Category Archives: calprotectin

Call My Bluff

It started with a routine calprotectin test in November 2015. The result came back at just over 100, which equates to “mildly elevated”. Subsequent tests continued the upward trend. A graph (I do love a good graph) is the best way to show the issue.
Calprotectin Test Values

To try and explain this ever rising trend I underwent a number of MRIs and colonoscopies but nothing untoward was seen and my gastros were stumped. Life continued as usual and my remission appeared to be continuing despite the confusing calpro figures. Could there have been something causing a false positive reading? I set about trying to find a plausible answer (that didn’t involve inflammation) but without success. In the meantime I was wondering why my Hb level was on the low side. Cue another graph…

Hb Values

It wasn’t until late 2018 that I went to see my gastro again, ostensibly to discuss the Hb level and a recent bout of “bathroom dashes”. Was it time to re-investigate the calprotectin issue. There was one section of my gut that hadn’t been seen by camera, namely the small bowel between duodenum and the anastomosis site (where my terminal ileum had been). I was booked in for a capsule endoscopy on 18th November. The full description of the procedure and the wait for the results can be found here (opens in a new window) – https://www.wrestlingtheoctopus.com/fantastic-voyage/ .

When the report was finally available my consultant emailed me to say that “there is some inflammation in the small bowel – it’s not terrible but it must be the source of the calprotectin. I  think it is probably enough to warrant treatment which we should discuss. Shall I arrange an appointment?” Yes, that would be a good idea. The date has come through for mid-April. A few more weeks wait before finding out the way ahead….

Then, last Thursday, I was rather surprised to get a phonecall from one of the IBD nurses. She told me that it had been decided, at the weekly virtual clinic (which I think must be like an MDT), to start me on Vedolizumab and they needed to book me in for a blood test and chest x-ray prior to my first infusion. I explained that this would be a major decision, as I had been Crohn’s drugs free for several years. My preferred option was to stay that way. I would want to discuss any new drug/treatment, at the forthcoming gastro appointment, prior to starting. (I have subsequently had an email from my consultant agreeing with this course of action. It appears that the IBD nurses had been very efficient in trying to arrange approval for the drug prior to the appointment)

Bluff

I’m now in a position that many other patients are confronted with – the end of remission. I’ve written many times about maintaining a laid back, positive attitude. Now my bluff is being called and I need to prove to myself that I can continue being calm and unstressed about my health.  So far so good. If my quality of life was being seriously compromised and I was unable to function properly then the decision to restart medication would be a simple one…..but it isn’t apart from…..

….an ache in my right hand side (URQ). It’s more annoying than being anywhere near painkiller territory. What could be causing it? As with most things #IBD related there is always a high degree of uncertainty. I consider this to be one of the major psychological burdens we bear.

I’m currently testing an IBD Self Help programme. It is broken down into modules which are completed over a number of weeks. I haven’t reached the “Pain” section yet so I’ve been relying on the old technique of visulaising the pain in an attempt to lessen its impact. That’s easier to do if you know there is only one cause but in my case it could be : the recurrence of the old ache around my anastomosis due to adhesions/scar tissue; gallstones; getting the balance of Loperamide/Colesevelam wrong; or the new kid on the block – inflammation. (“New” may be an incorrect description given that the first high calprotectin values showed up in May 2016).

Jump

You might think that I would jump at the chance of starting treatment but I’m not so sure. If inflammation did restart in 2016 then I have thrived so far without medication, do I really need to start now? I don’t want to be dogmatic and take a “I’ve been taking no drugs so I’m not going to start now” stance without good reason. A fellow Crohn’s patient asked what made me hesitant? I suppose the answer is “side effects”. I have not needed to educate myself on the progress of the MABs/biosimilars and their potential downsides. I have a lot of catching up to do and need to understand how the benefits would outweigh the risks.

I have however had experience of drugs damaging other systems or not working. I took Azathioprine for 9 years, with no apparent side effects, then my platelet count suddenly plunged. The concensus was that the Aza had attacked and permanently damaged my bone marrow which in turn reduced its ability to produce platelets. No more Azathioprine. I then tried Infliximab but after 3 doses my symptoms showed no improvement and I went under the surgeon’s knife (2010).

