Jay's Story
(by Jay)
I My name is
Jay. I'm 46 years old and I have Hepatitis C. It was diagnosed in 1990 at the University
of Illinois in Chicago. Prior to that I had two heart surgeries, one in 1963 and one in
1985.
Both of the surgeries were also at the U. of I. I had a biopsy done laparoscopically,
because I take an anti-coagulant, Coumadin, plus, (as you all know), my platelet counts
are wacky. After I was told I had hep C and cirrhosis, I was stunned. All I could say was
"doctor, I don't drink that much". He assured me the cirrhosis was caused by the
hepatitis and due to all the scarring, they figured that I probably got it in 1963 from my
first surgery.
I said "how could I walk around with this illness for so long and not know it?",
and he said "That's why they call it the 'Silent Killer'"!!!
I asked what about my wife, they said then that it was not sexually transmitted.
Somehow though, it was too late, she had it too by then. At least it lifted a burden of one
sort because in 1985 they had just started screening blood for the AIDS virus.
I cannot express my feelings in words for feeling like I somehow gave my wife this monster, but if it would
have been AIDS, I couldn't live with that! She has been a trooper, helping me fight Social
Security for my disability. There aren't too many people I know that would do that, even
married couples.
She's a very special person to me and I love her very much. But now I'm waiting to go on
the combo treatment. I have been through interferon twice. With my first regimen, it
worked very well. I felt great! Like I was a high school kid again, but I screwed up. The
second time I felt lousy so they took me off of the interferon that time. That was two years
ago. So here's hoping that maybe after another try, this will work.
Jay
P.S. Did you know that
dogs are immune to Hep C? (That's something to think about)
The opinions expressed on
this page are solely those of the author and none of the information included is to be
misconstrued as medical advise.
Any
issues concerning this website should be addressed to:
Be sure to
include the words "HEP C" in the subject line of your
correspondence. Otherwise, it may be deleted unopened
due to the extreme problem with spam.
Last Updated
March 31, 2008
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