18. My HCV has made more alive.

17. My HCV has helped me after some four and a half decades, to finally grow up.

16. My HCV has given me the gift of confronting me with my own mortality.

15. My HCV has forced me not to waste time.

14. My HCV has taught me that it is pointless to think of myself as a victim.

13. My HCV has taught me that although you cannot escape the consequences of the past, self punishment is futile and egotistical.

12. My HCV constantly reminds me how much I love my wife and children.

11. My HCV has made me more grateful for what I have than at any time during my life.

10. My HCV has made me more focussed now than I have ever been at any time during my life.

9. Iron reduction by taking blood reduces my ALT and AST. I don't know if it slows damage to my liver.

8. As an interferon non responder I have only a minimal chance of responding to interferon and ribavirin combined. But I will try the combo anyway.

7. I have to watch what I eat and drink - low fat, high fibre, low yeast,no alcohol.

6. Some vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants make me feel better: zinc, sodium sulphate, N-acetyl cysteine, lipoic acid, choline, inositol, selenium, vitamin C, and vitamin E.

5. Prescribed Chinese Herbs of the cook and boil variety keep my enzymes fairly stable. in 1995 which showed stage 2 fibrosis. Despite having much better blood tests and feeling reasonably well during 1996-7 during which time I was evolving my diet and supplement protocol, my next biopsy in August of 1997 showed fibrosis stage 3 with architectural distortion

4. If I take all of the above and a Musashi protein drink made from half goats milk and half water with a teaspoon of Guarana in the morning, I have very few symptoms and my blood tests are only about 1.5 -2 times above the normal range.

3. Maintaining the above regime does not limit liver damage. I had a biopsy

2. Maintaining the above regime costs a fortune.

1. Despite this, I feel my supplements, herbs and vitamins are well worthwhile from a quality of life point of view.