a whole new journey 6-26-09

Bruce and I start a whole new journey this week. One we really hoped never to take again but none the less were on it. Bruce has Hepatitis C has had if for years at least since his late 20's and we honestly have no idea how he got it. Five years ago he went through treatment with Pegasys and Copegus for about 40 weeks. The results were good for 2 years but then the virus started kicking back up. Last week he had a new liver biopsy and his liver damage is now a stage 2 level 2 so unfortunately that means going through the treatment again. This treatment involves weekly shots of the Pegasys (peginterfetron alfa-2a) self administered and twice daily Copegus pills every day. These are Chemo drugs so side effects can be a real bear. These drugs are incredibly expensive so were very thank we have insurance. The drugs for 12 weeks cost about $10,000.00, don’t even get me started on how drugs are priced but thank god we have scientist that develop them and companies make and distribute them. Bruce took his 1st shot last night it was a rough night. I have to preface this with the fact that I have lived with Bruce for 30 or so years and he is one tough guy. He rarely ever complains about anything, when he feels bad he just guts up and bears it. Last night was his 1st shot. About 30 minutes after the shot he got a bad taste in his mouth and started feeling achy and went to bed. By the time I came down about 2 hours later he was up and feeling nauseous in the bathroom. He made it back to bed and poor guy tossed and turned and moaned in his sleep all night. This morning he says everything hurts even his knuckles. I put some cold rags on his head and gave him some Tylenol. We don’t remember the symptoms being this bad last time but I do have to say time has a way of letting you forget some of the details. On the bright side Bella spent the night with us last night, so we had plenty of entertainment