Crohn's Chronicles :: Colonoscopy Time {Again}

Today I had {another} colonoscopy. Since I have been on Stelara for almost 10 months, it was a good time to see how much it's actually helping. I have been feeling better {praise God!}, but my doctor and I were curious to see if I was actually heading toward remission.

Tried a new prep this time...

I still have inflammation and scarring, but it looks much better than it did back in July! I have developed fibrosis {thickening and hardening of the intestinal wall due to chronic inflammation}, which is a concern and could cause a lot of complications if it worsens. So no remission yet, and still some irreversible damage, but definite improvement. And I didn't have any more polyps, which is a huge praise. I had more labs drawn to measure trough concentrations and antibodies for Stelara; that will help us make the decision on whether I should increase my dosage from every 8 weeks to every 6 weeks. We had discussed this back in January, since my trough concentrations were borderline, but since I was seeing improvement in my symptoms, we decided to hold off in that dosing change. I'll wait to get those results back and then see if maybe making that change will be what puts me over the edge.

While I have seen definite improvement in my GI symptoms, I have still been working on my fatigue and headaches. There has been a lot of struggle in getting answers on these things; it can be so frustrating when other doctors are not familiar with Crohn's {and insurance mandates that those unfamiliar doctors be the ones who put in orders}. Long story short, I was finally able to get labs drawn via my GI, and he saw right away that my iron levels were super low! So while it was frustrating to have to go through all those extra months of struggling because the primary care missed that on my bloodwork {sigh...another reason I won't be seeing that doctor anymore}, I was so thankful to finally have a reason for my issues!

I started taking iron supplements a few weeks ago, had to stop for the week leading up to my colonoscopy, but will restart those now. Hopefully I'll start seeing some improvement in my fatigue and headaches soon.

After slogging now for 2.5 years with active disease, I was definitely thankful for some encouraging news today! I still have some work ahead of me, but we're making good progress. I seem to be on the slow and steady tortoise pace toward remission :)  But I'll keep persevering, thankful for small victories, loving support, and daily grace to keep going.