Hey Chef.  Welcome. Glad you could hear us through the chatter.  It is
noisy, but as Dwight says, "It's all good."  I am surprised that you
can't
get surgery because you have a high viral load.  Smells like
discrimination. Tell us what your biopsy says and what your tx will be.

I had to do alot of denigrating posturing amongst Docs to get prescribed
low doses of hydrocodone myself.  What a hassle.

Regards,
Kathy

I don't get that.  What do they say would be an okay VL for surgery?

Wrong doctors for you, then.

People care, just not a lot of docs maybe.  That can be good because it can
help objectivity.  It's also bad because in our society, doctors are
heavily educated to treat diseases and not patients.

People care.  Hell, I care and I don't even know who you are.  Who wants to
see someone else suffer?  I'm sorry you gotta go through this, and I hope
whatever you do gets you some relief.

f.ck Them.  That's a really common thing among heppers, thinking that
they're some sort of outcasts or something, either because of the disease
itself or because how they managed to get the virus.

But that's just heppers fooling themselves.  The real problem is their own
judgment of that stuff.  And it's complete bullshit, thinking that it
deserves some sort of guilt or something.

There's no guilt of what you don't know, and 20-20 hindsight doesn't change
that.  It's a f.cking dragon that bit a whole bunch of people in the a.s,
and that's it.  Might as well call it Katrina.  Life is full of nightmares
and dangers; this is just a particularly cursed one.  But hey, at least
it's life!

And if anyone really thinks that your suffering could be some sort of
justice or something like that, then they wouldn't be worth a moment's
thought except for a quick damning.

But probably, nobody thinks that.  If they do, f.ck 'em.  If they don't,
then you're your own biggest enemy for making them up.  Grit your teeth,
use your brain to go get what you need, and get well soon.

Think how good you'll feel looking back on this!

jk

Get a better doctor. In my case I sought out the very best from the
University of Miami Hep center. He did my biopsy and recommended tx.
When I decided to get tx I wanted someone local (Miami's about an hour
away on a good day). The first doc that I found had the wicked witches
of the west working in his office and I decided that tx would be bad
enough without dealing with that sh.t. I called my UM doc and asked for
a referral and I could not be happier with his suggestion. Great doc,
great staff. Do your homework and shop around and get a great doc.
You're worth it!

Oh, and I'm astounded to hear that a high VL would preclude surgery. So
when you asked why the doc said ......???

WHAT??? What does HCV viral load have to do with surgery? This sounds
completely bogus to me. Maybe it's just a misunderstanding, but if you
have any chance get a second opinion before you start tx. I can't
imagine going through treatment with severe pain, that seems like a
recipe for disaster.

Something is not quite right there, and if you have the chance to find a
different doc, even if that delays treatment for a few weeks (or even a
few months), do it. Your doc has to work with and for you, not against
you. With that kind of attitude on the part of your doc, you'd have to
be very lucky to get through a full length treatment. Again, try to find
out if you misunderstood something, but if you don't have trust in your
doc, and your doc isn't 100% committed to treating all sides, you're
unlikely to get through those 48 weeks.

Thomas

Yikes! You must get another doctor. Gallstones are not uncommon with
hepatitis c, and un-dealt-with gallstones will cause all kinds of problems,
such as inflaming your liver, not to mention that you probably can't eat
anything without making your pain and nausea even worse, which will not only
run you down but can cause dehydration. Your doctor is an a.s!

To make a long story short, I was diagnosed with hep c because I had
gallstones, and the doc thought I was making the whole thing  up to get pain
medication (you see, I have *I V Drug History* typed on the top of my
chart). I'm eventually referred to a gastro for the hep c, and the first
thing he says is, "The gallbladder has got to go. Then we'll deal with the
hepatitis." The gallbladder went, and the pain went with it.

Get yourself to another doctor. Hang in there, I know how terrible the pain
is, worst I've ever experienced. You've probably figured this out by now,
but anything with even a little fat in in will increase the pain. Eat mostly
fresh fruit and veggies, and eat only small portions at a time. Good luck,
and please keep us posted.

Take care,

Waterspider

p.s. And welcome to ash-c.

Interesting....I'm suffering from what sounds like the same type pain you
are. The difference is I've had a liver transplant and with it they took out
my gallbladder. Fortunately I'm on Hospice now. They treat the pain, and
have helped me immensely! My liver doc says it's just gas, to her everything
pain related is just gas!. I know it's something else because gas pain
shouldn't make one double over and almost pass out. My Hospice solution is
take ten oxycontin and lie down for 20 minutes for it to take effect. That
seems to work! After my transplant they said the Hep-C was gone. But, about
eight months ago I could feel those same old symptoms come creeping in
again. Oh well, I just deal with it and try to keep on truckin'

I agree with everyone else--GET ANOTHGER DOCTOR!!!!  No reason to hang
onto that gall bladder--somebody really dropped the ball on that one.  
What would your doc do if you needed bypass surgery, let you die?