Week 10 Tests and Week 8 Results

Today was week 10 testing. All the usual tests though only 11 vials of blood for this series.

The important point to me was the Week 8 test results: viral load UNDECTECTABLE. Unlike week 6 when the test detected viral activity though the number of virus per ml was so low as to be uncountable, this time the test reported no detectable viral activity at all. So there it is, the polymerase inhibitor RG-7128 aka RO5024048 knocked the virus down from just under 13 million per ml to undetectable in 8 weeks.

AVB told me that the earlier a patient achieved the undetectable level, the better the chances are for an SVR (sustained viral response) over the long term. Eight weeks is pretty fast in general and tremendous for someone with my initial viral load. A few of the folks I have talked to about there treatment told me that they started with what was considered a high viral load and theirs was in the 3 to 4 million per ml range. Mine was about 4 times that number at the start of the treatment.

While it does not seem to have added any significant side effects to the general run of the SOC side effects, it doesn’t seem to have reduced any of them either.

The other good news was that my neutrophil count had bounced back up over the 500 level and I could continue the experimental drug. Even though I have hit undetectable levels and there is only 2 weeks left in the polymerase inhibitor part of the experiment, I still want to have the full course of treatment. I want that extra two weeks of this drug completely screwing up the ability of any virus left to reproduce. I want the full amount of destruction to be visited upon this virus. I want them hunted down and killed for as long as possible by the most complete range of attack drugs.

The main new factor to report on the side effect front is that my concentration and memory are continuing to deteriorate. As an example, I did not bring in a chilled urine sample for this test period. Why not, you ask. Because I stepped in to the bathroom after I woke up with my urine collection cup in hand, set it down on the sink and then urinated luxuriously and at length while completely forgetting to get a sample of if for the test. I remembered my test appointment and brought all my stuff with me, but remembering to piss in a cup was more than my brain was capable of.