In order:

- there's no set schedule for returning to "feeling good" status post-therapy.
Some of us recuperate quicker than others. For what it's worth, I'm still
feeling some effects 15 months post-therapy, but they continue to diminish
with time.

- if your viral load was indeed below detectable thresholds, and have remained
so since you completed therapy, the preponderance of data strongly suggests a
cure. There have been a number of studies on the durability of non-detectable
status over many years and they've been universally encouraging.

Note that this does require actual testing to confirm; just because you
*ended* therapy with undetectably low viral counts, unless you've tested clear
6 months or more later, your status is undetermined.

- chronic hepatitis is defined as the presence of virions in peripheral blood
6 months or later post-infection. This is an important distinction, as a fair
percentage of all infectees clear the virus on their own; further, initiation
of therapy prior to the chronic status has a much higher odds of success
regardless of genotype.

- the question of having to do the treatment again would be partially answered
by whether your "sustained viral response" still prevails. If you test
negative for active virions 18 months post-tx, you're almost assuredly cured;
if you test positive, then the ball would be back in your court.

- Finally, your mother is correct: if your treatment was entirely successful
and you no longer harbor active virus 18 months later, you're cured. Period.

Cheers

/greyhackles