hep c

[jill11]

i have hep c and liver disease. i have been on a transplant list but now for some reason my liver functions are improving. if i should end up on the operating table i know my recovery will be best if im not smoking. im taking better care of myself but smoking says im not.

[pspam]

Hi Jill. As we become more cirrhotic our liver function tests go back to *normal*. What is your MELD score? The *telling* lab tests are things albumin (goes low), bilirubin (gets higher) and a couple of others. Our LFTS's (the ALT and AST) really don't tell much of the story about our liver damage anyway. Mine have never been particularly high and yet I already had cirrhosis by the time my Hep C was found. I am glad that you quit because most transplant centers won't even list you now until you are one year smoke free and two years alcohol free. You are absolutely right that being smoke free will help your recovery! I have MANY friends that have had transplants and some are 12-15 years out now and still doing just fine. Can I ask where you are listed? I went through the process at Shands in Gainesville and Emory in Atlanta but was turned down at both places because my lungs are so bad. Good luck with the TP and please keep us updated! I have a friend going to the smoking cessation classes with me that I hope is going to stop on 9-11 too so she can get listed.

Peace
Pam

[pspam]

I wanted to add that years ago before they became more strict about not smoking and transplants I had a friend that was listed at Emory. She was *busted* twice (they check in your urine at the transplant center for nicotine at each visit) and they took her off the list for three months each time but told her *third strike and she was out of the ball game*. I don't think they are that tolerant anymore. It is definitely a compelling reason to stay QUIT! 🙂

Peace
Pam

[pspam]

Hi Wanda. I am so sorry to hear about your brother. Please accept my sincerest condolences.
*We* have had so many pass away from this insidious disease and still there is not much media attention or notifications from the CDC or the government that virtually EVERYONE is at risk should be tested! It sounds like your brother didn't find out he had it until it was too late to seek medical advice and possibly to try treatment. Very sad. More than 2/3 of patients will die waiting for a liver transplant because there aren't enough organs to go around. I always try to urge everyone to sign their donor cards as well as trying to educate and advocate for Hepatitis C. *We* are passing away at the rate of about 3 per hour!

*We* had our first World Hepatitis Day on May 19, 2008 and there were educational booths at most every capital in the worldand in the United States. 1 in 12 people on this planet have some form of hepatitis. Pretty astounding number yet little press coverage! www.aminumber12.org has info on Hep A, B, C, D and E and if you click on the camera in the U.S. map under the *Around the World section* there is a little picture album and that is me with the firetruck in Tallahassee, FL trying to raise some awareness. My booth is there too but you can't see it very well. I put together 2 posters called *Putting A Face to Hepatitis C*. I have the famous mixed in with the *not so famous* and many of the faces are friends of mine that have sadly passed away too. You can see it better at www.myspace.com/figmento if you are interested.

My focus has always been on Hep C because I wasn't diagnosed until I already had cirrhosis. Treatment failed me in 1999 but treatment has improved since that time. I don't want others to find out too late the way I did and the way it sounds like your brother did. Everyone should be tested for Hepatitis C and vaccinated for Hepatitis A and B! Hep C outnumbers HIV almost FIVE TO ONE! When did you last see a hep C commercial? Oh yea....... never! 😞 *We* hear an occasional blurb from a celebrity (like this week it's Natalie Cole) but then the media forgets about it rather quickly or puts it into the category of a drug user's disease or an STD or an alcoholic's disease and never does the research to find out it is only transmitted BLOOD TO BLOOD, that it was in the blood supply until 1992, that it lives in the air for up to 4 days so if you are nicked at the beauty parlor of barber shop by an instrument that also nicked a Hep C positive person you have just had a possible transmission and a number of other ways that involves blood to blood!

Sorry about that rant! Obviously today is my first quit day and I am *chatty and cranky* off and on LOL I also have emphysema and have been sleeping on oxygen since the HCV treatment put me into the ICU on life support in 1999. I already had lung issues and I really should have never been given the treatment to begin with but you can't go back and undo anything in life so I am pressing forward and trying to LIVE to continue my Hep C advocacy and help find the missing 4 million people in the U.S. that have Hep C and don't know it. I don't want it to be too late for them to!

Take care and good luck with your quit! I have my smoking cessation group tonight and I will post later as to how I am doing 🙂 So far so good and I am just living from moment to moment. Again, I am so very sorry to hear about your brother. (((Wanda)))

Peace
Pam