Early Week 7 Check-in

Hokey Smokes, Bullwinkle! I'm flat on my back!

Friday is shot night. Saturday morning is usually a better day for me with Sunday my day to really be down. But I was horizontal for 16 hours on Saturday. I didn't even get out of bed until after 10:00 AM, this after going to bed at 10:00 PM. Did virtually nothing.

Sunday I made it to church, and managed to take my son to the sport store to buy some track shoes. I collapsed once I got home and have either been in bed or on the couch since then. I have a bit of a headache, but no flu-like symptoms, I just can't move! This is horrible. My wife is having a hard time with it. She's trying to do what needs doing, but it's hard for her when I'm crashed out.

I'm gradually coming alive this evening. Of course now, it's 9:00 PM and I just took my Elavil (Amitriptyline). Since I started taking it I'm sleeping better. But it that what's whacking me? This is going to be a long year.

End of week 5 (correction! Week 6) check-in

First of all, thanks for the encouraging comments. I have my share of prayers, good thoughts and positive vibrations coming my way. Much appreciated.

The doc had another hemoglobin test run last week, some 5 days after the previous and called me to say the results were about the same as previously. So, I'm at least not going downhill. This week has been comparatively good. The Elavil seems to be helping me (not to mention my wife) sleep. The biggest annoyance right now is the cold/allergies that has my nose and sinuses congested. I don't think it's all sides -- my youngest is home from school today with a sinus infection and displaying many of the same symptoms I have. I went through a round of antibiotics a couple of weeks ago. This week the General Practitioner gave me a new allergy pill and nose spray.

Although the week has been pretty good, I'm starting to see a pattern of really slowing down on Thursday. I suspect it's the time-release characteristic of the PEG added to the interferon. In any case, I'm pretty tired today and should probably be lying down between phone calls. Last call coming up, and then I take up a prone position.

Cheers all!

Saw the gastro doc yesterday

I'm anemic. No surprise there. When the girl took my blood pressure my heart rate was around 120. "What'd you do? Power-walk here?" Uh, no. I mosied from the parking lot to the elevator and sat in the waiting room for 10 minutes before I mosied in here. My hemaglobin level is 9. Normal is 14. The doc says it's like being down 3 pints of blood.

That explains the fatigue. Dead tired. Yet, I haven't been sleeping well. The doc prescribed a light dose of Elavil. I took one tiny white tab at 8:00 PM and was groggy by 10:00. I actually slept last night, but the trouble is, I slept today too. About three hours on the couch. Tough to work like that.

Encouraging news as well. My liver enzymes are back to normal -- I didn't get the numbers. But I know they were trending that way from the last test. The doc raised the possibility that this might might be a 24-week course. I have Genotype 4 which is recommended for 48 weeks, but it's a comparatively new genotype and they may be following the more aggressive protocol as a fail-safe. I have mixed emotions. If I stop after 24 weeks and relapse, I'd be facing another 48 weeks. Not something I would look forward to. I'm leaving the whole matter on the back burner. I haven't made it through the fifth week yet!

Beginning Week Four

Friday was not a good day. It was weird. I was not in pain, not overly tired, nothing, yet I felt just lousy. Uncomfortable. I'm wondering if it wasn't the depression thing that I've heard about.

Friday is shot night, so that may have been a factor. I have to get my head real straight -- last week I had some trouble with the syringe. The genius that designed it made the needle cover fit tighter than the needle fits on the syringe. Consequently, the needle came loose as I was injecting. I had to pull out and reattach the needle before injecting again. Probably a no-no, but I survived. Then as I got down to the bottom I realized I hadn't purged the air -- this as I'm hearing the bubbble entering the needle. Stop pull out. Not enough left to make any nevermind.

This time was better. I went more systematically and made a point of detaching the needle cover and replacing it loosely before attaching it to the barrel of the syringe. Everything went smoothly, but it still creeps me out. It goes against some pretty deep-level conditioning to point a sharp object at one's person and jab!

Today I've felt pretty good. I put some drip irrigation in the front planter (I live in the Sunny Southwest -- we haven't had rain in over 100 days). It's light work playing with 1/4-inch hose and little drip emitters. I kept a glass of water at hand and didn't push it. My older daughter (17) came out and hung out with me. She's good company. This evening I walked the dog down to the corner drugstore -- half-mile round trip. Last month it would have been nothing to run two miles. I'm not complaining, but it's going to be a chore to get back in shape.

Time for meds and bed. Sunday is usually rough. We'll see.

Late Week 3 Check-in

This sucks! I made a bad mistake on Monday night. I was tired but watched Surface (cute show -- family friendly, lots of excitement and intrigue) with the kids. My mistake was to drink a cup of coffee at 8:00 PM. I came in here and worked on another project until midnight. Next morning I was tired, but functional. Where I think I really made my mistake was in not eating anything from 7:30 AM until after 1:00 PM. When I finally got up I was wiped. Had to knock off at 2:00 and slept for a couple of hours. I tried to start working again, but it wasn't happening. I don't think I was up for more than a couple of hours for the rest of the evening.

Lesson: Eat. Sleep. Not so hard, now is it?