Platelet Count

Before the mid-April appointment I need to research Vedolizumab; ask other Crohn’s patients for their experiences and come up with a list of questions for my gastro. I’ve made a start……

Questions, questions….

I would usually leave my list until a couple of days beforehand. Given that this will be a major decision point in my Crohn’s experience I thought it best to start writing now.

  • What exactly did the capsule endoscopy show in the way of severity of inflammation and locations? Was it confined to the small bowel?
  • What was the gist of the discussion that resulted in proposing Vedo?
  • My QOL is good apart from an ache on my right side
  • Looking at the calprotectin levels it suggests that inflammation started somewhere between November 2015 to June 2016 but was not apparent on other tests
  • It has been 6 months between having the capsule endoscopy mid-November and the appointment. That suggests it does not need immediate treatment.
  • What if I decide not to go back onto Crohn’s medication at present?
  • How will Vedo help me now? …and in the long term?
  • Are there any side effects I need to know about? Are any of these relevant to my other conditions?
  • Ongoing monitoring regime? Frequency?
  • How good a measure would calprotectin be for small bowel Crohn’s?
  • Does the efficacy of Vedo differ as one gets older? Do the side effects change?
  • Is there the opportunity to have infusions at a local hospital?
  • Was there anything else of note from the capsule endoscopy? Could anything account for my low Hb?
  • What can we do about Hb level and long term use of Ferrous Fumarate? Would an iron infusion be the answer?

(If I have missed something obvious or you have beem in a similar situation then please leave a comment or respond on Twitter @crohnoid – Thanks)

The Difficult Patient

I like to think that I’m a good patient. I very rarely forget to take my medication; I always turn up for appointments; I try to enter the consulting room with a positive attitude and clutching a list of questions.

…but I’m also a difficult patient. I think it’s true of any IBD patient that we are “difficult” because it is likely that on first presentation to our GP our symptoms could have a number of possible explanations. At least more doctors are becoming aware of IBD as an avenue for investigation. It took 8 months for my positive diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, via “nerves” and “spastic colon” along the way.

The difficulty continued. My platelet count dropped dramatically (thrombocytopenia). The most likely explanation? “It was the azathioprine.” So I stopped the azathioprine, my platelets showed no improvement and I ended up having surgery to remove a stricture.

Azathioprine is known to potentially affect the blood which is why we should have regular blood tests when taking it. Although my platelet count was around the 70 mark (usual range 150 – 400), I was asymptomatic. If I cut myself I didn’t bleed any more than usual and after several visits to see the haematologist it was decided to park the issue as it wasn’t affecting any other treatment. I had been in remission and Crohn’s drug free since surgery.

But what if the Crohn’s started to flare again and my gastro consultant decided the best treatment would be to restart the Aza? I put this to him and he agreed that we should un-park the question and try to find out whether the drug was to blame.

Off to see the haematologist again and two bone marrow biopsies later it was decided that Aza was the probably the guilty party, had attacked my bone marrow which in turn suppressed platelet production. (…..not everyone agrees)

The second “difficulty” was when I started vomiting blood, an incident that I have mentioned many times before. Into our local A&E and then admitted as an in-patient. The consultants there were expecting to find an ulcer. To confirm their suspicions they shoved a camera down my throat and were surprised to find esophageal varices. A simple-to-treat ulcer was actually something a lot more sinister.

One ultrasound scan later and it was identified as portal vein thrombosis. Time to pass me back into the care of my usual hospital. Treatment would involve both a hepatologist and haematologist. At my first meeting with the hepatologist I asked what could have caused the blood clot in my portal vein. He said that the most likely explanation was that it resulted from peritonitis brought on by a perforated bowel over 30 years previously. I have to admit I still struggle with this explanation. Why did it take 30 years to come to a head? Result – beta blockers and proton pump inhibitors.

The haematologist suggested that I started taking blood thinners to combat the threat of further blood clots. I really didn’t want to take any more medication than strictly necessary so we did a risk analysis and concluded that it was 50/50 for and against. Result – no warfarin. Another issue successfully parked.

Then came the jaundice as a result of gallstones. I met with upper GI surgeons at both my local and Kings College hospitals. The usual treatment would be to whip out my gallbladder using keyhole surgery but, of course, my case is not so simple. Previous laparotomies have left scar tissue and adhesions that would preclude a keyhole operation. Then an MRCP scan showed that the varices, that had grown down my throat, had also grown around my gallbladder.  Aaah!

