Tx! MAG #27 by HepatitisNSW

edition

Lisa...

DEC 2017

Got hep C 1997...

...CURED 2017!

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A WORD FROM THE EDITOR! Hey Tx!-ians!

Welcome to Tx! Mag #27. This edition has two stories about people dealing with hep C and life in general. The first is Best Shot, a sequel of sorts to one of the first hep C comics published in Australia. Hit Me With Your Best Shot came out in 1997 (read more about it on page 9); it followed Lisa as she learned she had acquired hep C... and finished with her resigned to the fact she could be living with the virus for the rest of her life. The treatment landscape has changed in a huge way since that Streetwize Comic came out 20 years ago and, since I worked on Hit Me With Your Best Shot, I wanted to catch up with Lisa and her friends in 2017 now that they have a real shot at getting cured of hep C. Our second story is Livin'. In July this year, Hepatitis NSW produced a pocket sized comic for distribution with fitpacks called Livin' Hep Free (read it at: bit.ly/LivinTx). In it, Amira and Doug discussed prevention, testing and cure for hep C. Livin' follows up with Doug as he thinks about getting tested but also struggles with other problems in his life .

EDITOR/DESIGNER Grace Crowley EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Tim Baxter Ben Cork Paul Harvey Sonam Paljor Lucy Pepolim Kate Pinnock Rhea Shortus Annika Stollery Robert Wisniewski Thomas Wright SPECIAL THANKS Kyle Leadbeatter STORY WRITER & ARTIST Grace Crowley

And if that wasn't enough, on the back page we drop in on Larry's Liver, who wasn't feeling so great last time we saw him in Tx! Mag #25... how is he going now? Cheers! Grace Tx! Mag Ed Aside from Hepatitis NSW editorial content, views expressed in this magazine or flyers enclosed with it are not necessarily those of Hepatitis NSW or the organisations with whom we collaborate. Neither are such views necessarily those of our funding bodies. Tx! Mag does not promote or condone the use of illicit drugs. Rather, it seeks to provide accurate information that will help people who already use drugs to reduce risks and make safer choices. Nothing in this magazine should be taken as recommending drug use.

Hepatitis NSW is proud to acknowledge Aboriginal people as the traditional owners and custodians of our lands and waters.

Hepatitis Infoline 1800 803 990 (freecall) Hepatitis NSW p: 02 9332 1853 e: info@hep.org.au w: hep.org.au fb: facebook.com/HepNSW tw: @HepatitisNSW PO Box 432 Darlinghurst, NSW 1300 ABN 30 408 095 245 A non-profit health promotion charity funded by the NSW Ministry of Health. Accredited by the Quality Improvement Council of Australia (QIC). Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible.

PREVIOUSLY...

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT! Best Shot is a sequel to a comic produced by Streetwize Comics - titled Hit Me With Your Best Shot - originally published in 1997. You don't need to read it to understand Best Shot - but if you want to you can >>> bit.ly/BestShotTx Hepatitis NSW was one of a number of health organisations closely involved in the development of that comic. In Hit Me With Your Best Shot we met Lisa and Kylie as young twenty somethings as they headed out for an night of partying and dancing. They grabbed a couple of needles from their local NSP to split some "goey"/speed between them. Although they used separate fits they still shared other injecting equipment, most notably the spoon. At that time, Kylie was unaware she was living with hepatitis C, and the virus was transmitted to Lisa via the shared equipment. Once Kylie discovers her hep C status she suggests Lisa get tested and Lisa learns she now has chronic hepatitis C too.

LISA

Lisa finds out that the guy she is working with at the local bar - Emad, a man in his late 20s - has already been living with hep C for a few years now.

KYLIE EMAD

He gives her some tips on how she can stay healthy and look after her liver... then they hook up... and that, as they say, was that.

Twenty years ago there was no real effective treatment for hep C so, as the story came to an end, Lisa, Emad and Kylie were all left with the prospect of living with the virus for the rest of their lives. But, as we know, the treatment landscape has changed in a big way... cure is now a reality. And, becasue of that, we thought it would only be fair to revist them in Best Shot...

