Hey Everybody:
Just sitting here on a mellow and beautiful Sunday morning. I have been having some really, really good days. My back has not been bothering me, don't have to take any Advil or put on any patches. I have been feeling so great. I really don't know why this is happening for me. I suppose that I should realize I have only been treating for 4 weeks now and things could change. I know that sometimes it takes a while for these drugs to "pile up" in your body and it could be that some changes are on the way. I hate to think this way but I must be realistic. I also shouldn't be thinking about it.....I should be just taking one day at a time. Okay....that is what I am going to do....from now on!!!!
Anyway, I know I said in my last post that I had a couple of ideas I wanted to share. Well, the first one is something I thought of after visiting my doctor. I told her about the pain I had in my right side. I really thought it might be my liver and that maybe things were getting worse. I mean, I am so new to this and being so scared, I didn't know what to think. All I knew was that I have a serious liver disease, I'm being treated with powerful drugs and now I have a pain in my right side where I know my liver sits. I talked to my doctor and she said that it is very highly unlikely it is my liver. For the most part, you don't feel pain from your liver. She said it is probably my gall bladder. The gall bladder is very close to the liver on the right hand side. I have always tried to eat so well for years before treatment. I did not eat very much fat at all and exercised every day. I had a BMI that was just about showing "Underweight". After years of living this kind of life, my gall bladder was used to functioning with very, very little fat intake. Now that I am eating more fat in one day than I would have eaten in one week prior to treatment, my gall bladder is crying out!!!!! It makes sense to me. My doctor did say that it should settle down and start producing the bile and get used to the high fat diet I'm on now. She also told me that if it didn't settle down and stop paining, to come back and she would look into it further. Well......I have not been having the pains now for a while. I guess my gall bladder, the trooper that it is, has gotten used to the fat and is now functioning in the proper way. My thought was........I wondered if maybe I had started to eat a higher fat diet prior to treatment, this might have been prevented. This is just a thought on my part and when I think about it, it makes sense to me. I'm thinking that if anybody else reading this is considering treatment and is not eating a lot of fat now, you might want to talk with your doctor about this and see if it is something that might help. I don't know and I'm not saying to do that....it is just a little idea going on in my drugged up mind!!!! : )
The other idea I had (and again, it may be the drugs talking) is that it might be a good idea if a Registered Dietician was made available for people starting the triple therapy treatment (Incivek). I have spoken with lots of people who have gone through treatment or going through treatment and the same theme is occurring: a challenge trying to get in the correct amount of fat and not eat a lot of bad fat and junk. Maybe if we had access to someone who is an expert in this type of thing, it might be easier. Again, this is just something I was thinking about while trying to figure out what I am going to eat with my next Incivek pills.
Well, I think I will just have a nice relaxing day today and keep an eye on the Hurricane Sandy situation. I'm not too worried about it right now as I believe it shouldn't cause too much for us here in Nova Scotia. But, you never know about these things......they could veer off their projected path and surprise everyone. I hope that we are lucky this time and it doesn't affect us. I think we should all be prepared though, and get lots of water, food and candles in the house. I hope everyone is doing good today and I thank you for reading this blog. I know it is a little boring since not too much is happening for me. Well......I do go for my 4 week check-up on Thursday and this is the day I get bloodwork done there and that is when they read my Viral Load (amount of virus in my blood) and will be able to tell if I am responding to the treatment. I will be told I'm either Undetected (UND) which is also called RVR (Rapid Viral Response) which is the ultimate. I could also be told that my Viral Load has dropped considerably, but not quite UND....a good outcome but not the best. The worst case scenario is to be told that you are not responding to treatment and you have to stop. Yes....this is the one you don't want to hear. I expect to hear that I am UND, but I also realize it could be the one of the other ones as well. I believe I am prepared for any of them. I have thought about all of them and I have thought about how I will deal with each one. I won't go into detail here as I don't know yet what it will be. Hopefully I will write at least another Blog before Thursday.
Thanks again and I hope all of you are having a nice day!
Love to all....
Believer
xoxoxoxoxox
Much better than the pain you were having before. So glad that it is under control. I felt bad for you and didn't know what to say when I read about you being in all that pain. Wow, your four week check-up coming this week already; time flies doesn't it? I wish you all the best for your result and may you come home with a smile.