i remember as kids all the boys in the neighborhood,(9) would compete against other neighbor hoods.touch football in the street,bicycle ramp jumping,when we would win we would make a small cut on our hands and shake hands.we where blood brothers for life,so innocent yet so ignorant.just thinking,anyone else share a similar story? :wave:

after i was diagnoised with hep c i remember thinking oh my god what about my kids and one scene comes to mind constantly as i watch my little boy grow up. he had a microscope and slides and was looking at all of them through it with those slides of glass that come with it and he said let me pick your finger so i can look at your blood. i am going to be a doctor. Well i let him do it. not knowing i had this not knowing i could get him sick.
this has been on my mind since the day i was told of my disease.
since then all my kids have been tested and all tested negative. but i read somewhere recently that it might not show up for years. i was so ignorant.
god help us

I understand your concern for your kids. I was just recently diagnosed with hep c. Probably had it for 15 yrs. or so. Since then I have had 2 girls ages 8 and 11. My 8 year old was taking a bath and got a hold of my razor which was always out of reach, but it must have fallen into the tub during her bath. We had a little basketball net with a foam ball that was made for the tub. Anyway, I have a feeling that the razor was knocked down by the ball. Long story short, she was immitating me shaving and cut herself. She was afraid to tell me so she told her older sister instead. My other daughter of course then told me and I rushed in to see how bad the cut was. Well she was bleeding quite badly, she cut herself pretty deep. At the time I didn't know that I had hep c so my only concern was her cut......not the health of her liver!!!! Well I was just diagnosed about 2 weeks ago and now I'm panicing for both my children.. The rate for mothers passing this to their children during childbirth is quite low...but still possible. But I mainly fear for my little one who cut herself with my razor. I made an appointment for both my kids for a check-up and blood work. I am still waiting on the appointment though, so I am a nervous wreck. Two more days and they will be tested. I will never forgive myself if they have it. I couldn't even imagine. I do also want to have one more child, but now I am afraid to because of this damned virus. I saw my dr. and spoke about interferon therapy. I chose to put it off for a little while though. He also told me that if I plan to have another child soon that I should have the baby first because of the high risk of deformity and birth defects from the treatments. Your supposed to wait atleast 6 months after finishing the year long treatment to conceive a child. But there has not been many studies about women having children after the interferon and ribaviron treatments. So there are no guarentees that my child would be free from the lingering effects of the medications. PRETTY SCARY!!!! Well for now I have to concentrate on the children that I do have now, and just pray that everything is ok with their health. Even with toothbrushes, this can be passed on to them. Nail files, razors, nail clippers etc. Things that we use in every day life, that we don't even think about. I now keep my toothbrushes away from everyone elses, and my 11 year old is starting to shave now so I buy her blue razors and myself pink ones so we can not mix them up. I have my own nail grooming supplies, and I really try to seperate things in our household that can harbor contaminated blood. It isn't easy ......but I just hope and pray that I am not too late!!!! I'll find out in a few days. Wish us luck!!!!!
p.s. I also worry about my husband who doesn't have hep c....he can certainly get this from sex.

i have 5 kids and think i got it about 20 to 24 years ago. so since getting it i have given birth to 5 kids in a house with 5 kids we shared everything got toothbrushes mixed up. there are so many things sharing nail clippers. cuts scrapes. i cannot even beleive begin to list all the ways we could have passed it to each other. BUT all the kids have tested negative ages 20,18,14,9 and 5 but unfortunatly my husband tested positive. he is going the chemotherepy now but i have decided not to. The only thing that scares me is that i heard that you can get exposed and it won't show up for years. so thats scares me with the kids. my husband is in like his 7th week and doing ok just tired and sometimes very cranky. hope your tests turn out well you will be in my prayers