(Why do I feel I’m trapped in a Les Mis performance?)
I’ve blogged this entire treatment, from the start to the finish. Well, almost the finish. I have one day more of tablets. Some in the morning, some in the evening. Then I’m done.
Done.
I’ve counted down months, weeks and days. Now I have one day more.
I’ve watched my bilirubin levels skyrocket. I’ve watched my haemoglobin levels plummet. I’ve had ultrasounds, fibroscans, gastroscopies and blood tests - so many blood tests. I’ve seen my doctors evaluate if my kidneys were working, if my liver was holding up, if things were going as expected.
The further through it I got, the more I was able to understand what I should worry about and what I should let through to the keeper. In the end I hardly worried at all about the treatment at all. In fact, I can’t even tell you what it felt like not to be on treatment. I’ve been on it so long it’s just how life is.
But I have one day more.
I’ve tried to keep any advice I’ve given helpful and focused on the personal part of treatment. Now I have one day more I’m going to say something I hope you will take to heart.
If you have hepatitis C and have the option of treatment what are you waiting for? A better cure? You can wait for nirvana, but these treatments are very do-able. For most people the side effects are minimal - and I say that as someone who got hammered early on. Don’t wait. Hepatitis C doesn’t wait for your liver, don’t wait to wipe it out.
Don’t be afraid. Don’t sit there looking at the pills. They don’t have a hope of curing hepatitis C in the bottle. You have to take them. Look on this as a grand journey, a great opportunity, because that’s what it is. It’s a chance at a healthier life. It won’t be a new life, but it will be a better one.
If you are still fighting for access to treatment, don’t stop. Keep appealing insurance decisions and government decisions. It’s your health, your life. If that’s not worth fighting for, what is?
If you are in Australia, start lobbying. The federal government is going to make a decision soon. Don’t give them the opportunity to make the wrong one. Let your voice be heard on this.
Don’t you want your last day of treatment too?
One day more.
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