I’ve been so fortunate with the people who look after my health. Like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a team to keep me in one piece.
I have a specialist team at the liver clinic in Sydney who do a great job of managing my liver treatment and related issues.
I also have a GP at home who has been keeping an eye on the other “stuff”: the health matters that you tend to neglect when you are grappling with a serious and complex health issue such as hepatitis C. It isn’t sexy work but someone has to keep an eye on my blood pressure, vaccinations, pap tests and routine health checks.
She also keeps an eye on my mental health. She likes to see me once a month to check that I’m okay, that I am managing treatment both mentally and emotionally. Not because she thinks I’m unduly fragile, just that I think she believes everyone deserves the opportunity to be supported professionally during treatment. I might only see her for 15 minutes, but it’s long enough to discuss how everything’s going.
She keeps me optimistic. She asks me the questions I need to be asked. She challenges me to be honest.
And when I told her I had three weeks left she became quite teary and thanked me for allowing her to join me on my treatment and how lucky I had been to have the opportunity to access Viekira Pak.
I keep saying I’ve been lucky.
I have been.
I also have a GP at home who has been keeping an eye on the other “stuff”: the health matters that you tend to neglect when you are grappling with a serious and complex health issue such as hepatitis C. It isn’t sexy work but someone has to keep an eye on my blood pressure, vaccinations, pap tests and routine health checks.
She also keeps an eye on my mental health. She likes to see me once a month to check that I’m okay, that I am managing treatment both mentally and emotionally. Not because she thinks I’m unduly fragile, just that I think she believes everyone deserves the opportunity to be supported professionally during treatment. I might only see her for 15 minutes, but it’s long enough to discuss how everything’s going.
She keeps me optimistic. She asks me the questions I need to be asked. She challenges me to be honest.
And when I told her I had three weeks left she became quite teary and thanked me for allowing her to join me on my treatment and how lucky I had been to have the opportunity to access Viekira Pak.
I keep saying I’ve been lucky.
I have been.
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