaneously riding a bicycle.
Hey so I did quit smiking! Don't ride a bicycle anymore.
or smoke, smirk.
Seriously, congrats of putting the dumb stuff behind you and coming to this better point in your life. It gets even better. All the very best.
Oddly the Urban Dictionary list smiking as :
Smoking while simultaneously riding a bicycle.
Hey so I did quit smiking! Don't ride a bicycle anymore.
or smoke, smirk.
Seriously, congrats of putting the dumb stuff behind you and coming to this better point in your life. It gets even better. All the very best.
thanks for all the reposts everyone. never thought id be on a hep c forum, ive never had anything wrong with me before. it was a simple physical that discovered abnormal liver enzymes which led to all the other labs and biopsy. pre biopsy my dr. seemed like i would be just fine that once the biopsy results came back we would determine the tx. he said something about i was lucky because they have a new drug that made sucsess chances better. of course all i was hearing was liver biopsy at the time. but im here to say that only 4 months ago before all this happened i quit smiking sucsessfully and have been on a very healthy diet with lots of excersises, ie: walking, jogging, weight lifting. heck it was these changes that brought me to the dr in the first place. i have been sober and clean for 5 years now. but it seems i contracted this desease doing dumb things about 25 years ago. :/., but i am very up beat and determined to beat this thing. my biggest fear is that i wont be able to continue with my new healthy excersise style. i had told my son i would run the boulder boulder in may with him. and i still intend to. =)
Do you know what genotype of Hep C you have? Genotype 1? If you have Genotype 1, you will possibly be able to do triple therapy (Interferon, Ribavirin, and either Incivek or Victrelis), which will give you a high chance of success. As others said, stage 3 is the level of fibrosis or scarring to your liver, There are 4 stages of fibrosis, with stage 4 being cirrhosis. Stage 3 means that you have bridging fibrosis, scarring that is connected together and more extensive, but is not yet cirrhosis.
Keep us posted, and let us know more.
Advocate1955
Keep us posted, and let us know more.
Advocate1955
it is always best to request a hard copy of reports as often results from an assistant by phone are misinterpreted.
Biopsies will give the grade(inflammation activity ) and stage(fibrosis ) of the liver ,however you mention "type" which is usually not part of a biopsy report.
Best to clarify this by seeing the report or getting a clear interpretation from your doctor before you consider treatment options .
If you get a copy ..possibly post the exact results and many folks here would be able to give you an interpretation..
If indeed you have Geno type 3 ...good advice above..
welcome..
Will
Biopsies will give the grade(inflammation activity ) and stage(fibrosis ) of the liver ,however you mention "type" which is usually not part of a biopsy report.
Best to clarify this by seeing the report or getting a clear interpretation from your doctor before you consider treatment options .
If you get a copy ..possibly post the exact results and many folks here would be able to give you an interpretation..
If indeed you have Geno type 3 ...good advice above..
welcome..
Will
Good you are working towards the cure. Hepatitis Central is a good site for some facts about hep c. It has info on liver biopsy stages too. http://www.hepatitis-central.com/hcv/biopsy/toc.html
Hi Mike in Denver, I am posting a link to a trial they are currently recruiting for in englewood, it is for a drug called PSI 7977 and it in phase 3 (good thing), this drug has shown an extremely high cure rate for genotype 2 and 3. I am currently in a trial at UC Denver (NCT 01097395) and both sites have much trial expirience
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01497366?term=hepatitis+c+AND+genotype+3+AND+colorado&rank=1
Have a great day
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01497366?term=hepatitis+c+AND+genotype+3+AND+colorado&rank=1
Have a great day
Welcome.
No doubt someone will come along who is better at explaining these things than I but here's a quick overview.
My assumption is type 3 is actually genotype 3 and stage 3 refers to the stage of fibrosis. Stage 4 is cirrhosis. So you have some liver damage but not so far as to be cirrhosis.
Genotype 3 does the SOC treatment. This means interferon and ribavarin and has a high chance of success.
If you have never done treatment before, you might be eligible for one of the new oral meds by doing a clinical trial however there is a lot to consider, whether doing a trial, or standard treatment.
Best of luck,
OH
No doubt someone will come along who is better at explaining these things than I but here's a quick overview.
My assumption is type 3 is actually genotype 3 and stage 3 refers to the stage of fibrosis. Stage 4 is cirrhosis. So you have some liver damage but not so far as to be cirrhosis.
Genotype 3 does the SOC treatment. This means interferon and ribavarin and has a high chance of success.
If you have never done treatment before, you might be eligible for one of the new oral meds by doing a clinical trial however there is a lot to consider, whether doing a trial, or standard treatment.
Best of luck,
OH
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