Hi there. I wrote my first post tonight on this forum, but it seems that there are two places specifically for new members' postings, and this one could be a slightly better fit. The other sub-category is Welcome! in the FixHepC Admin category & I posted in there because it said Welcome and there some similar postings there already. So, I've cut and pasted my post from there and I'm feeling more nervous about making a lame start on this Forum than I am about starting treatment.
I'm a complete novice to online forums and chat rooms etc. So far, this seems like an excellent place to start; everyone sounds welcoming and supportive, and after all, the underlying reason that everyone is here is a hell of a lot more important than just a bit of embarassment about sounding a bit naff!
So today I started generic treatment obtained through fixHepC for Genotype 3 HCV. Daclatasvir/Sofusbovir/Ribavirin.
This is my third attempt at treatment. I had Interferon injections 3 times week for a year, then Peg-Interferon/Ribavirin for a year and I was getting a bit desperate not being able to get on any trials or afford to live in the UK or have the New Zealand MoH fund any treatment until the Buyers Club became available.
I am really deeply grateful to Dr Freeman and everyone involved in this programme and I'm incredibly excited about the prospect of living a normal life for maybe many years to come!
I probably contracted hep C around 1980 in Sydney, so that's 37 years now. I have cirrhosis of course, but it seems reasonably well compensated. I have the usual symptoms - interesting how only recently I have begun attributing them to Hep C - I used to think that there was something wrong with me. Heh.
I have only just completed treatment for a rather aggressive case of prostate cancer and so far so good. I had radiation treatment and a couple of years of hormone therapy (the effects are only just starting to wear off). In my lowest moments, I imagined that if the prostate cancer didn't kill me, the cirrhosis or future hepatic carcinoma surely would.
But now, there's hope!
I'll check in again soon, as there is a wealth of information on this forum. Thanks for reading this and I look forward to chatting to some of the people that might read this.