Tuesday, July 2, 2013

The Silent Killer



 The Importance of getting Tested for Hepatitis C

The year was 1998. My husband had a neck ache  when he was jogging. We were visiting his sister in San diego, and each morning he jogged, the pain would worsen.

When we got home to the Boston area, I insisted  he see his primary care physician at Lahey Clinic Medical Center; there, they ran a multitude of tests and did an evaluation. One of the questions was, “had you used drugs or were using drugs.”

My husband answered honestly. He had experimented with Iv drugs in the early seventies and eventually quit. Could this be part of his pain?
_____________________________________________
The answer was no. The pain in his neck was never diagnosed but the blood tests showed hepatitis c.
 __________________________________________________
He had been living with this disease since he was probably 20 years old when he used drugs. Even though he was drug free for 40 years, hepatitis c grew silently in his blood stream and liver.
____________________________________________
No symptoms showed with my husband and he got treated with medications; Ribovirin and Interferon, which made him sicker than his disease, but it cured him.
_________________________________________
Others are not so lucky. Liver damage can occur, maybe a liver transplant if you are lucky or medications. But for some people there is no hope.
_________________________________________
That is why testing is necessary. A simple vial of blood can diagnose hepatitis c; especially baby boomers born between 1945-1965.

Blood was not tested until 1992 for hepatitis C and many people were infused with this virus when receiving blood transfusions.

Today there is hope. A simple test can lead you to a negative result or medication that can help cure.



In my book LOVING JOE GALLUCCI, I portray the character Jimmy Romano, a former drug addict who contracted hepatitis c. Because of his wife, a nurse and her persistence, he was diagnosed and received a liver transplant. Jimmy is a healthy 60 y/o today.

For more information, please contact the liver foundation or email me for questions or help at kgeno67176  {@} aol.com

Kate Genovese RN

 
______________________________________________

The Google News search on
Hepatitis C has trending articles
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=hepatits+c&oq=hepatits+c&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j43i53.474.2634.0.2949.13.6.0.6.6.0.406.2276.3-5j1.6.0...0.0...1ac.1.PyUXsreA8VY 

The huge story trending on this is the ex-Las Vegas doctor guilty of murder in the
Hepatitis c outbreak

/ July 2, 2013, 6:45 AM

Ex-Vegas MD guilty of murder in wide Hepatitis C outbreak

 Prominent former Las Vegas doctor and endoscopy clinic owner Dipak Desai was convicted Monday of all 27 criminal charges against him -- including second-degree murder -- in a 2007 hepatitis C outbreak that officials called one of the largest ever in the U.S.

A former employee at Dipak Desai's Endoscopy Clinic of Southern Nevada, nurse-anesthetist Ronald Lakeman, was found guilty of 16 of 27 charges against him but was spared a murder conviction stemming from the death of 77-year-old Rodolfo Meana in April 2012.
Defense attorneys for both men said they'll appeal.  Read more here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57591914/ex-vegas-md-guilty-of-murder-in-wide-hepatitis-c-outbreak/