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Treatment can cure hep C If you decide to go on treatment, the doctor will do some tests. Tests include blood tests and a Fibroscan or APRI* test to see how healthy your liver is. A Fibroscan is like an ultrasound and it doesn’t hurt. You don’t need to get a liver biopsy to go on treatment. * A kind of blood test.

Hep C is easily cured. Talk to your doctor about the treatments for hep C. The treatments that are now available: cure over 95% of people have few or no side-effects pills only, and just a few pills a day usually take only 12 weeks no injections can be by doctors, at the AMS or local clinic, not just hospitals are medications covered under Close the Gap.

Who can get the new treatments? Anyone who has a Medicare card and is over 18 can get the new treatments. Even if you: have cirrhosis or other liver damage live with mental health issues inject drugs have been treated before and you got hep C again have been treated before and it didn’t work are in a NSW prison (you can ask to talk with the Justice Health Nurse).

An excerpt from Yarnin' About Hep C - a booklet about hep C for Aboriginal people PREVIEW>>> bit.ly/HNSWyarnin ORDER>>> bit.ly/HNSWorder

FREE CALL FROM PRISON n Enter MIN n Enter PIN n Press 2 for Common Calls list n Press 3 for Hepatitis Infoline

TEST

IN PRISON? n Could you have hep C? n Ever shared injecting equipment or had a home/prison tattoo/piercing? n Get tested. Know your status. If you’ve ever done things with blood-to-blood contact - things like injecting drugs, home tattoos, fights, body piercing - you may have picked up hep C. Even just once is enough to get hep C. You can’t tell if someone has hep C just by looking at them. There are no signs when you first get hep C.

To find out if you have hep C you may need two blood tests: n Antibody blood test: tells if you have ever come into contact with the hep C virus. If this result is positive you’ll need the second test. n PCR blood test: tells you if have the hep C virus now.

The great news is there is an easy cure for hep C for all adults with a Medicare card.

CURE

Ask the nurse for a test or fill out the blue selfreferral form to get a test. It’s confidential.

THE NEW TREATMENTS n 95% successful cures. n Few or no side effects. n Taken as tablets for 8-12 weeks. Most NSW prisons have Health Centres where you can get on hep C treatment . Talk to the nurse about getting cured it’s confidential. n If you’re already on hep C treatment tell the nurse right away - don’t miss a dose. n If your sentence is less than 12 weeks (or 24 weeks, if you have cirrhosis) the nurse might not start treatment - BUT treatment outside is still very easy and cheap to get through a GP/doctor.

A PCR TEST might also be referred to as an HCV RNA TEST by some doctors

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LOOKING FOR MORE TO READ? ALL PAST ISSUES ARE ONLINE AT: hep.org.au/news-stand

TRANSMISSION #20 [C]

Guys Like Us Daz, who is HIV+, accidently uses injecting equipment that had been used by someone else, did he get hep C? Only a test will tell.

TX! MAG #24 [HEP C]

Change Of Plans Lola is in prison for only a few weeks when she gets a tattoo with a pre-used and unsterile needle... not much later she finds out she now has hep C too.

TRANSMISSION #21 [C]

The Way We Are Vic & Andy want to build a family together but it’s complicated by the difficulty Andy is having getting a job after being released from prison…

TX! MAG #25 [HEP C]

Ch-ch-changes Sam and Clara have both been living with hep C for a long time. Sam has even tried interferon but without luck. Will the new treatments change all that for them?

TRANSMISSION #23 [C]

Need-To-Know Frank's in prison for three years – while he’s inside he struggles with indecision about whether to get himself tested for hep C or not.

TX! MAG #26 [HEP B]

Can't "B" Happening Gina gets some surprise news from her ex-boyfriend. One Step At A Time Mick has to deal with a flare up in his hep B.

