Can Remicade be used for long term UC treatment?

Hi Everyone,
I'm a new poster, but have been reading your posts for a long time.
My situation is I am going to Mayo in a few days for my 5th colonoscopy in the 13 years I've had UC, now severe pancolitis but under control with Remicade. I will also have my 1st Upper Endoscopy, and 1st CT Scan, small bowel. The reason for all this is I want a 2nd opinion on my treatment options. My aunt passed from uncontrolled CD and I want to make sure what I have is really UC before I consider the surgical option for that. I'm considering surgery because for the last 6 months I have noticed breakthrough a few weeks prior to my next infusion, so am suspecting antibodies have formed. Dr has now increased the frequency of infusions to every 6 weeks, to get me as symptom free as possible if I elect surgery. I am starting to question whether Remicade can be used for long term treatment - are there people out there who have used it for 10-15 years? The dollar cost alone - $7500 per dosing - and the number of doses I will need to continue on in life - and with surgery curing the disease - make the crux of my surgery stance with jpouch. We all make decisions on our treatment of UC based on a multitude of factors. Just want to be as knowledgeable as possible before doing so. Thanks, and my best to all of you on your disease management.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Dx @ 37 with UC pancolitis 10/00. Kept in check with Asacol until 2004, beat it back with prednisone/Rowasa until 2008; got severe, could not manage it until Remicade in 2011, now 15 infusions in.
Remicade, 5 mg per KG Q 8 weeks (recently changed to 6 weeks)
Delzicol 400 MG : 4 caps t/d
Flovent HFA 220mcg, 4000 IU of D3, 1000 mg C, 800 mcg Folic, 3000 mg Omega3, 1300 mg calcium, 500 mg Niacin

My 5-year Remi-versary is this week. I've heard of people with CD being on Remicade for 10-15 years; I don't think it's been approved for UC that long, but I'm sure people can stay on it long-term.

Are you still having breakthroughs after switching to every 6 weeks?

It does seem to work for some people unfortunately not for me. I tried Remicade for about 8 months however I was only having success by doing it at 4 week intervals and even then it only worked for about a week and a half and then I would be back to Prednisone to control the symptoms. Later I stopped Remicade after a skin infection sent me to the hospital for a few days for which I think Remicade, Prednisone and mild anemia were all contributing factors.

Six months later when I was facing surgery my colo-rectal surgeon told me to take protein shakes to boost my blood albumin levels so I would heal at a healthy rate after surgery. However instead the protein shakes plus Apriso and mesalamine suppositories and some home made yogurt I cultured from VSL #3 were enough to help me taper off Prednisone a month before my surgery date. Then I cancelled surgery to pursue fecal transplants and now two years later I am still symptom-free.

To this day I still wonder if it is a good idea to suppress the immune system in the long term if the root cause is actually bacterial, rather than a malfunctioning immune system. The risk of cancel did worry me about Remicade.