GI Update

January 26, 2010

I had my appointment with Dr. G yesterday. My biggest question for him was why he said last time that it was still on his list for me to have my rectum removed. Dr. G said that the factors that went into recommending that were: 1) my desire to get pregnant; 2) the fact that I still have symptoms; and 3) it would remove the risk of rectal cancer. He said that if #1 and #2 were not issues, he would not suggest I have surgery just to avoid the risk of cancer. That was a huge relief to me. Huge. In my thinking, if he was recommending it because of cancer, then I was going to have the surgery. #1 and #2 are still issues, but they don't feel as urgent to me.

I talked to him about the fact that I'm having probably around 10 BMs a day - which is fine with me, except that I wish I wasn't up two or three times a night going to the bathroom. I told him that there is also still blood when I go to the bathroom two or three times a week (at least). He suggested I take Imodium at night before bed to decrease the number of times. I'll have to mess around with the amount I take, but it could help. He said that the stricture that caused me to need dilations in the past might have something to do with that as well. It could be a stricture causing me to be unable to evacuate completely when I go, which means I have to go more frequently. I think typically people at my stage of the game are only going 4-6 times a day (though that's not a hard and fast rule). He said if the Imodium didn't help that, he might scope me to check out the stricture and see if that's what's causing the problem. It could be. I do have to strain quite a bit when I go, but I'm not in as much pain as I used to be when I had the stricture. I guess we'll see.

In order to treat my UC symptoms, he also prescribed me a steroid enema along with the anti-inflammatory enema I have been using. Dr. G is not certain that the Cipro is treating pouchitis. He sometimes prescribes it for UC too. So, if the two enemas are doing well, I may not need the Cipro. Again, we'll have to see. He said we could go to some other oral medications to treat my UC symptoms, but they can have toxic side-effects and affect my immune system.

I guess that's it. So basically if I feel like I want to get pregnant or that I've had enough of the UC symptoms, he would go ahead and give approval for me to have surgery. Until then I will be scoped each year to check for changes in tissue that might suggest cancer. I'll see him again in two months.

I know many people were praying for me and sending me good thoughts today. Thank you. I feel really good about this appointment and am not going to be scheduling surgery right now. Whew!!