And really best of luck and prayers to you too Ariel. You’re a real lifter-upper person

Got LFT results yesterday. Mostly good news:

ALT 14 (0-45) Lowest I can ever remember
AST 24 (0-41) Lower than at end of treatment
T.Bili 41 (2-20)
D.Bili 13 (0-8 )

My wonderful doctor thinks that the reason my ALT and AST has gone down, but not the bilirubin, could be due to something called “Gilbert’s syndrome” (just checked it on Wikipedia – Napoleon had it!) which she said is harmless. She did get me to do a viral load test though just in case (and because I’m her first HCV antiviral patient and she wants to know for sure) which I did this morning and hopefully I’ll have results next Friday. It’s looking promising. And my energy has also picked up back to my normal post-treatment levels, which are maybe slightly better than pre-treatment (hard to compare as the effect of a good rest from a very stressful job is also there).

Thanks to all who’ve posted in this amazing discussion. My whole being went Yes! Yes! Yes! reading your post about worrying LondonGirl. So true – we have so many decisions to make before and on treatment that feel enormous. The weight of the world can feel like it rests upon what to eat for breakfast. And then there’s constantly tweaking levels of hope – enough to feel positive, but not so much that it sets you up for an enormous fall…

Khilde congratulations!

Pat1 love your positivity!

Sabrecat so agree much of the battle is the mind.

Darbara hang in there!

Daj thanks for your calm & balanced thoughts.

Lynne-Francis very very best of luck and prayers. Can’t wait to hear your news.

And Tweakmax, you’re so right, prayers always for all

May none of us need to count the pennies for another package from China!

Thank you all for wonderfully helpful and supportive replies. It’s kind of normalising that others are struggling post-treatment as well.

Very best wishes to you Darbara, Kenbasman, Geno1b4 and Sonix. May you all be perfectly cured!!!

I ended up not getting tests today, though I’m still feeling very tired. Started thinking along your lines, Serg. There’s no hurry. I also feel that after doing the 6 months on inter/riba/bocep 2 years ago and now just finishing this, that I would struggle to find the will for another go right now. And a big part of me wants to get back to just living, cured or not.

Though I think I will follow your advice Dr Freeman – thank you! – and get my liver functions done at least in the next couple of days. Would be useful and reality checking to at least have some data on what’s going on.

Ariel, CJ and Tweakmax, thanks for being with me here.

Yet again this forum has helped me through a really rough moment!

I can soooo relate to that Ken. When my energy’s okay I am always ending up doing too much – it’s only later that I usually notice that I’ve done too much because I’ve crashed – or even a day or two later. Combining too much activity with not enough water is a big mistake I make sometimes. Got to keep that water up…

Been out shopping today. Feeling really hungry – ate a big sushi box and brought home an apple pie and a tub of coconut yoghurt… hard to resist when I’m feeling low on energy sometimes. My body seems to be saying “give me fuel now!” Real craving feeling. At least I walked past the chocolate aisle

Thanks Ariel, LondonGirl, dointime and Greedfighter for the great support! I’m not feeling like a weird failure anymore for not suddenly feeling great. Hearing from you guys helped me through a really low day yesterday.

Feeling a bit better today – actually going to go out shopping. But I won’t push it, still not firing on many cylinders. I agree it’s best to just hang in there now, get cured and a few months with meds out of my system and then reassess. No doubt both the virus and the interferon and perhaps other meds have done some damage that will need to be more carefully assessed, at the right time. I almost say that with gritted teeth though – 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… ops:

Really glad I’ve got this space to talk about what’s really happening with people who really understand. Have a great healing day everyone!

Thanks Gaj, that’s a good reality check. I keep expecting myself to suddenly have lots of energy and feel great, just because some people have… but truth is I’ve always been on the pointy end of sfx. Gentle with self def the way to go…