Saw Mike's new gastro dr this morning. When he came in he said, "what brings you in here today". I said, you tell us your office called & set this up. I reminded him of the Oct colonoscopy where he sent on us on our way with a prescrip for the same meds & to come back in a yr then we get a call at Xmas that it was important we come back in right away.
He studied the chart & then said that since we were new to him in Oct (same medical group but old dr retired) & he saw the severity of the Crohn's (old dr said he had never seen a case as severe as this) he thought we should have a longer sit down face to face meeting than we had in Oct. What it comes down to is Mike's Crohn's is somewhat active but not much different from past exams. But he thinks that with a change in treatment that he could improve upon this. I informed him that the only time in the past 37yrs that Mike's Crohn's ever showed significant improvement was when he was on Remicade infusions. Then he asked why we quit the infusions. CANCER!! Oh, he said well that is a problem.
He said Mike is currently receiving the mildest form of treatment there is for Crohn's but if we were to accept additional treatment it would increase his risk of cancer returning. He believes that the Crohn's has progressed much further thru the intestinal tract than a colonoscopy can show. He offered 2 types of tests 1 of which is invasive & goes thru the throat all the way thru the intestinal tract & the 2nd, less invasive test, involves swallowing a camera & watching it go thru the intestinal tract. The problem with the camera is that if there is scar tissue, the camera can get lodged & if so it would require surgery. Well, I'm sure there will be scar tissue from his previous surgeries. It is also possible that even if he has these tests & they show the disease is much further up in the intestinal tract that the only treatment would be meds that will most likely affect the cancer so we would have to make a choice of treating the Crohn's or facing the risk of cancer again.
He said we can just continue on as we have all these yrs & if the disease is further up in the intestinal tract that we could deal with problems as they arise in the future & problems will probably arise at some point & it will be difficult to treat because of the cancer. He said he felt that as our new dr, it was important for him to discuss all of this with us.
At this time we are waiting to make any decisions until after we talk to our oncologist in Iowa City. We have an appoint with her next wk. Anyway you slice it, he has 2 very serious life threatening conditions but at this point I'm inclined to leave well enough alone. Mike isn't having any pain with his Crohn's, no weight loss, no change in appetite, & his Oct colonoscopy is relatively unchaged from a yr ago so I think we should just take a wait & see what develops attitude. We return to the gastro dr next month to discuss our decision. I hate it when we have to make decisions like this.
He studied the chart & then said that since we were new to him in Oct (same medical group but old dr retired) & he saw the severity of the Crohn's (old dr said he had never seen a case as severe as this) he thought we should have a longer sit down face to face meeting than we had in Oct. What it comes down to is Mike's Crohn's is somewhat active but not much different from past exams. But he thinks that with a change in treatment that he could improve upon this. I informed him that the only time in the past 37yrs that Mike's Crohn's ever showed significant improvement was when he was on Remicade infusions. Then he asked why we quit the infusions. CANCER!! Oh, he said well that is a problem.
He said Mike is currently receiving the mildest form of treatment there is for Crohn's but if we were to accept additional treatment it would increase his risk of cancer returning. He believes that the Crohn's has progressed much further thru the intestinal tract than a colonoscopy can show. He offered 2 types of tests 1 of which is invasive & goes thru the throat all the way thru the intestinal tract & the 2nd, less invasive test, involves swallowing a camera & watching it go thru the intestinal tract. The problem with the camera is that if there is scar tissue, the camera can get lodged & if so it would require surgery. Well, I'm sure there will be scar tissue from his previous surgeries. It is also possible that even if he has these tests & they show the disease is much further up in the intestinal tract that the only treatment would be meds that will most likely affect the cancer so we would have to make a choice of treating the Crohn's or facing the risk of cancer again.
He said we can just continue on as we have all these yrs & if the disease is further up in the intestinal tract that we could deal with problems as they arise in the future & problems will probably arise at some point & it will be difficult to treat because of the cancer. He said he felt that as our new dr, it was important for him to discuss all of this with us.
At this time we are waiting to make any decisions until after we talk to our oncologist in Iowa City. We have an appoint with her next wk. Anyway you slice it, he has 2 very serious life threatening conditions but at this point I'm inclined to leave well enough alone. Mike isn't having any pain with his Crohn's, no weight loss, no change in appetite, & his Oct colonoscopy is relatively unchaged from a yr ago so I think we should just take a wait & see what develops attitude. We return to the gastro dr next month to discuss our decision. I hate it when we have to make decisions like this.
