The long goodbye is often used to describe the drawn out fading of a person’s mind, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
But for my Mom, it was because of Hepatitis C.
My Mom worked as a hospital lab technician for most of her career. She remembered accidentally sticking her hand, with the contaminated needle of a sick patient.
Hep B and A were well-known and treatable. But forty years ago no one knew Hepatitis C existed. It took 20 years for the disease to rear its ugly head. They were finally able to properly diagnose her.Hepatitis C is a chronic infection of the liver, that leads to scarring, cirrhosis, liver failure and eventually liver cancer.
She fought a brave fight. She endured two rounds of interferon and ribavirin treatment, requiring self injecting toxins, directly into her stomach.
For a time after that, she seemed better. We all breathed a sigh of relief and prayed it was gone.
read more at: hepmag.com/articles/hepatit...
