Post tx-week 16 Tuesday

I tell you, there's no justice in this world. Over the last week I rode my bike 24 miles a day for 5 days, that's 120 miles, to the point that I think I am crippled. Guess how much weight the big T lost for all of this effort?......Zero(0), zilch, nada, not one fucking pound!

Magda is out of school and she is a whirling dervish, the yard looks great and she's a whole lot of fun. Sometimes it's hard for my sorry old 60 year old ass to keep up with her.

I am still trying to adapt to internet banking and every day it's another surprise. Your money will be transferred into our bank on the 29th, except that it's 10:00pm and it ain't happening. I finally got Equifax to lift my credit freeze and I now have it set up so that I can put it on or off in 15 minutes. That was an ordeal..I have their phone number where you get a real person if you ever need it.

I bought a new apple computer and the change over from the old one was flawless, an unbelievable surprise.

Tomorrow we drive off to Oregon to pick up the new puppy. M has finally decided to name her Lola which I think is really cute. Tomorrow we go North as far as Mount Shasta and we spend the night on Jesse's ranch, no shower, no toilet, no nothing. Sounds like a blast, no more four seasons for me, I'm starting at the bottom and working my way back.

Our friend will be house sitting while we are away and we are having the house painted. The process leading up to the paint job has been difficult and painful as M likes the darks and I like the lights. We settled on a red bed room and light walls in the living, dining, and family room.

The painting is heading to a finish, this has taken a long time and I'm happy to see it coming to a close, maybe 10 more hours left.

All is well and bye for now

Post TX-week 15 Monday

I finally, after 3 weeks got my 3 month viral load test results.........UNDECTECTABLE!!

Things are starting to pick-up in terms of having to get ready for the many trips we're getting ready to go on. Visa's, flight changes, special clothes etc. In the next 4 months we're going to Oregon, Alaska, NYC, Dubai, India, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Patagonia, & Chile. In January, we both start back a Sac State to finish our degrees, Magda in Psychology and me in Studio Art. When I'm done, I don't know if I'll actually be an artist but it won't be from lack of trying if I'm not.

The treatment for the Hep C really changed me for the better, I feel a little stupider but I feel a lot better and I haven't a care in the world.

I'm still trying to break up my bank accounts. This has really got me feeling old. I mean, I worried about a run on the bank, except, I'm supposed to worry since we just had one. I froze my credit with the credit bureaus and the bank's all use Equifax.

It used to go like this, "Hi, I'd like to deposit $ in your bank" They would say, "Yes sir! Mister Lee! Now it's, "Hi, I'd like to deposit $ in your bank" They say, "sorry, your application has be declined as we can't identify you." So now we're all terrorists until proven otherwise. Talk about big brother. I'd love to see what kind of contract Homeland Security has with Equifax.

OK, enough whining, I could have worse problems.

All is well and bye for now.

Post TX-week 14 Tuesday

We went to SF last weekend and had a blast. On Sunday we went with David and Jimmy for a ride down the coast. SF to Santa Cruz, about 50 Miles. The 20 mile stretch right in the middle has fabulous beaches and very few people. We stopped in the tiny town of Pescadero and had a great breakfast at a locals hangout. Saloon with ranchers and farmers and a restaurant connected to it. It was funky but I was still able to order an egg white omelet. On to Santa Cruz where we encountered a massive traffic jam trying to get to the beach. We drove through and went on to Capitola, another beach town. On the way back we stopped in Downtown Santa Cruz and had a dinner at a side
walk cafe and we admired all the freaky people walking by. If you ever wondered where all the hippies from the 60's went, think Santa Cruz.

We came home Sunday and did our chores and errands and we're back to SF tomorrow as the air is so bad from all the fires. We'll come back on Saturday for a few days and then we're off to Oregon for a week to get the puppy. Busy, busy, busy! This retirement is hard work.

How about the 2nd annual Hep C breakfast in NYC on September 12th. All welcome but special invites to UC, Laurie, and Starwitch. Stay tuned

All is well and bye for now

The new puppy is the one on the attack



Terry, Jimmy & David

Post TX-week 14 Friday

My 3 months tests came back except the viral load.

Alt 20

Ast 24

Bilirubin .3

I think that I have killed the dragon, stay tuned!

All is well and bye for now

Lucy is on the right


All of my 3 months tests came back except the viral load.

Post TX-week 13 Saturday

Happy 4th of July!!
Yesterday I went for my 3 month post tx exam and blood tests. I received the results from my 30 day bloods and they were as follows:

VL UND
Hgb 15.4
Hct 48
WBC 4.71
ALT 18
AST 24
Gluc 98
ANC 2990
Plts 247

I went into a trial sponsored by Sherring-Plough at the start of tx. The trial had 402 participants. My group in Sacramento had 7. We were randomly assigned as follows, everyone received the standard of care(SOC), Interferon and Ribaviran. 5 got SOC plus the study drug and 2 got SOC only(control group). I was one of the 2 in the control group.

The results that I have been able to ascertain are:

Study drug patients

1 dropped out after 30 days due to adverse side effects(aren't they all?)
1 had a viral breakthrough at 20 weeks and was pulled off treatment
2 have relapsed
1 was undetectable at 24 weeks

This is only a 20% cure rate for the study drug people

I haven't heard what happened to the other control group member and my chances are outlined below.

I will call on next Thursday to get the 3 months results. If my results are vl undetectable, then I have a 98% chance of a permanent cure. I am almost certain that that will be the case as I feel too damn good for the virus to be back. Time will tell, stay tuned, and

All is well and bye for now

This week's puppy photo