48th Interferon Injection & Still the Fat Lady sits in Silence...

Off scaring the gulls again...

Wow! What a windy day! Over ten people have died as a result of falling trees and lorry's being blown over on the motorways! Richmond Park & Bushy Park were closed due to the severe weather. Those parks are absolutely full of very old & rather large trees. I still went out this afternoon for over two hours on my bike. My goodness was it windy! I Loved being out in it....so exciting & fresh! Along the river on my way to Hampton Court Palace I came across a large tree that was completely stretched out across the path having fallen asleep. And then three more smaller trees further up. One tree I came across was still upright but down at the base you could see that it had been pushed slightly and the ground by the gravel path had been lifted about ten inches! I hung around for a while to see if it would fall.........it didn't. But you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be down tomorrow. I leant my bike up against it and got a photo. The last photo of that tree ever! I also saw a flock of Canadian Geese (probably the flock you saw UC) flying around in circles above the Palace. I imagine they had taken off not quite realising just how windy it was and were kinda stuck up there! They did look a little lost! The whole bike ride from beginning to end was littered with fallen branches. Good job I had a mountain bike then;)

That was earlier....... Right now I am Just preparing myself to take my 48th Interferon injection to rid myself of this Hep C. Up until quite recently this 48th injection was due to be my last one and then a week extra of Ribavirin. But as some of you already know, I inadvertently received two extra Interferon injections back on the 12th December and.....well.....I am taking these too. With absolutely nothing to loose and not wanting them to go to waste I will be using them up. Hopefully helping me get rid of this virus once and for all. My post tx bloods won't be affected. Actually I am due up sometime next week, the week of my 36th Birthday. I rang up about a week ago and they just said to come up any day during that week. I chose Monday 22nd Jan (I'm f****d if I am going up there on my Birthday;). I don't know how long the results will take to come back.......judging by my 12wk blood results.....about 3 weeks. And if all is well and the virus has gone and done a runner, then July's post-tx bloods will be the big one. But for now I will just be getting on with my treatment mini-extension and I expect that somewhere in the back of my mind I will be hoping for an "All clear" from the 22nd's bloods. I say "expect" just because it is something I don't normally think about. I will just get a phone call to either come up or they will tell me over the phone......actually, how do they do it? Do they tell you these kind's of results over the phone? I shouldn't have thought so. So a phone call for me to go up it will be then. I most certainly won't be waitng for the phone to ring but let me assure you, my train ride up once they do have the results to the RFH will be full of tension!
But as I said, in the meantime I will just continue to get on with my usual stuff, the extra two shots, cycling, the blog and trying to deal with the pain in my ankles (especially at night when I am trying to sleep). Oh....& trying to get to grips with my new digital camera (Canon Powershot G7). As you can see from the photo (first one from my new camera used in my blog) above I have been experimenting with it down by the river in Kingston. I took this photo of the young Swan yesterday afternoon.....I hope I've still got it;) All I can think is that the poor thing saw my ugly mush and decided to scarper pronto! I know exactly where he/she was going.......Bushy Park & Hampton Court Palace is just around the bend in the river (where I was cycling tonight)......a much more picturesque setting for a young Swan to spend his/her time and much less noisy too.

So, it looks like I won't be heading for the "Post Treatment Experience" section on the forum just yet. That won't be until the 8th Feb when I have taken my last Ribavirin tablets. There is no anti-climax thing going on here at all. I wasn't planning any parties or celebrations as such. Another couple of weeks will soon fly by, as all the other 48 have done so before. I honestly feel......physically this is......that I finished tx months ago. Although I am curious to know how I will feel once I have finished the drugs, I still think that I won't feel too many, if any differences at all. I have been one of the very luck few......& don't I know it! It pains me very much knowing just how many people are having a terrible time! It is my HIV drugs that affect me....did before treatment and during too. They didn't seem to get any worse nor do I expect them to go away once I am done with the Hep C stuff. Maybe they even helped me regarding just how little side effects I witnessed from the Hep C meds. Of course I shall never know, not unless I do the whole 48wks again but without my HIV meds & I don't think that will ever happen. The last time I saw the BBC news know one was saying they had found a cure for HIV;)
I was out at a restuarant with my friend Jac last night and as per usual around 21:15 my HIV drugs kicked in and we got talking about the way they make me feel. She asked me what I was feeling. I didn't even try to explain as I just cannot explain. When I have tried in the past, I just sound silly as I just find it so very difficult. I suppose I could look through the side effect leaflet that comes with my HIV meds but what would the point be? I'm not going to stop taking them.
Let's just say that the feeling they give me, both mental & physical are neither good nor bad. And I know it will go away by midnight too. That is all I can say really.

Injection time (be back in a few minutes)................all done! Just two more to go...

Before I go off to bed for some "Boosh" I just wanted to say hi to Mark from "The Redlands Trails" who commented on my Blog the other day. He helps maintain most of the trails that I frequent up in the Surrey Hills on my mountain bike. And also to say just how much your trails, especially BKB & Summer Lightning are appreciated. And there is one going right through the middle of Pitch Hill that I really enjoy also (don't know if it has a name).........Thanks guys.

Oh, I forgot to mention...........The hose pipe ban that was put in place back in April 2006 has been lifted as from 8am this morning. I have gotten quite used to using a bucket to wash my bike and car during the ban, but that hose pipe will come in handy on the days that my bike is particularly bad.........which is quite often. And "Celebrity Big Brother" that I have been enjoying since the first week in Jan is hotting up. I'd Love to know how I would fair inside the Big Brother house. Do you think they would let someone in there with my colourful range of health problems...........no, nor did I think so either;)
And also it looks as if I will get up to 60 days in the US instead of 30 soon according to the White House. Don't they realize that all I need to infect someone is just the one day? Sort it out Bush!

More news..........(Mailny so my post doen't end in the word BUSH;) - All last weekend & all this week I have had a moutful of ulcers! No sobad in it's self, because beleive me when I say they have been worse! But to top it all of I wake up with a "break-through" coldsore on my top lip! Christ that came up fast! They say that if you catch it when you first feel the tingling sensation wth Zovirax, that it should go very quickly...........Tingling? What tingling? The only tingling sensation was from a stray nose hair tickling the inside of my hooter;) Anyway.......it's covered with Zovirax now. Bastard things........you would think that I would be used to them having had millions of the buggers over the last 20 odd years. Mustn't grumble mind.......it could be cystitis or diarrhea!

(So what do I end the post with instead of Bush?.............There's no difference really;) (Let me apologize to any Bush Lovers out there;)


Jason






(C) JPT 2007