Friday, February 7, 2014

Day 18, Sinus Funk

We've had some pretty drastic weather change over the past two nights here in Central Florida. One day it was 80's, hot and sunny, next day cool and rainy, to now, cold-cloudy-and rainy. Even cold enough to use heat again! This is really playing havoc on my sinus issues, and I've sneezing like nonstop since yesterday afternoon. I guess it's back on my Flonase nasal spray for a couple weeks until the seasons figure out what they're doing exactly. Running and tickling nose, yeah, I know this all too well, allergies!

Aside from sinus trouble, I'm doing very well again today. Woke up fully rested, drinking lots of water today again, and just going day to day on this therapy. The past couple days have been seemingly side effect free. That's the ups and downs with these toxic drug regimens, you never know when the bad days strike. I can't believe it's already Friday! I'm almost at the 3rd week point of therapy, which means 21 more weeks to go. I must say, time is flying by, and that's a good thing. My finger is healing up nicely by the way. Been taking my anti-hemophiliac factor injections which help combat bruising, joint bleeds and keeps my clotting levels at a decent percentile.

For some of you from the HCV community who have no clue what hemophilia is, allow me to give you a brief synopsis. Hemophilia is a chromosome deformity passed from mother to child. It's the passing of this defective chromosome pattern from mother that causes an abnormality in the liver from producing a clotting factor protein called Factor VIII (8). Some hemophiliacs are Factor IX (9) deficient. It's the absence of these clotting proteins that result in a hemophiliac to have severe bleeds, bruising and other joint related complications. It's this deficiency that hemophilia is graded on three scales for the individual hemophiliac. The scales are mild, moderate and severe. Mild hemophiliacs have from 6-49% of clotting factor produced by the liver. Moderate hemophiliacs range from 1-15% of clotting factor protein and generally have mild complications. Severe hemophiliacs have less that 1% clotting protein, which makes them prone to joint bleeds, extended bleeding episodes and permanent joint damage. Hemophilia is treated by injecting a synthetic form of a human plasma derivative known as anti-hemophiliac factor XIII concentrate. It's this concentrate that severe hemophiliacs often must inject themselves in their own veins up to 3 times a week. I am a severe hemophiliac, and must inject 3 times weekly. This weekly injection therapy is known as "prophylactic hemophilia therapy." It's goal is to minimize episodes and keep clotting levels above 1% throughout the whole week. Below is a video I made last year on a vlog I done for a year. It shows the routine many hemophiliacs must do 3 times a week. Hope this helps!

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