I was really against the idea of Remicade at first. The cancer risk was just too scary. There's a ton of cancer in my family history. But you just can't stay on the Pred forever. There's a much higher risk of damaging bones, eyes, getting diabetes, and probably a host of other problems from the Pred than getting cancer from the Remicade. And the longer you stay uncontrolled, the more damage you do to your body. These are the reasons that I chose to try the Remicade.
I think it also depends on how "long term" you mean. Remicade has been used in the US for Crohn's since at least 1999. They've got a pretty good idea what it's doing to our bodies now. What the effects will be in 20 years? Maybe we don't know that yet. But if it allows me to work and have a semi-normal life, and hopefully keeps me out of the operating room for the forseeable future, that's a risk that I'm willing to accept. I had my first infusion less than a week ago, and I'm already seeing improvement. I was on a slide back toward hospitalization, and the Pred was only slowing it down, not stopping it. So for me, from my very limited experience with the med so far, it was the right decision.