Karen Hoyt is a blogger who has a story about hepatitis C, cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, liver cancer, and liver transplantation. This excerpt first appeared on Karen’s I Help C blog.

I have no filter these days. So what I’m feeling kind of blurts out. You can guess the result: most of my time is spent home alone. That works, but sometimes you’ve got to bop around town, be around folks. Thank goodness I have a good heart (that helps when you’re waaay honest)  but on those days when I’m feeling overwhelmed, it can be awkward, even stressful. I still haven’t decided what this blog is about. I’m thinking it will be about handling stress. I’ll guess it will be called stress busters for Hepatitis C.


I’m calling it that because this whole health battle has brought on stress that is above and beyond what someone my age is dealing with. But don’t we all have stress? Aren’t we all looking for a place to escape to where it is stopped from entering our lives? A place where we can live in safety from judgement from others? I picture a giant angel as a bouncer at the door with a shining sword and shield blocking all tense muscles, frenzied thoughts, and rapid heartbeats.


I’m in Sedona this month on retreat. It’s not a retreat from stress. Your geographic location has nothing to do with how stress enters by the way. It’s at the house where you live. It’s in your favorite chair. It’s in the bed with you. It’s on your job. It’s on retreat with you. It’s there before you eat the cheesecake and it’s still there afterwards. I’m really good at finding a few precious moments of respite. Actually, I’ve become somewhat of an expert lately.

I’m working a lot of new tools into my toolbox and also sharpening some old ones. They may sound kookyish to you. Part of letting go of stress is letting go of what others think about your way of handling the world. If your shoulders are clenched up around your ears, you’re stressed. The tight jaw or sick tummy? Yipper. Stress also causes headaches and bunches of other stuff. So here my new list of stress busters for Hepatitis C...

Click here to read the rest of Karen’s blog, "Stress Busters for Hepatitis C."