Yes I know, maybe Mike Tyson is not the best guy to hold up as a role model. He has his faults [but don't we all] but one of his strengths was the way in which he intimidated his opponents with his “baddest man on the planet” persona.

Well Mike time to move over [spits and adopts a Southern US accent] there’s a new kid in town, goes by the name of Hep C Boy.

A few tough weeks lie ahead and I’m not going to get through that by being Mr Nice Guy, we have Hep C Virus to kill, no need to be squeamish about it. I’ve spent a large part of the last few weeks visualising the treatment, its a technique that I find helpful and is apparently used by sports stars. I think the theory is that by running future events through your mind, over and over and over again, things start to become familiar and therefore less daunting when the real events occur. It works for me, the trick is not to let it tip over into obsession and be “visualising” 24 hours a day that can be tiring and counter-productive.

Treatment starts on Monday for me [less than 48 hours away] and boy am I ready. I feel like an athlete who is peaking just at the right time, a boxer who is in perfect shape and am gagging [that word may not work with our American visitors :)] to get started. When I do the first Interferon injection it will be about my 200th time, I’ve already done it in my mind 199 times. I’ve held the syringe, I know what colour it is, how much it weighs and what it feels like in the hand. I’m no stranger to injecting myself either

As the plunger goes down I will “see”, as I have for 100’s of times, the Interferon flowing into my body, I will “see” the Hep virus cowering in fear and I will “see” my immune system kick into gear. Its going to be hard, messy and at times unpleasant but I’ve visualised all that too. One thing I haven’t visualised is the eventual outcome, the sweet taste of victory is a rare thing and needs to be rationed, I can wait for that.

So move over Mike your time has past.

You too Mr Hep C Virus.

I love old Rudyard, crazy name - crazy guy, makes good cakes too I hear.

If you are feeling a bit down have a read of one of Rudy’s finest poems, If;

——–

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son.

—————

That do the trick?

Good, now get back in the trenches Soldier we have Hepatitis to kill!

Let me fill in a little on the time line, bear in mind I’m a UK boy so your mileage may vary.

End of 2004 felt unwell, Early December 2004 confirmed as having Hepatitis C, April 2005 first appointment at hospital for blood tests etc and arranging of ultrasound scan [more on that later], biopsy in May 05, results a few weeks after and then treatment arrange to commence mid-September. Just a note on the starting treatment date, I delayed the start date so that I could get organised it could have been sooner as far as the hospital was concerned.

So, the biggest step in the process is probably the Liver Biopsy, they need to take a piece of your Liver and pop it under a microscope to see what damage has occurred [if any]. Blood tests, ultrasound scans don’t really give the Doctor’s that much information from what I have experienced, its the Biopsy that is the main event.

The liver is a pyramid-shaped organ that lies within the upper right side of the abdomen. In a typical liver biopsy, a needle is inserted through the rib cage or abdominal wall and into the liver to obtain a sample for examination.

Source

Let me tell you about mine, what it is and what it isn’t and what you can expect based on my limited experience.

I imagined it like drilling an ice core in the Arctic. Its nothing like that at all but thats the picture I had in my mind, rusty drill bits, BIG rusty drill bits being twisted about to extract a core of my liver. Luckily its NOTHING like that

I arrived at the hospital, was directed to a bed in a room with just 2 other beds and just laid down and chilled for while. I aways grab a newspaper and this time took my ipod with some comedy stuff on it, Chris Rock if you must know very funny and probably quite offensive to a lot of people. The comedy may have been a little mistake because I was soon giggling to myself and getting a few strange looks. I sort of decided to have a pain killer before the biopsy, must admit I didn’t really think about it much but it seemed the right thing to do.

So lets get it on…..you lie on your side and get a little injection of a local anaesthetic about midway up your torso and over to the right [as you look down], it stings a bit but nothing to write home about. So the consultant has a feel about and marks the spot he is going to go in at, then he pulls out a mobile ultrasound machine [on a trolley] just to confirm he has the right target!

Now I don’t know if its just me but something funny, as in amusing, happens every time I visit the hospital or doctors. I think its partly that I exaggerate such events in my mind to make them seem funnier but I digress. Let me digress a little more to the night before. I had been having a look on the world wide web, or t’internet as it is known locally, about Liver Biopsy’s. Now it really is a very simple and risk free thing but has a fatality rate of about 1 in 10,000, less than crossing the street so I gave it no more thought. On to the funny…to break the ice I said to the consultant “was your guess right?”, to which he replied “yes, it should be I have done almost 10,000 of these”! I found that funny anyhow, managed to stop myself asking if he had “lost” anybody to establish if the 1 in 10,000 had already be accounted for.

