it’s hard to let go of the fantasy that I’m going to be cured and then bounce around like a 20 year old… though at 20 I’d already had the virus 2 years and I’m nearly 60 now. Fantasies are funny things..

I think it is a universal fantasy when you get older and start to creak a bit, to wish that you could get back your 20 year old body. But for people who already had hepC in their 20s it is especially poignant because those years are all about being young and carefree and having fun. So if you are not fit enough then they pass you by. I know of really heart wrenching stories from other people who missed out on their 20’s because they weren’t fit enough to keep up with their peers. Coming to terms with the loss of those years is particularly hard. That didn’t happen to me but I still lost about the last 3 decades of my life and I think about how those years might have been if I hadn’t had the virus.

So, I don’t have any recipe for getting over the lost time but I do sometimes manage to be philosophical about it. Life happens. My dad was forced to spend 10 years of his best young years fighting in WW2 and his health was never the same afterwards. If you live in a country that is not at war then you have something to be thankful for because war destroys lives even more thoroughly than hepC. I know that is cold comfort but it’s the best I’ve been able to come up with, for what it is worth.

dt