CROSSWORD 1 TARGET A T T E N E M R T

How many words of four letters or more can you make from the letters here? In making a word, each letter may be used once only. Each word must contain the centre letter, and there must be at least one nine-letter word. No foreign words, no words with initial capitals and no hyphenated words.

ACROSS 1. A small insect (3) 3. You listen with this (3) 5. Spun by a spider (3) 6. Cows say "..."? (3) 8. Used to shoot arrows (3) 10. Consumed food! (3) 12. Put numbers together (3) 14. A twitch or spasm (3) 15. Cuppa (3) 16. Finish (3)

DOWN 1. A human limb (3) 2. The second number (3) 3. Recede; "..." and flow (3) 4. Do this in a boat with oars (3) 7. Not in (3) 9. Not young (3) 10. Pretend (3) 11. Expected Time of Arrival? (1.1.1.) 12. Best card to have up your sleeve (3) 13. Doesn't work; Useless (3) Solution next page

What's your score?

5 Meh. But at least you tried! 13 Pretty good, eh? 22 Awesome 31 Holy crap! Mega genius! 57 You are clearly a human dictionary and/or computer...we didn't even know half of those crazy words! Answers next page

A little bit harder...!

RUB B I S H A R N A S G RO S S N E W E DU SN A C K T T HE G RA Y M V A I MA G E S PUN NON

CROSSWORD 2 SOLUTION

S A S L E E P

Solution at right (no peeking now!!)

CROSSWORD1 SOLUTION

A N T E A R R W E B O M O O B O W U L A T E A D D C T I C U T E A E N D

1. Fit of angry anger. (4) 2. Muddy colour. (5) 3. Any six legged bug. (6) 4. You'll find this at the end of an arm. (4) 5. Dozing, napping. (5) 9. Strip of leather to hold pants up; Belt. (5) 11. Flat and smooth. Not bumpy! (4) 13. Opposite to Yang. (3) 14. Dude; Male; Gent; Bloke; Guy... (3) 16. On your marks! Get set!! ".."!!! (2)

TARGET SOLUTION (red=more common) ament, ante, antre, arete, armet, eaten, eater, enate, enter, entreat, etna, mart, marten, mate, mater, matt, matte, matter, meant, meat, meet, mete, meter, metre, natter, neat, neater, rant, rate, rent, rete, tame, tamer, tare, tarn, tart, tater, tatter, team, tear, teat, teem, teen, tenet, tent, tenter, term, tern, ternate, tetra, tetter, tram, treat, TREATMENT, tree, treen, tret

1. Trash; Nonsense. (7) 6. Donkey... or the American backside! (3) 7. Disgusting! Yuk!! (5) 8. Time when something is to be paid. (3) 9. A tiny meal between meals. (5) 10. Common short word for hepatitis. (3) 12. Dull and boring colour. (4) 15. Pictures, photos, drawings (6) 17. From one side to the other of a bridge. (4) 18. The French "no"! (3)

the CLASS OF '87 REUNION!

HEY, LARRY'S LIVER! LOOK AT US! THIRTY YEARS OLDER!

HOW'S THINGS?

...starring...

LARRY'S LIVER LIBBY'S LIVER THINGS ARE LOADS BETTER THESE DAYS, LIBBY'S LIVER.

COOL! HOW COME?

THAT'S RIGHT. IT ONLY TOOK 12 WEEKS TO GET RID OF THE VIRUS... PLUS THE FIBROSIS I HAD IS HEALING UP TOO.

LARRY FINALLY DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT HIS HEP C AND NOW I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER. HEY, GUYS... REMEMBER ME?

NOT REALLY, LIBBY'S LIVER... LEON'S HAD HEP C FOR AGES NOW, AND...

LEON'S LIVER! OF COURSE!

GOSH, LEON'S LIVER... I DON'T MEAN TO BE RUDE BUT YOU'RE NOT LOOKING VERY WELL. ARE YOU OK?

DUDE! HAVE I GOT GREAT NEWS FOR YOU!