What have we concluded? The choices are to operate now to prevent a problem in the future “that might never happen” or to postpone the decision and review again in 6 months time. He was minded to go with this second option. I wholeheartedly agreed with him.

…and finally there’s the little matter of conflicting test results. As it was the subject of my last post I don’t intend to repeat it here but it leaves me with questions. Is the “wait and watch, let’s park that issue” a valid strategy or best option in this instance. If I asked for further investigations to be done would I simply be using up valuable NHS resources carrying out tests that might make no difference to, or even worsen, my QOL? Would it even be clear which further tests could be carried out? As I said in that previous post, curiosity is getting the better of me but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. That’s one of the advantages of writing a blog. You can get all your thoughts down in one place and then, you guessed it, park them.

Maybe there are no clear cut answers but I’m starting to feel that my “difficult patient” status can only get worse as the ageing process kicks in. Oh for a simple life.

IBD Knowledge and Curiosity

They say with age comes wisdom. I fear I am the exception to that rule. What doesn’t come with age is knowledge. I proved this by spending the first 20 years from my Crohn’s diagnosis knowing very little about the condition. You could sum it up as : nobody knows what causes it; it’s incurable; you take steroids to keep it under control and get on with life; not many people have heard of it.

In 1998 there was the first mention of possible surgery to remove a stricture. I now needed to know what “stricture” meant and its implications. I started to take a little more interest but once I was safely weaned onto an immunosuppressant, and back to some sort of equilibrium, then my interest waned and life quickly returned to “normal”.

Another decade passed and then a routine blood test showed my platelets were dropping. As this was a known side effect of the immunosuppressants they were stopped.

In May 2009 a CT scan painted a complicated picture of both ileal disease and the suspicion that I was fistulating into other parts of the small bowel, possibly the sigmoid. My consultant put it in simple terms: “It looks like you’ve got an octopus in there”.

Fistula? I had no idea what that meant. It certainly sounded somewhat unsavoury. I started, again, to resign myself to surgery. After a brief, expensive, unsuccessful flirtation with Infliximab, the knife became inevitable.

As it approached I was confronted with new medical terms and there would be new skills to learn, for instance changing a stoma bag, but the knowledge I sought was still confined to my immediate needs.

Some of the basic information, that I’m assuming (hoping) newly Dx’d patients nowadays take for granted, had sadly passed me by. It wasn’t until 2012 that this was remedied by a couple of things, the first being my increased awareness of SoMe which lead to reading other patient’s stories. The second started a little more dramatically.

In mid-2012 I was rushed into our local hospital leaking upper GI blood. Once stabilised, given my history of Crohn’s, I was placed on the gastro ward. It was an eye opener. There were patients there who had admitted themselves as they were having a flare-up! Really? That was new to me. I had never even considered doing that. Could things really get that bad?

I became reacquainted with my old IBD Nurse who, sadly, had returned to being “just” a ward sister as she wanted to reclaim her private life. One quiet afternoon she sat on the end of my bed and we started chatting about Crohn’s disease.

She was surprised at my lack of knowledge and quickly realised that nobody had ever talked me through the basics. It was assumed that someone who had experienced the condition for so long must know all about it by now. I was guilty of this assumption myself as I knew no better. Our conversation was a wake up call to become better informed. Now my curiosity was awakened.

Six years on my curiosity is stronger than ever but I’ve hit a bit of a brick wall. It’s been the subject of previous posts and many, probably too many, Tweets. Although I’ve been in remission for several years I still undergo regular monitoring and this is where the problem lies. As usual I’ve drawn a diagram that represents my take on the situation..My case has been discussed at the Multi Disciplinary Meeting of one of the country’s leading gastro teams and the conclusions were : the colonoscopy findings outweigh the MRI findings in the colon. The small bowel was reassuringly uninflamed. There is no explanation for the raised calprotectin in terms of Crohn’s disease. Watch and wait.

From a health point of view I’m happy to “watch and wait” but my curiosity is sufficiently piqued that I would like find a logical explanation. It’s difficult to know what to do next. I’m rather hoping that by putting the details of my case out into the big world of SoMe it might just strike a chord with somebody – a fellow patient, an HCP or even a testing lab – and they will be able to point me towards a solution. Until then I have a feeling I will be returning to this subject on a regular basis.

