Friday, May 1, 2015

It's been a while...

My thanks to Paul, for after a very long time, his recent post has made me realise I may as well continue the story I began here.
The truth is, the failure of my last dose of interferon treatment knocked me a great deal. It took about a year to recover. I was in a dark place, I admit. Since then I've tried to enjoy as full a life as I can. Oddly, because I was no longer on treatment, I felt better than for years and have been in a happier place since.

That said, my liver is not in good shape. Fibroscans, assesing cirrhosis, are so high the doctors have stopped testing me. I have been waiting for the tormented organ to give up and get a transplant.

However, recently a new set of drugs have appeared. These drugs act on the lifecycle of the virus and have proved to been very effective. They quote 95% "cure" rates. All well and good, but the treatment is so new and expensive ($1,000 a pill) many countries are reluctant to use them. The good news is that NICE has now approved it and NHS England have stumped up a bit of cash for those in dire need. That includes yours truly.

I was told by my consultant I would start on the drug know as Harvoni last Tuesday. Unfortunately, at the last minute, the funding was suspended because of the election! I know it sounds odd, but it's true, and I'm not alone in being affected, read here... NHS HIATUS

So, once again I am in limbo. Meanwhile the virus continues to attack my body and drain all energy. Of course there is no guarantee the new treatment will work, but I really need to get on with it ASAP.

I'll try and post more regularly about this and other things.

Thanks for listening.