Spoke to my GP yesterday

Not really a lot new came from it...

He had the results of my MRI scan, which revealed I had a 'lead pipe' colon, active Crohn's colitis, and some Crohn's in the small bowel but mainly concentrated in the large bowel. As it so happened, he caught me in an absolutely miserable mood: I'm not at my best in the mornings anyway, but to phone me in the morning and on top of hardly any sleep is just asking for trouble. My GP didn't miss the hint: he insisted in prescribing me Effexor then and there, over the phone :-/

I told my GP that I wasn't on the 6MP any longer, since he assumed I was still on it. He said basically what all you lot here say: that I had to be on a maintenance med because otherwise the inflammation would only get worse. He mentioned Remicade, which apparently the GI doc is suggesting now, but I dunno. Not even sure I'm eligible for it, since my previous doc told me you had to be on an immunesuppressant to be eligible for Remicade and, like I already said, I'm not going back on 6MP.

There's other issues, too, like Remicade only being funded for 3 doses and the hospital basically having lost my cooperation.

I brought up surgery and my GP's instant response was "good god, no!". He made out that Crohn's surgeries were really difficult, that operating on Crohn's-affected intestines was like delving into a nest of angry bees and disturbing them.

Despite everything, my GP is actually a lovely fellow. He stayed on the phone for a long time, seemingly genuinely wanting to make me feel better. I feel a little bit bad that he never did.

I dunno about completely solid, but that's the right idea. The colon loses its folds, becomes rigid, and looks smooth on x-rays. When I googled it, it seemed to be associated with long-standing UC.

I had a look at your email. I ought to be going to bed now, but I'll reply tomorrow. Along with a reply to vixen's email as well...

Goodnight :-/