Resources, i mined too much vespene gas

The treatment i'm on is rather unique in the HCV community, why? because it's still got some kinks.

So why am i doing it? Well, mostly because at my rate of...lets just call it shitty liver, i'm en route for transplant.

Transplant isn't a solution, it's a very very very very very very very unfavorable situation. Transplant doens't cure anything, it just gives me a new liver to reinfect, which given the fact that my body is already resisting it, means that it doesn't have a lot of staying power. 

BUT Transplant is still a necessary alternative, because well... the other one has a lot more verys, and a handful of angry and sad people if it came to that.

So lets talk about a few things you probably don't know.

First, the end result: being cured. Technically being cured isn't really the accurate term, the real term for it happens about six months of zeroing out (aka aviremia) post treatment. it's called SVR aka Sustained Virological Response

While yes i could actually be cured, that's years down the road because there is a lot of damage to repair. SVR is what will make recovery possible.

Damnit Jim! I'm a layman not a doctor. Treatment is a weird thing, different doctors have preferences on which drugs to use. The price of the treatments i had been on, has gone down dramatically for those treatments. Patent laws and sales numbers have driven that. but what about the one i'm presently on: Olysio/Sovaldi. Is it the most expensive HCV treatment? almost, there are more expensive combinations and depending upon your healthcare coverage most people may not get approved from these expensive wonderdrugs. It's been kind of a blind operation, operating on half of the knowledge, but now...

Well, this one just came out with some findings. 

It's about a hundred pages of reading, with about 10 pages near the end you should really look at, but the bottom line is this:

Not only does it work... it fucking rocks. the Liklihoods are the highest they have ever been. around 90%.

i know you've heard the 90% number bounce around regarding Sovaldi, but it's the combo that matters, and that's new.

Okay cool, so now i've got a 90% chance of beating this thing right? NOPE.

Unlike the sample size, i have a decompensated liver, like pretty bad man. 

What that means, is that i can expect a similar likelihood, but it's hard to say what will happen. my growing symptoms are a reflection of the condition of my liver. 

There are a lot of figures getting thrown around regard HCV (and i'm not talkin 'bout Pam n Tommy) the news latches on to those big numbers about people infected with little explanation, similarly locking on the misinformation because its good for headlines. If they're wrong they'll issue a redaction, on page 33b lower left hand corner. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO More like the Judd's lets build a bridge.

Curious about those crazy numbers you keep hearing about, how do they determine all of this? what kinds of  infection are there? How many deaths can be attributed to is?

Oh Dear! is that all? No, there's a lot more information out there but i urge you to get tested, and to have others around you tested. early detection means early solutions. HCV doesn't always do what it has done to me, in fact a good chunk of the time, it doesn't do shit for decades. Many Boomers i know who are/were infected, were moderate to heavy drinkers until they found out, some continue to anyhow. Yet, symptoms took decades to manifest.

The best way for you to get tested is to give blood. (they screen for it, and will notify you if you have it.) As a transfusion recipient, not only will the test be free, but you're helping a great cause.