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From SEA to Shining C

By Paul Wienke

I was sitting on a bench in sick bay at the USNCBC in Port Hueneme, California, having felt really run down and crappy for several months. When I was EXCONUS the doctors had told me I was merely suffering from dysentery, and I was treated for this illness at every duty station since my first return from overseas. The outcome was always the same: no change, no results except for the usual explosive abdominal ones associated with dysentery. But on this particular visit, the gynecologist (the battalion MD assigned to treat 850 males) decided to do some different blood work. A few days later I was told to return to sick bay, where he told me I had a form of hepatitis, at first thought to be type B. I was given a shot of super gammaglobulin and was told that in a few days everything would be fine. Well, for a while everything did improve. It may or may not have been the shot.

The next time I was suffering enough to go to a doctor about my general health was while I was working at the VA hospital in Madison, Wisconsin as a new patient screener. The doctor did another blood test and this time he told me I definitely had hepatitis. But in those days it was classified as non-A/non-B hepatitis. I was not given a shot. After a few weeks the symptoms slacked off, so I just let it go - after all, it was a VA diagnosis. From the first "diagnosis" by the battalion doctor in 1972 to the VA assessment, almost 10 years had passed. I was 31 years old, and other than occasional spells of prolonged general weakness and tiring easily, I felt pretty normal considering my lifestyle.

To say that I have lead a saintly life before or after the military would be more than slightly fictitious: it would be a big fat lie. I had vast experience with intravenous drug use, many different sex partners, and LOTS of heavy drinking. Over time I gave up most of my vices, except the widely-accepted alcohol abuse, which I pursued with a vengeance for many more years. Sure, after enough days of heavy drinking I would feel like shit, but who doesn't feel that way after a bender?

After a prolonged hospital stay - and many trips to emergency rooms - it finally dawned on me that I had a chronic illness and needed more detailed medical help. I got that help by default three years ago when an emergency room doctor took another blood test on a hunch based on something he had recently read. A few days later my personal physician called me for an appointment. He told me that I had hepatitis C and that I needed to see a gastroenterologist about potential liver damage. So, as you may already have guessed, when I heard "potential liver damage" the red light went on and I cut down my alcohol intake to maybe two to three quarts of bourbon a week - a big improvement.

The specialist took my history (such a peculiar word, "history"). After hearing about some of the places I had been and the lifestyle I had lived, he determined that if I cut my drinking down to a glass or two of wine now and then I could live maybe two more years. He said I should start getting my affairs in order. Then he said he wanted to do a liver biopsy to determine how sick I really was and how much time was really left. (I think the Jim Beam stock took a major hit in the market that week from which it still may not have recovered.) Then came the results of the biopsy and a special DNA test, with very mixed results. The DNA test is done to determine the level of infection in your entire system. Mine read at over 500,000 parts per million. Or, in more realistic terms, one of every two cells in my body was carrying the virus. Yikes! I was certain that two years was asking for too much luck. When the biopsy results came in I had one pissed-off specialist on my hands. He didn't seem happy to tell me that for some damn reason my liver was in relatively good shape and I would probably live to be ninety. Just my luck: my life was only half over and I'd already consumed my allotment of bourbon.

I have made many lifestyle changes as a result of this diagnosis. I still drink, only I limit my intake very carefully (unless I'm with Jeff Machota). I altered my diet by reducing fat and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. I have a regular exercise routine of both aerobic and weight training. As a result of better diet and exercise, I now get decent sleep every night. I have good and bad days (so does any other former junky or alcoholic), but more good than bad lately.

I'm telling you this because prior to 1992, no one was screening blood donations for the hepatitis C virus. Also, between the early 60s and the mid-70s the government was paying junkies and derelicts to donate blood, which was then widely used by the military to transfuse GIs. VA hospitals have been reporting that veterans have been found to be at least five times more likely to have hep-C than the general population. If you were in the military between about 1964 and 1992, and you shared blood for whatever reason, you are in REAL DANGER of having been exposed to hep-C. The danger could come not only from sharing needles or getting a transfusion for a wound, but even something as innocuous as helping a wounded comrade if you had any open sores or wounds. If you may have come in contact with anyone else's blood YOU SHOULD BE TESTED.

The kicker is: there is no real cure for hep-C. The current treatment is much like chemotherapy with loss of appetite, loss of hair, and other side effects. Powerful anti-viral drugs are successful at lowering the virus level - not getting rid of it - in only 30% of cases. Not very good odds. And this treatment is not a cure; it only lessens the effects of the virus. Hepatitis C can take thirty years or more to manifest obvious symptoms. In the meantime, it is silently taking years off your life. In many cases you may not even know you have it until you need a liver transplant or are dying from liver disease.

So get tested! It is a simple blood test and you can at least know if you are a carrier or if you can continue your life as normally as you think you do now.

On the Internet, My WebMD provides links and current information on hepatitis C and other liver diseases. The site is continually updated about new treatments; most are experimental. You can find answers to almost any questions you have about hepatitis C and other liver diseases from this site. <http://my.webmd.com>