 

Christmas Treat

I’m convinced that blogging is good for you. It helps get some order into your thoughts by trying to write a coherent post.

My challenge today is to link (in no particular order) : an unresolved medical test; distinguishing between the effects of long term medication and the ageing process; another meeting with the surgeon and overcoming the stomach churning effect of burnt bananas.

Last week I emailed my gastro consultant to ask if I ought to have another calprotectin test as the last one was in January. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t even need to ask the question but there is an issue regarding this particular inflammatory marker. The last result was high (896), a continuation of an ever upward trend over the last two years. The “issue” is that there is no explanation for this trend. I am feeling well and two subsequent colonoscopies have shown no inflammation. Is there any point in having a further test if we don’t understand the result? My gastro responded that I might as well go ahead but agreed it did seem slightly illogical.

I’ll drop the calpro sample in at St.Thomas’ next Friday (10th November) when I’m off to see the Upper GI surgeon to continue our discussion on having my gallbladder removed. By then  the results from my recent MRI Pancreas scan should have been discussed at their Multi Disciplinary Meeting with a recommendation on whether to go for surgery as soon as possible or leave it until it becomes neccessary. Surgery will not be straight forward for various reasons, one of which is portal hypertension/portal vein thrombosis.

The monitoring process for this last condition consists of an annual Upper GI endoscopy(ies) to look for any esophageal varices that have grown and then obliterate them with “banding”. For the last three years the procedure has been carried out in the week before Christmas so it seemed a shame not to continue the tradition. This year’s scoping is therefore booked for Tuesday 19th December. That gives me seven weeks to try and get over my aversion to burnt bananas. Just the thought is now making me feel queasy.

(If you’ve had an endoscopy you’ll know what I’m talking about; if you haven’t then I’d better explain that the Xylocaine spray, used to numb the throat prior to introduction of the camera, tastes of burnt bananas. Feeling queasy again!)

The “banding” is complemented by medication. Omeprazole – a proton pump inhibitor – to help protect the esophageal lining by reducing stomach acid. Propranolol – a beta blocker – to reduce blood pressure.  This latter drug has a number of potential side effects including tiredness, cold hands, feeling breathless, impotence.

In an ideal world I would be totally drug free but the next best thing would be reducing down to the bare minimum. I’ve already turned down Warfarin to thin the blood and not yet stared Colesevalam for bile acid malabsorption. I would like to stop or reduce the Propranolol if at all possible.

The above raises a number of questions. If I am generally feeling OK should I even be concerned that one marker is giving an unexplained result? Should I pursue it and ask for further investigation to be done to resolve the issue or should I just accept it as one of “life’s little mysteries”? How do I tell the difference between the side effects of Propranolol and the natural ageing process. Can I reduce the dosage from 80mg/day? What new questions should I be asking the surgeon? This should become more obvious once I know what the oucome of the MDM was. Unfortunately my gastro didn’t atted the meeting so couldn’t give me a heads up.

…and finally I must use my will power to overcome the burnt banana feeling.

Next update after the meeting with the surgeon.

Fifty Shades of Grey

Let’s get my latest appointment out the way…….

Monday – 24th April 2017 – Gastro Appointment, Guy’s Hospital

I hadn’t planned this appointment, neither had my gastro consultant but the booking system had other ideas. It must be set to auto repeat every 6 months and doesn’t take into account any ad-hoc appointments in between. I had intended to cancel but I’m pleased I didn’t as there were things that needed talking through. I produced the obligatory list of questions (responses in red) :

1.    Biopsy results (from 11th March colonoscopy) – the report from the path lab said that the biopsies were consistent with “quiescent” Crohn’s disease. This result was about as good as it could get. Once you have the disease there will always be some signs of it, even when in remission.

2.    Explanation of rising calpro levels given result of recent colonoscopy?       – to be honest, he simply did not know what was causing the raised calpro levels. He had been concerned that something had been missed during a previous colonoscopy hence the repeat, in March, carried out by his trusted colleague (and watched by an audience of trainee, international gastroenterologists).

