paris-846873_640.jpg
Waiting. It’s the one thing we learn to do very well. We wait to get access to the meds. We wait to start treatment. We wait to get our first UND. We wait to finish the course: 8, 12 or 24 weeks. Then we wait for SVR12.

You’d think with all that waiting, that the waiting would be over, wouldn’t you. I mean, some of us have been waiting for nearly a year to get to the end point of treatment. But of course it’s not over. Because for some of us, especially those who have been quite sick, there are more things to wait for.

I’m waiting to see if my platelets and INR improve. They are quite low at the moment (70 and 1.5 respectively). My platelet count has bounced around a bit hitting numbers from 70 to 90 and a few in between. My INR has sat around 1.4 - 1.5. Of course this indicates I still have an issue with my liver (no surprise there, it’s called cirrhosis). In my case, those numbers are not rebounding as quickly as my specialist would like.

So we will be keeping a close eye on them and waiting to see if they improve. Of course everything else is super: my liver enzymes are great, my bilirubin and albumin are all in normal range. My blood cells are returning to normal. So I take great delight in that, while still watching the other indicators with a wary eye.

The other thing we wait for is scan results. I had an ultrasound on Friday. I have no idea what that showed. I do know I have no ascites, and two cysts I’ve had for ages are unchanged. I know that because the technician was taking a long time to do one particular area and she apologised, saying she needed to measure the cysts to make sure there was no change and it could be quite fiddly. I know about the ascites because I  mentioned cutting back my diuretic and asked if there was any evidence I needed to up it again. She answered with a no.

But of course you worry don’t you. You hope fervently that there’s not something hiding there. I can only assume if the news is bad they’ll get on to me pretty quickly and if it’s not bad, I’ll hear about that too. Just not as quickly.

But it really tends to make you hold your breath.

So for me, waiting consists of 3 monthly blood tests, 6 monthly ultrasounds and yearly gastroscopies.  Apart from more regular blood tests, it’s business as normal.

The waiting game continues.

*Note - just heard from the hospital. Ultrasound all okay. No changes, nothing suspicious. Clear!