My 12 week PCR

If I’m honest, I never really gave this much thought…….that is until after I’d actually had the test done.

A few days after I’d had the test, I read a post on the Hep C Forum which prompted me to look at the NICE guidelines for the treatment. It clearly states that if you are not undetectable at 12 weeks, then your treatment can be stopped.

This began to worry me ‘coz although I only had a low viral count to begin with, my 4 week PCR was a little disappointing, in that my log drop was only 0.69 when my nurse said she’d expected me to return an undetectable result at that stage & so, the chances of me returning an undetectable at 12 weeks was quite uncertain.

So what if I didn’t return an undetectable result at 12 weeks & they stopped my treatment? What would the future hold for me in terms of treatment for my arthritis? Most RA drugs are liver toxic & are not an option for me to take unless I clear this HCV. This set a moderate amount of panic in my brain…..the thought of having to argue & fight to continue treatment despite not having a 12 week undetectable result. And to make matters worse, instead of getting my results within 2 weeks, I had to wait 4 weeks as my nurse was going on holiday.

This panic lasted a good few weeks. I waited the required 2 weeks & couldn’t take the suspense any longer, so I rang the medical secretary. She was most unhelpful & obviously didn’t appreciate the seriousness of the potential consequences of this result. The consultant wasn’t available on that day (which was a Friday) & so, I requested that she make a note to speak to him about it the following Monday & ask him to return my call.

To cut a long story short, I never received that call & tried several times over that following week to get hold of the consultant, but he was always unavailable for whatever reason. And so, I ended up resigning myself to waiting the full 4 weeks for my result – I had no choice in the matter!

I was due to see my nurse at 16 weeks anyway & assumed that she would give me the result then. However, the day before that, whilst at work, I found a voicemail on my mobile……from my nurse. She congratulated me on “being clear” & said she looked forward to seeing me as arranged, the following day.

I had to listen to that message 3 times before it started to sink in. Then I started to cry & shake totally involuntarily. I’ve never reacted to anything like this before, it was totally alien to me, but the relief must have been more than I realised……I’M UNDETECTABLE!!!!!!!!

One of my colleagues noticed me crying & shaking & put her arm around me until I’d got it out of my system a little – thanks for that Emma, you were just what I needed at that time!!

Within less than an hour of that, I received 3 other pieces of news. One was that a friend had also had a 12 week undetectable – fantastic news & well done Angie! The second was that my pregnant daughter had found out she’s having a boy & that both mum & baby are well – that really brought home to me that I really will become a grandmother at Christmas! The third was that another friend, having completed treatment, has the virus back – what a blow for you Frankie, I’m so gutted for you!

I spoke to Angie & we congratulated each other & promised to get together for a celebratory cappuccino. I also spoke to my daughter to congratulate her & talk about plans for Callum (that’s what baby will be named!) However, I couldn’t face speaking to Frankie…….his news just brought the reality home to me, that although I’d returned a 12 week undetectable, that doesn’t mean to say I’ll reach an SVR & I just couldn’t deal with that at that time. So instead of speaking to him, I wrote a note for him on the forum & felt very guilty about being so selfish!

So there you have it – I’m officially UNDETECTABLE (at least for now)!!!!!!! J