3.    If calprotectin tests not giving meaningful pointer to Crohn’s activity what monitoring regime should we adopt? – I had anticipated what the answer would be and I was right. If you start to feel the Crohn’s is becoming active then we’ll take it from there.

4.    The upper GI surgeon (Professor), who I saw locally (see previous post) regarding gallbladder removal, was talking about referral to a specialist liver facility “in case of needing a transplant” arising from complications during the  cholecystectomy (sounded very drastic) – my gastro agreed that I should be referred to a specialist unit in view of my concurrent conditions. The most likely unit would be the one at Kings College Hospital. The issue of needing a transplant would be a last resort if something went very wrong during the operation. He typed a letter to the Professor suggesting that the referral should go ahead.

5.    Awaiting ultrasound appointment (locally) to look at liver, gallbladder, bile duct and portal vein – noted. No date as yet.

6.    Pros and cons of having gallbladder removed? – to be discussed with specialist liver facility. Even if I decide not to have surgery I would at least be on their radar so that should I end up having another jaundice incident, that needed urgent resolution, they would already be aware of my case.

7.    Fibro-scan to see if liver cirrhosis progressing – he filled in the online booking form to request the scan. (Date now through – 4th September)

8.    Current weight 78.2kg. The target weight set prior to my ileostomy (October 2010) was to get UP to 90kg, which I achieved with the aid of 3 x Fortisip (300 calories each) per day. My subsequent decline by 12kg has been quite a loss – whilst I felt fit at this reduced weight it was a lot lighter than the previous target weight. I thought I had better point it out. We would continue to monitor.

9.    Next steps – ultrasound scan; fibro-scan; no further colonoscopies at present; follow-up appointment in 6 months time (the booking system should already be doing that); yearly endoscopy at Christmas to check varices + appointment with specialist liver unit.

50 Shades of Grey

For 30 years I really didn’t want to delve too deeply into my health. It was clear, black and white, I had Crohn’s Disease (after the usual “is it IBS debate” within the medical profession). It was centred mainly around the join between my small and large intestines (a common location) and had caused a stricture. Despite this I spent many years in remission.

In the last few years my medical life has become more complex with new issues arising. Most of them  are very definitely not black or white.

It started with the dramatic fall in my platelet count that has never recovered (thrombocytopenia). Was it really as a side effect of the Azathioprine I had been taking for 8 years? You would expect it to have bounced back when I stopped the drug. Is it related to my spleen becoming enlarged? Could this be the cause of the platelets issue instead? Two bone marrow biopsies later and there is still no definitive answer.

Next there was the incident where new blood vessels had grown in my esophagus and then burst. A subsequent x-ray showed a blood clot had formed in my portal vein (thrombosis) which had increased the pressure in the veins higher up. Most likely cause of the clot? The current theory is it’s the result of peritonitis following a perforated bowel operation in….1979! Really? That long ago? Apparently there is always a risk of PVT during any surgery. I’ve also seen research that once you have Crohn’s patients you are more susceptible to clots.

As a result of the above incident it was suggested that I might have Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) I had a fibro-scan on my liver which showed signs of cirrhosis. What caused that? It certinly wasn’t alcohol related as I drink very little. Is it linked to that blood clot? I then had a liver biopsy and, thankfully, it showed no PSC.

What caused my recent jaundice incident last January? I felt no pain whatsoever only violent shivering and turning yellow. It must have been gallstone related but this is usually accompanied by the most excruciating pain. Again there is a potentially a link between Crohn’s and the increased likelihood of developing gallstones.

…and so to my latest consultation. Yet another puzzle – how to explain a rising calprotectin level with a colonoscopy, and biopsies, that showed I’m in remission.

…and not forgetting the reason I had that second colonoscopy – to see if there was any evidence of the strictures which showed up on the MRI scan, which there wasn’t. Another conundrum and one that had also happened back in 2012.

…and, of course, there’s the biggest grey area in the room – what causes Crohn’s Disease?

I’m not going to lose any sleep over the above. What’s done is done. It’s more out of curiosity that I would like definitive answers. In an ideal world I’d get a gastroenterologist, a hepatologist and a haematologist in a room together and let them reach a concensus on likely causes. That isn’t going to happen anytime soon…….

…but maybe the combination of conditions would at least give me a winning hand playing “Illness Top Trumps”

 

Now or Later?

