By October I received an appointment notice in the mail with instructions to meet with a Nurse Practitioner. This is wrong I thought because this is not the doctor's name that my family doctor had mentioned. I phoned QEII Hospital to confirm this and everything is correct.
At this appointment my husband and I met with the Nurse and the Doctor. I will be seeing the Nurse throughout my treatment. We went over everything I need to know about treatment like how it might affect me and what to expect.
When half of my appointment was over the doctor came in to explain in detail the condition of my liver. He said I have cirrhosis and the treatment for Hepatitis C IS necessary but it will be my choice. I am not an alcoholic or a drinker. Without treatment I would have five to eight years left. At this point, I think brainfog set in and I didn't think of much else throughout the appointment, only that I'm going to die. My husband had his ears open and took in all he could. I did say yes that I will be doing the treatment, I can't die yet. The length of treatment will be 48 weeks beginning January 09 2006. I have three more doctor appointments before we can begin.
When we left the hospital that day I had an overload of information but I tried to keep a postive attitude that I can get through this and together with my husband, we will. The closer we got to the car, I began to cry like a baby and I was so frightened and nervous. My husband was very supportive and willing to do anything he could to help, but first you must wipe away those tears.
Christmas was a blur that year and after my three other appointments beginning in January 2006, My treatment began as scheduled on the ninth.
talk to you soon,
Lucile