I am new here and I thought I would share my story.....it helps me to
talk about it.
In May 2004 my father passed from prostate cancer......he was never sick
and still working 40 hours a week, woke up one morning and couldn't move
his legs......he died 3 weeks later. During those three weeks we did
alot of talking and making promises to each other, one of mine was to
get a complete checkup just to make sure I didn't have anything lurking.

 I had no way of knowing how my words to him would change my life forever.

 I returned home to Minneapolis and promptly got an appointment for a
complete physical, within a week I was diagnosed with Diabetes and was
devastated. I had never been sick a day in my life.
My doctor continued the tests and 2 weeks later called to tell me that I
 had Hepatitis C genotype 1a. By this time my world was closing in
quick......

After the initial shock of my recent diagnosis, I decided it was time to
start the battle. I was scheduled for an appointment with a Gastro Doc
and saw him on July 6th. He scheduled an ultrasound and a liver biopsy.
On July 29th my liver biopsy was completed and I got the results back
the next day..... Grade 2 Stage 3/4....Cirrohsis......my world just
keeps getting smaller.

My docs opinion was that I had been walking around with this monster for
 more than 20 years....more than half my life ! I turned 39 on July 7th.

I am now in my 13th week of treatment, 48 weeks seems like such a long
time. My platelets are dangerously low at 88,000 and they keep dropping.
I just hope they don't take me off tx.....I don't think I have a great
deal of options left.

Thanks for listening......last May seems so long ago now........