Bad flare, blood transfusion, sigmoid scope story

Hi all,

So, I have only ever posted once before to say I was going through a bad flare. This resulted in me loosing about 900ml of blood on a Sunday morning. Needless to say, I was hospitalised and my blood count dropped to 7.2 at one point. 5 units of blood, saline, hydrocortisone drip for 4 days I was finally let out. They performed a sigmoid scope to the lower part of my bowel as they couldn't risk a full colonoscopy in case of another bleed. The hospital here is very small and in case of emergencies they medivac you out to the nearest country which is usually Chile or to the UK if enough time. The GI they consulted made it pretty clear I needed to go as soon as possible. Now I have finally gone into remission but will still be travelling to the UK to see my GI who will perform a colonoscopy to see why I had such a bad bleed.

The first time I had a flare, I needed a transfusion, I have had many flares but this is the second major one with another transfusion needed. Now, I am a little worried as they reckon there could be an ulcer near a main blood vessel which has caused the haemorrhage. If this is the case, the surgical team with GIs will get together and discuss what the best course of action is. Likely surgery to remove the affected part. Now, this is where I am concerned, my bowel is full of polyps cause by flare ups which I have been told will not turn cancerous. But I am thinking, if they want to remove part of my bowel to cure this problem, wouldn't it be wise to just remove the entire lot, get a jpouch and be disease free? It's a tough call as I would rather have no op, I have two small girls and I am only 30. The thought of surgery scares the day lights out of me.

Anyway. If anyone has had something similar or been through bowel surgery, your thoughts or opinions would be appreciated,

Thank you

Currently on Asacol 400ml x4 - three times a day
Prednisone - 35mg
Omeprazole - 40mg

Thank you for the reply.

I had been on coilifoam since December as well as asacol. The prednisone was prescribed only in Feb and by that stage things were pretty bad. I am glad I'm not thinking too radical. I have seen on the ostomie forum that some people had part removals but then went on to remove the entire bowel. Just makes sense to do it in one go.

Also, they said they are pseudo polyps caused by bad flares. But I have read somewhere that the more scaring inside your bowels the harder it is to spot the possibly cancerous polyps. Is this correct? Like I said, I have hundreds apparently. It seems one surgery could cure the entire uc and any risk of me developing cancer. I have had this disease for over 8 years and statistic say after 10 the chances are high of cancer. Very scary when I am only 30.

Thanks again

It pretty much boils down to quality of life....Considering the flare/bleeding/transfusion situation and the polyps, you might want to consider the surgery.

Age isn't really a factor as to what can go on in the bowel or whether one gets cancer from continued inflammation/psudopolyps/development of cancerous polyps.

The reality is that you should do all the research you need to do in order to make the decision to either live with your colon as is, including meds, regular c-scopes, etc....or, have the surgery and live with the symptoms of having either a bag or j/k-pouch.

Eventually you may have to make the decision for surgery, but you might have to do the wait and see before you get there.

Whichever you do....still do the consults for your best options. You have nothing to lose regarding that.

q