So What Happened?

Well, in a nutshell, the time bomb that's been ticking away in my bloodstream the last several years seems to have gone off. It wasn't a total surprise. When my doctor upped my blood tests from four times a year to bi-monthly to monthly, you kind of figure he was seeing something not so good. Still, when my last viral load showed a six-fold increase in one month, even I was caught by surprise. If above 100,000 was too high, a whopping 711,000 made me gulp. I was a walking bug factory. And while my T-cells are holding steady so far, if I leave things be and don't start treatment, eventually my immune system would give way. Which puts the final nail in my Mutant Healing Factor theory. And while I admit, the idea of starting on more aggressive meds than my current multi-vitamin/crazy pill regimen doesn't thrill me, thrush and pneumonia thrill me less.

So I grudgingly acquiesced. Today, I met (again) with an adherence nurse. We talked about some of the side effects I could be expecting. In other fun news, if I have a negative reaction to one of the drugs they've prescribed for me, I'll need to stop immediately. If I ever take it again, I could die. Great! This afternoon I turned in the prescriptions for pick up tomorrow. I'll begin treatment on Monday. Coincidentally, I was scheduled off for four days next week. If I do have a negative reaction at first, at least it will be in the privacy of my own home. Nothing says a day off like sudden diarrhea.

For those of you curious, they are starting me on Kaletra (3 pills 2x a day), and Epzicom (once a day). The Epzicom is really two drugs (I multitask yet again), Ziagen and Epivir. Kivexa for all my European readers. I think I have two. So I'll truly be taking a handfull of pills every day around noon. And then a few more at midnight.Please, please I'm begging you all. Don't feel the need to send comments and e-mails full of horror stories about these drugs and how they made you shit your pancreas. I'm nervous enough as it is.

Several people I've dealt with the last few days have said I may be pleasantly surprised. It's possible that my rising viral load has been taking more out of me than I knew. The theory is that if I spank down my viral load and raise my T-Cell count, I may actually feel markedly better in the next few months. And better sounds good to me.