Long Overdue in Meeting Mr. Jesus Christ

Greetings to my friends and those who have been praying for me during this period of medical tests and illness I have been going through the past five months. Many of you have written or sent private notes asking if I have my test results yet, if I am feeling better and whether I know anything further about the course of treatment I will be going through. I want to thank each of you for the concern and prayers, notes and cards, all this helped lift my spirits that did get low at times.

Here is the general story I am dealing with. All my biopsies came back non-cancerous, thank God. I do have once ovarian cyst which will be tested again in six months to assure it isn't growing. Any further decision needed will be made at that time. Mammograms/ultrasound showed several non-cancerous growths which will also be re-tested in six months to assure they aren't growing. Again, good news.

This leaves me with my original and only remaining issue, liver disease. 34 years ago I contracted Hepatitis C1 and have not been a candidate for treatment because of complications with Bipolar disorder. Over the years I've been monitored for any problems developing, nothing serious enough to warrant risking treatment has evolved.

Friday, June13th, I went to Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital and met with the head of the liver transplant/treatment unit to review all the tests and discuss situation and options. At this point I have stage 4 cirrhosis, Hep C1 and another Hepatitis, something to do with fatty liver. The later I am able to improve by loosing weight and had begun doing so several weeks ago.

The liver blood flow is good, a positive in my favor. The cirrhosis has pretty much taken over my entire liver, which obviously isn't so good. Honestly, I don't recall if there is anything to be done about this. I think I forgot to ask. We did two hours of Q & A which was pretty mind bending and exhausting.

As for treating the Hepatitis C1, there are presently eleven treatments on or soon to be on the market. I am not eligible for ten of them; either drug interactions with my current medicines would cause the depression to become uncontrolable, or the drug interactions would most likely end my life. Neither are good choices.

Drug number eleven is due to be released in late December or early January 2015 and it seems I am the perfect candidate for this medicine. It is targeted to my specific genotype of Hepatitis and rather being a treatment it is a cure. My prayer is that somehow my insurance company will decide to approve payment, currently they are saying they intend to deny it's use due to the cost. It is a pill I would take once daily for twelve weeks, the pill costing $1,000 each, for a total of $84,000.

My doctor is applying to the drug company for them to sponsor me and provide the drug at no cost because I am very low income and this is the only drug option I have. I understand I am the target population for this type of assistance because of that combination.

The only other news at this point makes me happy. I will no longer have to have liver biopsies. From this point on it is blood work and an ultrasound every six months. Saying goodbye to the biopsy is a red letter day in my life.

Now I wait until the end of the year and move forward when it is time. I continue to have days I feel well, others not so much. What is happening regardless of how I feel on any particular day is my relationship with God is growing. Faith has been all I've had some days and that has shown me that God has gone before me and prepared a path as He would desire me to walk. I'm listening for His voice.

May God's grace be with you, Cherie