(This entry was originally published on Life Beyond Hepatitis C September 23, 2014. It is reprinted with permission. With Thanksgiving this week, this seems a perfect time to reprint this.)

Hep C NO LONGER lives with me. Today is a special day to celebrate being cured of hep C. Two years ago my triple therapy treatment for Hep C was completed. Freedom. Literally freedom from hepatitis C, from treatment, from looking over my shoulder and wondering what the hep C giant is doing, Freedom is a fantastic feeling. Thank you God!

Special dates will forever stand out. The date I began my last treatment for hep C, April 9, 2012 and the date treatment was completed, September 23, 2012.  Hooray for Freedom!!!!

It’s surreal. Something that unpacked and took up residence in the body for 20 years is GONE. Gone is hepatitis C but the memory will forever stay with me, this may sound strange, but the blessings I gained through this journey with hep C will stay with me too. It’s funny how knowing the hep C lingo and finding out your liver enzymes ALT, AST, and viral load RNA, become a big deal in your life. Makes me want to have a bumper sticker on my truck that says,“I’m a Hep C Warrior and Hep C is Now Toast.”

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I used to say, “Hep C lives with me, I don’t live with it.” Last year at the American Liver Foundation Liver Walk I wrote on my T.Shirt, “Hep C NO LONGER lives with me.” What would you say on a bumper sticker or t-shirt?

One big lesson I learned through my hepatitis C journey was how important thought management became to health. It affects everything! This morning I was reminded about thought management. So often we concentrate on weight management, money management, risk management, but what about thought management?

What we think and allow our thoughts to nest on really does affect us down to our core.  Now I’m not saying don’t be tuned into reality but I do know having a Can Do spirit and attitude and making our minds up to enjoy life no matter what the circumstances does make a big difference.

Today is a reflective day. It’s a day to celebrate. It’s a day in which I once again offer praise and thanks to the Lord for all that He has done.

I think about all the up’s and down’s. All the changes that have happened over the years hep C lived with me, and through it all, the Lord remained constant. He remained faithful and helped me through it all.

I stand on His word that says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise and I am saved from my enemies.”  Psalm 18:2-3
 
So yea, “Hep C NO LONGER lives with me” is my vote for a bumper sticker or t-shirt. What about you?  What would you say?