So far so good, just took my first Pegylated Interferon injection via a Redipen. The shot was pretty simple and it did not bother me at all. What would I do with out my wife? She did the work 😎 . Praying all goes well and the flu like symptoms stay away! Will report back in the morning.
ALL
My HCV Treatment Starts
I have Hepatitis C, a blood-borne illness caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) which affects my liver. I am not ashamed to admit it. I have had it for over thirty years. After all these years I decided to visit a liver specialist as my energy level (like my friends can believe that) has gone way down to the point of I feel exhausted often. I had a liver biopsy this last year and it showed my liver was at level zero out of four levels as far as damage goes. That is very good all and all but my HCV level is very high and active. Because of this level and high liver enzyme levels it was determined that I would go on a treatment of Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin. This treatment will last for 48 weeks. I will take four Ribavirin pills in the AM and three in the PM everyday for 48 weeks and I will get one injection of Pegylated Interferon each Friday night for 48 weeks. Phew – seems daunting. I will just take it day by day the best I can.
I am putting this out in the open and my subsequent adventure with this treatment as a source of information to help others contemplating taking this treatment. Also so that my praying friends can get an update as to how I am doing.
Well then, no turning back now. I took the first four Ribavirin pills an hour ago this morning. My first injection will be at 9 PM tonight. The side effects can be very drastic and are common. Nausea and a flu like feeling will almost be for sure I am told. We shall see. So far I feel good.
This treatment only has a 50% chance of success (getting the count of the HCV down to dormant levels, less than 5 – I am currently at 3,800,000) this dormant level is called sustained virological response (SVR). Please pray I reach SVR!
For those interested, more information on my treatment can be found here: www.beincharge.com
More on Hepatitis C
Our Weekend Adventure
This weekend was busy yet very exciting. This was the long awaited time to take Lisa to Bible College. Along the way we (Carol, Lisa, Josh and me) made a geocache stop in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and then on to Illinois. The weather was awful. A snowstorm in the southern tier of NY had us traveling at 40 MPH till the PA border. The temperature was negative ten Fahrenheit. This did not stop crazy me from hunting down a cache in each state. The PA one I had picked out Josh and I could not find – oh well, next time or when I get to summer camp in Butler, PA later this year.
We arrived in decent time considering the weather and met up with an old friend for dinner (Irene Hopkins) and met a new friend at the same time (Chris Williams). Carol and I stayed at Irene’s apartment for the weekend. Josh and Lisa checked into their college dorm.
Saturday was Lisa’s birthday and she wanted to visit downtown Chicago. We spent a few hours at the Navy Pier adventuring around (we hunted down a geocache too!). For dinner we found a most excellent Chinese restaurant in China Town. It was some of the best Chinese food we had had the privilege of eating.
Sunday was awesome as we attended First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. Pastor Jack Schaap preached excellent sermons in the AM and PM services. The people of 1st Baptist made us feel right at home. I thank them for that.
On Monday we had an authentic Mexican Dinner at Irene’s and took Lisa back the college to bid our farewell. Josh drove Carol and I to Midway Airport in Chicago and after delay to replace a part on the 737 Carol and I arrived home very tired but safe and sound.
Lisa is adapting to college life and personally already I miss her very much.
The Great Global Warming Swindle
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Patriot Quote
“In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” – George Washington
Geocaching… a great hobby!
Let me introduce you to a new hobby of ours here in the Broughton household – Geocaching. Geocaching is fun, it is for the whole family and it gets you out and about – ya that word – exercising. What is geocaching? Glad ya asked. Geocaching a high tech adventure game that is played world wide. Headquartered at www.geocaching.com this game involves hunting outdoors for hidden treasure. People all over the world have hidden “caches” and have logged the coordinates at geocaching.com. With a GPSr unit (we have the Garmin GPSMap 60CSx) one enters the coordinates into their receiver and the hunt begins. Many of the caches are hidden in neat places. Some take a good hike to get to and some also require solving puzzles.
To learn more go to Geocaching.com and also Geocacher University.