Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/factsheets_pdf/HCV_Neg.pdf
One thing i am not sure about though is this:
"You still cannot donate blood to a blood bank. However, you may donate your organs and tissues after death. Consider giving this ultimate gift. "
I was a donor since I've had a drivers license and it was one of the things that bothered me about having HCV. I have checked with many donor programs and if they test you and you come up positive, even false positive, i do NOT think they will accept any organ donations.
I've actually looked into body donation for forensics as a way to save my family the expense of a burial etc and to give back. i was told absolutely NOT! I will inquire again about SVR donations, but i don't think so...
Somehow i cannot imagine no longer worrying about HCV. I feel like the worry would be greatly REDUCED...but will always be there. I imagine I will return to the state i was in for all the 11 years i was warehoused. It was in the BACK of my mind and I only really thought of it every year or so when i went for tests.
But after devoting so much brain matter and time to it for the past year or two, how does one just stop? I want to continue to help new people dealing with being dx and deciding on tx... and MOST CERTAINLY want to be "be there" for my friends still waiting for tx...want to see you all THROUGH tx and all the way to SVR...
Has anyone else thought of these post tx issues???