my journey with hep c

June 22, 2013

  My life changed in less than 2 seconds on April 4, 2013.  I hadn't realized it at the time.   But now 11 weeks later I am learning of just how much my life has changed and will be changed.
 April 4th was any ordinary day, off to work another busy day in the Er.  Our Er is alway's busy.  Then I met my next patient, I cannot even remember his name. I am glad that I cannot remember his name.  I do not know why, but I am.

  He was a bugger to put it nicely, actually he was pretty demanding wanting his dilaudid, insisting where the IV should be inserted.  He "knew" exactly where it should go, I try to accomodate my patients, his years of IVDA took a toll on his veins.  I had no luck inserting his IV and as I told him, I was not having any luck, that I was going to stop and get someone else to look, he said okay pulled his arm away , rolled onto his right side and kicked the angio into my right index finger, like a dart.  All the way in. And then he laughed and said "You didnt say dont move"

 I went right to work health, blood drawn, I was negative on all counts Hiv, Hep b , Hep c. He had Hep c.
My chances of acquiring hep c was 1.8%.   Well in my mind I had a 98.2% of NOT acquiring Hep c.
I did not give it another thought, went about my nornal routines, work , home , sleep.

  I started not to feel well, nothing specific, no belly pain, no jaundice.  Fatigue , muscle and joint pain, but Our Er had expanded and most of us are logging 8 to 10 miles a day just walking this new big ER.  It is hard work.  My days off  I spent on the sofa 'resting' so I could work again on my scheduled days.

 Then the headaches started, I have had migraines in the past, work is stressful. But these migraines were different. One sided, sharp pain shooting across my head, behind my eyes. I have seen a neurologist for migraines in the past, he is friend , I had not seen him as a patient for several years.  I tried to deal with the headaches, until the day I smelled lilacs , followed a few minutes later by a pain in my head so sharp and painful it stopped me in my tracks.  That scared me enough to call my friend and make a appointment.
 In the meantime, I decided it was time to get myself a family MD, I had no family Md, no one. That proved more difficult being set up as a new patient.

 In my mind, I was just getting older, probably be a good idea to have a check up anyway.  My dad has been on me for the last several years.  "Kiddo you need to get yourself a doctor, what if you get sick?"
  Never once did I connect the symtoms....I have an invader in my body, replicating itself over and over and over, taking up residence in my liver, making a home.

   And then the itching...my scalp was itching , this insane itching, I swore I had lice, after all I work in a Er, families come in with the complaint of Lice.   My feet would itch, my face would itch.  My lips became so dry and cracked I thought I was in the desert and then I developed a fever blister, something I dont ever remembering having

  My repeat blood draw was 5/17 at work health.   On June 7th, 3 weeks after the blood draw, I found out I had Hep c, the virus was in me, replicating, wreaking havoc on my body. 



see a later post where I explain why it was 3 weeks before I found out I sero converted to Hep c, note I found our, never said I was notified.