So, on you side and he gets the needle. Now I didn’t look too closely but its big, not huge but bigger than a normal needle. You breathe in, he pushes the needle in and the most you can feel is somebody pushing at your side, no pain at all, he withdraws, has a look at the tip of the needle I assume at the tiny sliver of liver he has [and it really is a tiny little bit] seems happy and thats it, done. As easy and as smooth as you like, over very quickly with no pain apart from a little sting with the anaesthetic.

Don’t hold me too exact times but afterwards you have to lay flat for an hour, then sitting up in bed for another hour, then walk about for 20 mins and they will let you go. On goes the ipod:)

There was some pain after, no biggie and probably dulled by the pain killer I had prior. Here is the strange thing though, as least it threw me, the pain is in your right shoulder, freaky or what! Must be the old knee bone connected to the whatever bone type thing. Perfectly normal but still feels a bit strange.

Off home I go, bed rest for the rest of the afternoon, day off the following day just to be on the safe side and then back to normal the day after. The only thing to show for the “ordeal” was a small blood spot were the needle had gone in.

So, to sum up, and bear in mind this is my experience and hopefully yours too. Quick, almost painless [the shoulder pain after could make you wince a little if you aren't as tough as me ;)] and back to normal very quickly. If you have to have a liver biopsy don’t worry too much about it, its a walk in the park. Well a walk in the park while somebody sticks a needle in your side

Conclusion: No big deal.

Results take a week or two or three to come back, more of that later.

Endoscopy is a fancy name for a tube down your throat with a camera that slides down the middle. It is a fairly routine procedure for many illnesses, in my case it was needed because of the cirrhosis.

In simple terms, when the liver gets blocked it can cause some back pressure in the portal vein that leads from the stomach, this can cause blood vessels to pop and bleed. Bleeding in your stomach is not a good thing

This is probably a better explanation:

What is portal hypertension and what causes it?

Normally, blood is carried to the liver by a major blood vessel called the portal vein. If blood can’t flow easily through the liver because of cirrhosis, the blood gets slowed down in this vein and the pressure inside the vein increases. This higher blood pressure in the portal vein is called portal hypertension.

If blood can’t flow normally through the portal vein, it must return to the heart using other blood vessels. These vessels become swollen because of the increased amount of blood flowing through them. They are called varices. Varices have thin walls and can easily break open because they aren’t meant to handle such high-pressure blood flow. Bleeding from a broken blood vessel is serious and can even be fatal.

source

Cirrhosis is really quite a slow moving thing, it won’t kill you overnight, bleeding in the stomach can and so its important that the medical people take a look.

Thats the boring stuff out of the way, now for the exciting part!

So I turned up at the hospital, alone as usual as I like it that way. The family were away on holiday which I was pleased about, saves them sharing the stress. Nothing to eat for 6 hours before and nothing to drink for 2 hours, not the end of the world although I did want to punch the two women in the waiting room drinking what looked to be great coffee!

A short wait followed, been surprised at that as I have been expecting to wait around for hours but everything has been snappy so far, and in for a quick bit of form filling. Just the usual stuff, what is going to happen etc and a sign of the consent form. The question of sedatives was raised, these are given to calm you down as they put the tube down your throat, I said yes.

So another bit of waiting, this time with others waiting for the same procedure. Thats what I assumed anyhow, its a bit like being in Jail you are not supposed to ask what everybody is in for. Mostly just me and another guy, a BIG guy with more tattoos than I had ever seen.

The big guy goes in first.

My turn. In I go and then ask again about the sedative and I ask if the big guy had it, they say no. Now that called my whole manhood into question, there was no way I could have the sedative. Also one of the guys at work had an Endoscopy and he had the seditive, another good reason for me not to have it.

I won’t bore you with the details but its not as bad as you think [they squirt a bit of local at the back of your throat first] and the bit they put in your mouth is handy to bite on, a bit of gagging and spluttering, lots of burping and farting [they pump a bit of air in] and over in about 10 mins. I felt a bit sorry for the staff there, all female, spend all day listening to guys belch and fart then probably go home for the same from the husband

Just a few comments, hopefully this will help anybody going in for the same thing.

