Well, I've taken WELL OVER 1,000,000 HIV/AIDS pills in my life and countless shots and procedures. Thanks to to speedy diagnosis hepatitis C genotype 1a/1b and polycythemia and an aggressive 48-week Ribavirin/Pegasys (alpha interferon) treatment, Mark will be one of the lucky few who become actually cured of hepatitis C by the time you read this. The next step is unknown; how quickly will he recover from the toxic consequences from treatment and to what level of function will he rebound to?
Before starting Hep C treatment, I had so much fatigue that I couldn't function, and I was ready to try anything. I had expected these additional treatments to be "more of the same" -- sure, with their unique side effects and related nastiness.
Hep C treatment, for me, was much more like chemotherapy. I've spent 60%+ of the last year sick at home. I can't imagine folks who can work through this, or care for kids, or even keep active in a hobby.
My T-cells went from 450 to 83 or less
On Halloween 2007, I had my blood test (pretty normal stuff) and I had ALL THREE of my Doctors (Paul Chambliss, Leslie Seecoomar and Randy Levine) ALL called me urgently. I had never seen lab reports that actually had a bold and underlined "Alert" message.
Within 24 hours, I had gotten messengered over $10,000 for ten syringes of Neupogen, that would boost my white blood cells just enough to keep going with the toxic treatments.
