“This is the wrong place to get tired, George”
Lets get a couple of apologies out of the way first.
Firstly to everybody in the north of my home town a few weeks ago. While I have no doubt that somebody needed teaching some manners, in retrospect blocking off both lanes of a busy road at rush hour whist I proceeded to do so and have what can only be described as a temper tantrum, was maybe not the wisest thing to do.
Still I like to learn from every experience, from this I learnt 3 things;
1. Whilst at the time you think you are performing like Mike Tyson at his most intimidating, hindsight makes you realise it was more on a scale of a drunken teenage girlfriend outside a nightclub in the small hours screaming “leave it he’s had enough.”
2. The local radio traffic reports provide an excellent service in routing people away from areas where loons have blocked the highways.
3. Even in rush hour on a Friday night there is nobody in a the 100’s of cars caught up in it with the bollocks to get out their car and point out that somebodies behavior is unacceptable.
Second apology is of course for not updating the blog! I have been really really busy at both work and increasingly at home and of course the longer you leave it the more their is to update. Anyways back on track and you HepCBoy junkies can hopefully look forward to a more regular fix.
On the good news side I have 3 [thats right 3] injections left after tonight, that makes me smile or more accurately laugh. I could do 3 injections all in one go, in the dark, into my left testicle, whilst riding a unicycle and playing pinball.
In other news I’m finally ready, 3 more injections giving 72 weeks of treatment is enough, I don’t want to do any more. Partly that is to do with some creeping sides that worry me a little. Insomnia has returned, the skin reaction from my injection has got much worse, I’m getting a few flair ups of a psoriasis type thing on my face etc a couple times a week and other minor bits and bobs. It feels to me as if my body is giving the signal of enough is enough. Auto immune stuff is the one thing that has worried me during treatment, in essence its when the body starts to attack itself. The reason it worries me so much is that if I am as tough as I think I am then how can I fight myself 
Christmas, or more accurately the week and a half off, has been a god send. It really took my mind off being so near the finish line and allowed me to get a lot of rest, that old tiredness thing really can drag you down.
Which brings me to the title of this post.
Ali is fighting Forman in the Rumble in the Jungle, his tactic is to let George beat him up until George is so tired that Ali simply knocks him out. Brilliant if a little risky. Now I think my treatment so far has been very much like that fight, sometimes I have been Ali, sometimes Forman. Before Christmas I was feeling like Forman, it was well into the fight and Ali had been taunting , trying to get him to punch himself out. It had worked and as Ali tells it Forman was leaning on the ropes showing his tiredness, Ali saw this and whispered to him “”This is the wrong place to get tired, George”. And he was right. Thats where I was before Christmas but as in Formans case its the wrong place for me to get tired too, so excuse the language but fuck tiredness, I’ve gone pedal to the metal and am not aiming to crawl over that finish line….I’m going to sail over it, strong, smiling and of course with a little style.
Thats it for now, those who know me will be surprised but sometimes I get a little bored of talking about myself [not often :)].
Your inspiration for this week is the following video featuring yours truly. When a bunch of Playas gets together you just never know when a party will break out. And yes that is a strobe on my scooter and no yuo cannot afford.
[the action really starts to hit it about 1 min 12 seconds in]
Oh and remember, keep the faith, kill the virus.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
I’m walking around with an Epi-Pen and pair of scissors in my purse after only 13 injections, after a “we can’t be sure” rash. Can’t imagine what you’re going through.
Hell, I could do 3 injections in my left testicle - wait a minute, I don’t have one of those, Oh my GOD! There’s none on the right side either!
WTF - wait a minute, maybe they’re those things on my chest?
Stop the presses - just remembered through the brain fog - I’m a woman, whew!
So, January 26, 2007, can’t hardly wait!
January 7th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Love the video:)
You are human after all!
January 8th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Great to hear from you again. After 19 weeks of treatment, I can’t imagine what 72 must be like!
I am in the Prove 1 trials for VX-950 and found out today that I am in the 24 week treatment group (Pegasys and Copegus with VX-950 for the first 12 weeks). Next week I should know the actual viral load - hallelujah - I’ve been on the anemia rollercoaster for several weeks (count was down to 9.2 at one point) but finally got Epogen (procrit) at week 15. I never appreciated red blood cells so much in my life. Now I just deal with itching and needing more sleep instead of looking like a ghost and going to bed after dinner - luckily I was able to work from home part of the time. Some days I never got out of my pajamas.
Loved the video, too. Keep the faith, kill the virus!
January 9th, 2007 at 12:30 am
Wow! Respect! 72 weeks! And getting so near the end. Great fight, HCB. Obviously you’ve seen this: http://imdb.com/title/tt0118147/ If not, you should! Best sports documentary ever made.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Yo! - y’all White Boys CAN dance! And Step, too!
January 13th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Glad to see you still kickin, of course we knew it all along….
Also good to know you still got the redneck in you, only we have the privilege to get out of the vehicle during some incident stupid or suspicious.
January 13th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
3 more injections — yeah, enough rope-a-doping, time to kick some ass.
January 14th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
There I was thinking you were too sick and tired to post and your jigging round your scooter..
3 more…well done.
January 16th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I am amazed at the dancing skills of you Brits, it must be in the genes.
January 17th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Nice try Hep C Boy! You’re not THAT much of a boy
Hakken indeed!
January 21st, 2007 at 11:37 am
For those interested in the VX-950 trials, I was unblinded at week 20 - in a treatment group that got VX-950 for 12 weeks and interferon/ribavirin for a total of 24 weeks (I have 3 more weeks to go).
Friday I got my viral load info. I started at 4 million copies. By day 4 of treatment I was at 1,260 copies with no detectable virus by day 29 and it has stayed that way!!! Needless to say I’m very happy. My only complication was anemia and at week 14 they put me on Epogen (same as Procrit). The trial I am participating in is Prove 1 which is for treatment naive, genotype one patients.
There are more trials coming for non-responders to SOC.
Keep the faith, kill the virus!
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:28 am
my doctor ( specialist ) in hepc refuses to treat me with interferon , because i have a suicidal tendency since i have this virus . started with panic attacks ( caused by hepc by the way ) then bla bla bla .. found out that i was infected ,(hate that word ) . so i would like to know how the treatent affects a person in my condition ( if anybody out there ) is in my condition.. i always think i am the worst case of anybody . HELP ME PLEASE i am 56 had this for 15 years but now i feel lousyer every day…leave me a message .. i feel so alone and sick …
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:31 am
me again i am at deniseduhamel55@hotmail.com . thaank you in advance.. love denise from montreal …
September 1st, 2007 at 12:00 am
not on interferon yet because the gasto… says i need to get depression under control first. i don’t get that. i just got internet service today so i don’t know who i’m writing or if i should do this but well i don’t want anyone to know i have hep c. i’m kinda in denial but i was looking up alternative meds and this came up. i don’t know how serious the virus is or what i should do about it. can i live a long life without treatment or should i be worried? It leads to cancer, right? well, i must sound stupid. bye