Well done wombat. I’ve officially lost count of the number of UNDs.

But Greg lives in Woodbridge. We would, however, happily have him in Franklin with the rest of the cool kids.

Take that grumpy nurse!

Congratulations, Vicki. Great news.

That’s the sort of thing I like to read when I get up in the morning.

Absolutely thrilled for you Nadia.

Oh yeah I’d had them before treatment too, for some years. But interestingly, they were a slightly different quality on and off treatment.

Before treatment they were a constant right sided dull ache that would last for days and made sleeping on my right side uncomfortable. On treatment, the liver discomfort was confined almost entirely to that third week. The pain came and went over a matter of hours and was more focal rather than being spread over a wide area.

I think Nadia’s right. I think it has something to do with the inflammation settling. Clearly, large numbers of the virus are obliterated in those first couple of weeks. So it makes sense that then the inflammation starts to subside. Interestingly, around about week 4 – 5 the joint and muscle pains in the rest of my body started to improve markedly including some tendon problems that were due to past injuries and which had become chronic. It was as if the reduction of inflammation possibly due to an overactive immune system spread to the rest of the body.

The broken arm has made this sort of stuff harder to assess. But the mere fact I’m bored witless because of ithe arm where prior to treatment I would have been relieved to have an excuse to do exactly what I felt like doing – absolutely nothing – is a pretty good sign everything is still on track. In a really tedious sort of way.

Oh yay! Sure sounds like those drugs are doing their thing.

I can think of a couple people you might be wanting to serve up a big slice of humble pie to Nadia, if things continue like this. Preferably with lashings of “I told you so “.

I read somewhere the other day but now can’t find the article that the earliest recorded UND was at 4 days. Mind boggling stuff.

The vast improvement in mood after the drugs kick in is the effect that has most taken me by surprise. And the positive outcome I probably appreciate the most.

The whole thing reminds me of that movie Cocoon. The IMDb synopsis:

When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigour.

Also to add to the above, nurse said of the patients she’s personally monitoring (don’t know how many that might be or what their personal characteristics are – quite a few patients I’d imagine given I’m in Hobart), no one who was UND at 4 weeks had relapsed so far. And the EASL guidelines for cirrhotics is 12 weeks with RIBA. That’s why my specialist wanted to add in the Riba in case there was some cirrhosis there given assessing fibrosis is not an exact science no matter how you do it.

So while I’m taking some risk by not extending, I’m confident that it’s a small enough risk it’s worth taking. But of course, not only do everyone’s individual characteristics influence what decision they make there may also be different personal factors to consider. Like whether to you can go get the drugs if a worst case scenario eventuates and exports of generics are stopped.

Oh and nurse said once you are UND on treatment you will stay UND while on treatment (provided you continue to comply of course). You can’t go backwards while on treatment. Hope she’s right and I’m not spouting rubbish. Perhaps the doc can confirm. So my next VL is scheduled for immediately after end of treatment. Next one after that will be 12 weeks after which hopefully I’ll be done. Got sent away with an FBC form but only to be used if I start seeing any signs of anemia. Now at the end of week 7, that isn’t happening yet so doubt it’s going to be a problem.