I've had this disease for well over 20 years and up until recently showed little to no signs or symptoms so I pretty much ignored it not to mention that until recently treatment was a crap shoot. 
Well  I kept putting it off ,but now my gut is swelling up and I'm heading to the VA this week to see if I waited too long or not ..
If I'm too late then oh well.. I guess it's time to start taking this seriously . 
Last time I had a biopsy it didn't show much scaring.. I don't know what it'll show now ,but I gotta do something . Good news is that I quit drinking quite some time ago before any symptoms began showing up .
Up until just a few years ago I didn't really care ,but now I have a wonderful woman in my life and hope to stick around for her. 

Best ok luck... hope they can knock it out for you

Hope all turns out well for you.

You're ornery enough to beat this Gramps.

Good luck on the tests Gramps.

Best of luck my friend!

I'm going to quit looking up all the possible bad things that can happen with the disease..I'll just sit here thinking the worse .. I pretty much know what can happen , dwelling on it doesn't help. 
It's a silent type disease that typically doesn't show symptoms for years and years until suddenly it does so it's really easy to ignore .
I don't have the fear of death or any of that, but I really don't want my old lady nor my kids to have to deal with the problems that can come with it . I'm probably closer with my son than at any time he was growing up and don't want him to go through dealing with my problems so I pretty much don't discuss it with him or my daughter and since they live in Ohio there's really nothing they can do anyway . I don't see any point to making them worry needlessly.. 

(04-06-2018, 10:37 AM)grampahol Wrote: I'm going to quit looking up all the possible bad things that can happen with the disease..I'll just sit here thinking the worse .. I pretty much know what can happen , dwelling on it doesn't help. 
It's a silent type disease that typically doesn't show symptoms for years and years until suddenly it does so it's really easy to ignore .
I don't have the fear of death or any of that, but I really don't want my old lady nor my kids to have to deal with the problems that can come with it . I'm probably closer with my son than at any time he was growing up and don't want him to go through dealing with my problems so I pretty much don't discuss it with him or my daughter and since they live in Ohio there's really nothing they can do anyway . I don't see any point to making them worry needlessly.. 

I can understand that....  I usually don't share my burdens with others.

May not be super uplifting but...

My wife's grandfather had Hep C. He took part in a clinical drug trial through the VA a couple years ago and BAM, no signs of Hep C. Unfortunately, he called a few days ago and he's got liver cancer. It's not known if it was related to the trial or not. But — hopefully — there might be treatment out there, soon.

Best of luck, Gramps. We're pulling for you.

The older treatments were pretty brutal from everything I heard and I knew several people who went through them unsuccessfully. 
The new treatment sounds really promising with a lot fewer side effects ..

My woman's friend in Florida went through the new treatment and has been completely cleared of HepC, but she developed a rare form of cancer right afterwards . It's unclear if the cancer is related to the treatment and there have been some docs linking the treatment to the cancer, but like every new procedure and treatment there's always someone ready to try to link it to every other terrible possible thing.. 

Anyway, even if the worst possible thing happens and I kick the bucket I've had an ok life . I ain't gonna live forever anyway..  I hope someone puts on my tombstone, 'Here's a comprehensive list of all the crap he never got around to doing ..1. Didn't finish sweeping the garage floor.. 2. Didn't wear pink socks. 3...... ehhh..not that important . '

(04-07-2018, 08:39 AM)grampahol Wrote: The older treatments were pretty brutal from everything I heard and I knew several people who went through them unsuccessfully. 
The new treatment sounds really promising with a lot fewer side effects ..

My woman's friend in Florida went through the new treatment and has been completely cleared of HepC, but she developed a rare form of cancer right afterwards . It's unclear if the cancer is related to the treatment and there have been some docs linking the treatment to the cancer, but like every new procedure and treatment there's always someone ready to try to link it to every other terrible possible thing.. 

Anyway, even if the worst possible thing happens and I kick the bucket I've had an ok life . I ain't gonna live forever anyway..  I hope someone puts on my tombstone, 'Here's a comprehensive list of all the crap he never got around to doing ..1. Didn't finish sweeping the garage floor.. 2. Didn't wear pink socks. 3...... ehhh..not that important . '

Shouldn't item 2 be on your list of achievements instead?

Says to me that either you or those in your inner circle have always been good with the laundry to avoid the dreaded red shirt mix up...

(04-08-2018, 12:11 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: Shouldn't item 2 be on your list of achievements instead?

Says to me that either you or those in your inner circle have always been good with the laundry to avoid the dreaded red shirt mix up...

I have owned pink socks as a result of mixing red clothing with white clothing, but it's not standard operating procedure around the house..in fact most of my clothing is either blue or black except for socks which are all the same white socks ... Oh crap! The label is RED! HANES! I'M DOOMED!

I'm still gonna wear them though.. Just think of this post someday when you're walking through a cemetery and see that tombstone with "The rotten bastard wore Hanes socks.." That'll be me except for the fact that I plan to be buried at sea..kicked overboard from a naval vessel.. Perhaps my tombstone will be at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean.. Keep a lookout next time you're down there looking for deceased persons..

What is Hep C if you don't mind me asking. I hope its treatable and you can beat this buddy. I will pray for ya.

You're my favorite poster on the boards grampahol, so you better stick around for a few more years that way we can all get some more laughs from your zany posting style

(04-09-2018, 02:29 AM)packerbacker Wrote: What is Hep C if you don't mind me asking. I hope its treatable and you can beat this buddy. I will pray for ya.

Hepatitis C.  A viral infection that usually affects the liver.  It can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and I'm guessing other liver problems.

I thought Harvoni was a pretty big breakthrough. With like 95% cure rate.

Will the VA pay for that 100k$ treatment?

Wow .great news today from the VA. Apparently the blood drawn last week is showing that my liver is still in great shape which is kind of shocking to me, but they're going to draw more blood just to be sure.  I'll still qualify for treatment to finally get rid of the virus.  The swelling?  Not sure ,but I might just be plain getting fat. I've been thin my entire life so I'm not really used to weight gain at 58.. I hope that's all it is.. Hell, maybe I'm the first 58 year old man to be pregnant in which case I'm buying the team after I cash in. lol

(04-12-2018, 08:49 PM)grampahol Wrote: Wow .great news today from the VA. Apparently the blood drawn last week is showing that my liver is still in great shape which is kind of shocking to me, but they're going to draw more blood just to be sure.  I'll still qualify for treatment to finally get rid of the virus.  The swelling?  Not sure ,but I might just be plain getting fat. I've been thin my entire life so I'm not really used to weight gain at 58.. I hope that's all it is.. Hell, maybe I'm the first 58 year old man to be pregnant in which case I'm buying the team after I cash in. lol

Damn hypochondriacs I’m glad for you gramps. Remember how you felt when you found out you were ok. Too bad you have to go through extreme anxiety to get that feeling.

(04-12-2018, 08:49 PM)grampahol Wrote: Wow .great news today from the VA. Apparently the blood drawn last week is showing that my liver is still in great shape which is kind of shocking to me, but they're going to draw more blood just to be sure.  I'll still qualify for treatment to finally get rid of the virus.  The swelling?  Not sure ,but I might just be plain getting fat. I've been thin my entire life so I'm not really used to weight gain at 58.. I hope that's all it is.. Hell, maybe I'm the first 58 year old man to be pregnant in which case I'm buying the team after I cash in. lol

Great news indeed!