Your tounge is still free and I found it helped to push the tube up to what was the top of my mouth, I was lieing on my left so that would be pushing the tube into my right cheek. I think that mainly stops the tube wallowing about as much and helps with the gagging.

I was worried about being sick, more for the embarrassment than anything, but at no time did I feel the urge. Gagged a lot but never thought of being sick.

You cannot speak with the tube in, which may sound obvious but still can come as a shock, so no asking to go to the bathroom halfway through. One of the nurses was stroking my hair the whole time, saying things like “don’t worry, won’t be long now”. As nice and as reassuring as that was I did want to say “I am not a baby, I am a full grown man” :).

I have to wait a while for the results, I prefer to wait for them rather than badger for immediate feedback. I rely more on taking the vibe of the room, generally if things aren’t too bad they look you in the eye, its when they look away that I find bad news tends to follow. They did spot an ulcer while they were in there and gave me some tablets to take, to be honest I think they are making me a little unwell but it is only for a month. No big deal but it does seem to be a case of one thing after another, cutting into stuff that I like. No alcohol is not a problem but I did look forward to a nice curry, but that is no more. Thankfully I like Farley’s Rusks a lot, 3 at a time with lots of Milk [skimmed of course] mashed up into what can only be described as a soup. Nectar

So, the Endoscopy…not as bad as you think, not pleasant but not awful either, I was surprised that my throat didn’t hurt after. With the sedative it is probably a walk in the park. I’m glad I didn’t have the sedative though, made me as much as a man as the BIG guy and more of a man than they guy at work. Even when I lose I win.

The worst thing so far is that to a poor speller like me its like a double penalty. Not only do I have what is considered a very serious disease caused by a nasty virus, on top of that I get reminded everyday of being completely unable to spell either of them!

hapatitis heathites hepatisis hepatitas hepatitus hepetitis hepititis hepotitis hepstitas hepitias hepatitas cirocis chrocis cirosis cirhosis cirhoses cirrhoses ….see?

Sometimes fate is a very cruel thing

Catchy title huh, kind of like My Yahoo

Well where shall we begin, I know, I know….at the beginning.

Sometimes in the early 80’s I caught Hepatitis B, I’m pretty sure I know who from but thats of no consequence. Now it seems there is a certain demographic out there that splits Hepatitis C “sufferers” into two groups, clean and unclean, good and bad etc etc. I’m firmly in the bad camp, intravenous drug abuse [amphetamines were my thing if you must know] led to the infection and for that I hang my head in shame. Only joking, there is no shame here only the past, the present and with a touch of luck the future.

Now it seems that at the same time I caught Hepatitis C but as far as I know there wasn’t even a test for this until the 1990’s so lets fast forward to 2004.

You know the drill by now, feeling unwell, tired, weak etc etc. I went to see the Doctor and to my eternal regret missed the chance for a great one liner, he set me up a treat with his opening line;

Dr - “Haven’t seen you for a while?”

And I should have said “Yeah, I’ve not been very well”

But I didn’t

So a few blood tests later and it turns out I have Hepatitis C. Fast forward a few months and the results of the biopsy are in, its D-Day! Well Mr Hep C Boy your liver is quite badly damaged, scores a 6 on our scale. Now to be honest I was quite pleased with that, I must have had the virus for over 20 years and to only have 6/10 damage ain’t too bad. But you all know the punchline, here in the UK at least the scale is 0-6, top marks again for me.

To cut a very long story short my treatment, more of which will follow I’m sure, starts mid-September. I’m hoping a few people will enjoy coming along for the ride, fun might not be the word but it will be interesting I promise.

Well thats the first post out of the way, the hardest they say, so let me take this opportunity to get just two things off my chest. Firstly the obligatory blame somebody else bit; why on earth after being a drug abuser AND having Hepatitis B nobody thought to test me for C in the last 20 years I’ll never know. And secondly if I knew then what I know now, and was sat there with the certain knowledge that if I stuck that shared needle in my vein then this is where I would end up…..honestly that teenage me would have still done it, no question.

Feel free to add your thoughts and comments, not just good as bad ones are welcome too. As Mr Soon To Be Kicked In The Ass Hepatitis C Virus is just about to find out, I LIKE A FIGHT.