DDCleveland, scopes are a tricky issue for me. I was perfed (NOT by Dr Achkar) back in 2010. It wasn't discovered until I had an MRI 4 days later and they saw my abdominal cavity was full of air. I was very, very lucky and avoided surgery (and was told to purchase lottery tickets - the nurse in the IBD group actually rubbed my head for luck after reading my records). My next scope, in 2012? Almost perfed, and the doctors were being exceedingly careful (which meant that they saw it when the biopsy exposed muscle tissue and they hemoclipped it, but took no further biopsies). I get general anesthesia for my scopes (the one where I was perfed? I remember it. I'd rather not), and Dr Achkar isn't certified to do scopes under general, so that's another complicating factor. At this point, nobody wants to take biopsies unless my colonic mucosa actually looks decent (and...it hasn't), since it has been deemed "delicate." But...I've had Crohn's for over a decade and I need surveillance biopsies. I don't think Dr Achkar wants to bother with a scope unless we really have to do it (and yes, we've done flex sigs just so he can take a look around).
But, when I saw him in January? I told him that if this gets me to remission, I will schedule a scope so fast his head will spin. I want those biopsies taken. Which will make me, what, the first patient to ever push for a scope?
Since I haven't been able to put on any weight since my last period of remission, I think that is the big sign that I've been improving (seriously - I don't even put on more than a couple pounds when I take pred). My bloodwork never strays far from normal even when I'm in terrible shape, so we pretty much have to go by weight, energy levels, and symptoms.
And yes, Dr Achkar is great, though he often is scheduling 4-5 months out, which is kind of ridiculous. But, he always returns phone calls, usually the same day. Very dedicated.
