| Hepatitis C We moved into our new doublewide on April 4,1997. Two weeks later, on a Sunday morning, I woke up in so much pain breathing was almost impossible. The pain radiated through my whole abdominal area and I became seriously nauseated. Stubborn me--- I tried to deal with it by taking antacids but they didn't work. I was taken to the hospital emergency room. They took blood tests and the only unusual thing there was that my liver enzymes were way above the norm but they accounted for that by the fact that I had been so nauseated. It was decided the symptoms were pointing to a gall stone but after running an ultra - sound they decided everything was normal and sent me home with a pain killer and some Mylanta. I had a follow up exam with a gastroenterologist who said that I had an ulcer and prescribed a very expensive medication for it. I asked about the liver enzymes being so high and he said it could be anything and let it drop. After a couple of weeks I was back to normal. Just before Thanksgiving of 1997 my husband (Allen) and I decided to apply for life insurance. We contacted a company that he had had an account with before and applied through them. They ran the usual tests checking for HIV and anything else healthwise. A few weeks later it came back that they needed to run a blood test on me -- I thought sure why not... there was nothing wrong with me... or if there was it was probably diabetes since my grandmother was diabetic. The test showed that my liver enzymes were way above the norm and it was suggested I see my family doctor. My family doctor ran further blood tests and it came back that I had been prior Hepatitis A which had corrected itself & and to which I am now immune. The bad news: I tested positive and was labeled Acute Chronic Hepatitis C. I was stunned. My first reaction was: Ok lets get rid of it -- I didn't know then that you can't get rid of Hep C or the damage it can cause. I have learned alot since then. |