In 1991, shortly after donating blood, I received a form letter from the local blood bank informing me that I had non-A, non-B hepatitis, now known as Hepatitis C.

Initially I did the right thing by scheduling an appointment with a specialist but after the initial meeting, I decided to ignore the doctor’s advice and the disease. Yes, I buried my head in the sand hoping this would just go away.

For the first 10 years I tried to ignore the disease. After all I was symptomless!

I had no clue how long I had been infected with this virus nor did I know the toll this disease had taken on my liver. The sad thing is that I didn’t know that I really needed to know the condition of my liver.

I am very fortunate to still be among the living and better yet, among the semi-healthy living, because "this disease" is one of a number of diseases that are known as silent killers, having either have no symptoms or only vague symptoms, and yet are deadly.

In 2001, unable to ignore it any longer, I found a specialist and following his advice I had all of the necessary blood tests done to include having a liver biopsy.

In 2007, to determine the virus's rate of progression I repeated the blood tests and had another liver biopsy done.

While I still don’t know how long I have had the virus, I do now know what stage of liver disease I am in as a result of this viral infection.

This website holds a number of constructive things to know and do with regard to managing your Hepatitis C. For now though, the most important constructive thing you can do is to make an appointment with a specialist. One that specializes in a subspecialty of Gastroenterology known as Hepatology or hepatobiliary medicine. Hepatology encompasses the study of the liver, pancreas and biliary tree.