Does the doc talk to you right after the colonoscopy?

Almost always they come to recovery and brief you on initial findings,  but remember it also takes reports on the biopsies to clarify the picture and those won't be available for a few days. All he can tell you on that day is what he saw, not what the microscopic results are.

Yep, mine comes in soon after, too. Just to say what he saw. My Mom has taken notes about what he says because I'm usually so still out of it from the medication I'm saying stupid things that don't even go along with what the doc is saying and then I don't even remember not only what HE said but what I said to him! Hehe - mine just comes in to say what he saw on the colonoscopy screen (ulcers, whatever) and says if he took any biopsies. He'll also say his thoughts on what to expect over the coming year, if I need new meds or whatever.

softballfan said...
Emom, You mention the doc told you about patchiness, is that what they look for and base treatment on? The doc told us depending on what she saw, would determine the treatment plan. Why are some on oral med and some on remicade?

I don't know that I would say the patchiness is what they base treatment on, but I guess there are certain things they can conclude from the patchiness--like 95% sure it IS Crohn's. I believe they have to wait on the biopsies for further info. Maybe someone will jump in here with more knowledge on the subject than me as to what *exactly* the biopsies tell the doctors....

I was surprised that my son's biopsies did not check for E. coli infection. If anyone has the answer to that, I'd love some insight. I have read multiple studies that implicate a possible E. coli infection in CD (along with MAP, which I understand is extremely difficult to test for).

As for treatment, this seems to vary from doctor to doctor and individual case to case. Our doctor definitely takes the "bottom/up" approach, while I've read here that others take the "top/down" approach to treatment. By this, I mean our doc starts with "entry level" drugs (like Asacol) and if he doesn't get results, moves on to the more powerful ones (Imuran, Humira, Remicade, etc.) (That said, my son did initially take an 8 week course of prednisone. Some doctors choose not to use this drug, but nearly all admit it usually does the trick.) I would think, though, that doctors also take into consideration how severe the current symptoms are, and that may dictate where they start with treatment.

I am thankful our doctor chooses to use the bottom/up approach because I definitely did not want to jump to the big guns at the start, and thankfully things have been under control with the least aggressive drug. That said, we did make drastic dietary changes and added supplements (something our doctor did not encourage and nearly DIScouraged).

Not much help here... As you can see, we're still very new to this whole thing and I still have much to learn.... Best wishes to you and your son!

Megera, thanks for the reply.  I hope the doctor will talk to us since the patient is my son, I agree with you, it will drive me nuts to walk out of the proceedure with no answers.  My son had the serology 7 test done which showed very positive for Crohns, so I think this proceedure is being done to confirm and see the extent of what is going on.  A few weeks ago he broke out in very bad mouth ulcers, they cleared up but last night he noticed another one breaking through...ugh. 

I think I will call the Ped GI's office today to ask what the doctor normally does after the proceedure, talk to the parents or not.

Thanks again

Katherine  

my doc talks to my husband (I get really sick and am of no use) AND gives a typed report that I can see when awake and done barfing!
I sure hope all goes well.