Day 14, The In Between

Day 14 - I woke up this morning feeling a bit off someway in the body. Upon getting out of bed and getting vertical, the symptoms became more and more prominent, I was very nauseous. Having to take my Ribavirin this morning, I was in a dilemma, one of which had only but one solution, take the meds regardless. Forcing myself to eat a granola bar and some string cheese, I took my morning dose of 400mg Ribavirin, and within 20 minutes the nausea intensified to the point that if I were to cough or blow my nose the wrong way, it could trigger a regurgitation response. It was then I remembered from a previous ER visit of having kidney stones back last Summer, I was prescribed Zofran 4mg tablet, which is to counteract the nausea. I took it without hesitating. GOOD MOVE! Within minutes, I started getting relief, and the symptoms dwindled away slowly.

So I called my doctor who assigned me to this new HCV therapy with Sovaldi, and she sent my pharmacy a prescription for Zofran with 2 more refills to help get me through those rough, upset stomach mornings to keep from throwing up my medication. It has to stay in me, it has to dissolve, it has to absorb... PERIOD! Within a half hour the pharmacy called back, and my anti-nausea tablets were ready for pick-up. What a blessing this was. I am very lucky to have such quick response with my doctor during therapy, and even more so blessed to even be on therapy in the first place.

Today marked day 14, and pill 14 of therapy, so two weeks exactly (22 more weeks to go). It was the day to go in and get labs drawn, which was a basic CBC panel to monitor white blood cells (WBC) counts. This lets the doctor understand how the Ribavirin is affecting my immune system. Upon arriving this morning at my local lab, I met a lady who I have interacted with before during a previous blood draw, her name was Deborah. She is the sweetest, most darling older black woman in the world. She asked me, "How ya doing today Joe?" In to which my reply is always, "Too blessed to be stressed." She laughed out loud and said, "Hallelujah!" A five minute lab draw turned into a 25 minute conversation about Jesus Christ, how blessed we are, and how amazing God is. God put Deborah in my life to pick me up, from my down points from the weekend of side effect hell I had. My Boss is like that, puts people in our paths, shows up at the random times, right when we need a boost, right when need a hand and right when we're weak physically and mentally. God is so good guys. It's amazing what a little faith, hope and God's grace can do for the soul. I go next Tuesday, February 11th, to follow up with my doctor and get the results of my lab work drawn today. Until then, every day, every dose, every pill. God Bless!