Are you a “Now” or “Later” person? When you’ve undergone some test or maybe an MRI scan do you prefer to get the result/report as soon as it is available or do you prefer to wait until you see your consultant?

I’m definitely the former. I like to know what could lie ahead so that I can come to terms with the worst scenario and then, if reality is actually not as bad, result!

When it’s something like a calprotectin test then it’s simple to compare the new value to previous ones and identify the trend. (I dropped a sample into the Path Lab for analysis just before Christmas and should be able to get the result soon).

The problem comes when you read a report that is well beyond one’s own limited medical knowledge or experience. I had such a report arrive in the post last week. The MRI scan itself was carried out at the end of last July but if you’ve read my previous couple of posts you’ll see that there was an apparent conflict between it and a subsequent colonoscopy. I had asked my consultant to send me through the text and he duly obliged.

Before we go any further here it is :

“MRI Small bowel study :

Comparison is made with the previous MR in April 2012. Previous ileocolic resection again noted.

There is stricturing seen in the proximal and distal sigmoid colon as before, with relative sparing ol the midsigmoid colon. As before there are adhesions between the rectosigmoid, proximal sigmoid and the dome of the bladder which is tented upwards and slightly thickened, suggestive of developing colocolonic and colovesical fistula formation. No intravesical gas is however seen at present. There is moderate prestenotic dilatation with the descending colon measuring 6.1 cm in diameter

As before a further stricture is seen in the proximal transverse colon measuring 10 cm in length, with slightly less mural thickening than before. Moderate prestenotic dilatation of 4.8 cm is seen. There is further stricture seen in the ascending colon over a length of 5 cm. Mild mural thickening and oedema is noted in the caecum and distal 5cm of the terminal ileum as previously.

The small bowel loops are suboptimally distended, with the impression of adhesions between the small bowel loops and anterior abdominal wall. No definite further strictures or active small bowel disease is seen. Mild splenomegaly is demonstrated at 15 cm as before There is a mild atrophy of the pancreas. Gallstones noted within a slightly thickened gallbladder as previously. Solid organs otherwise unremarkable.

No intra-abdominal collections. Small trace of fluid within the pelvis.

Conclusion: Appearances are similar to previously with stricturing seen within the colon, associated prestenotic dilatation, and evidence of penetrating disease as before.”

I mentioned this to another IBD patient to which they replied :

“This is exactly the reason why I don’t like getting copies of blood results or test reports as it always throws up questions that would not otherwise be there (particularly if you are feeling well). And it creates a feeling of unwelcome uncertainty when there is not a medical person to explain it….”

I can understand this reasoning and, having read the above I’m starting to think that maybe that’s the way forward.

There are four words in particular make me wonder what lies ahead – “stricture”, “fistula”, “adhesions” and “penetrating”. I’ve experienced them all before and it ended up with surgery. If I need further episodes under the knife then it’s not really a surprise. My consultant quotes the average time between surgeries for Crohn’s patients as 10 years. I’ve reached six and a half from the ileostomy, but before then (perforated bowel) it was 30 years.

Surgeon’s drawing of surgery – October 2010

Next time I see my consultant it should be an interesting conversation. How much of the report could have been expected given my past history? Are there any pointers to the progression/reawakening of Crohn’s disease? What next? Does it point to surgery sooner rather than later?

Once I have my latest calprotectin results back then I must get a date for that next appointment……

Until next time

 

Next steps

This is the follow-up post to “Where do we go from here?” posted on 3rd December 2016. (…and my record for future reference….)

Gastro Appointment – Guy’s Hospital 12th December 2016

As the date for the appointment drew closer my stress level increased. Not from the potential medical implications (though some might doubt this!) but the pure logistics of getting to London by 10:20am. It shouldn’t be a problem until you realise we have to rely on Southern Rail actually running a train. As it turned out my train was exactly on time but afterwards there were no more heading to London for 2 hours.

Having arrived at Guy’s Hospital with five minutes to spare I was greeted by a nurse who explained that the clinic was running 45 minutes late. I asked her to put a note on my file that I wanted to see my usual consultant (the top man). The wait increased to just over an hour when I heard my consultant calling my name. TIme to see if there were some answers. I produced my list of questions/comments.

We started out by discussing the outcome of the MDM. Had they been able to reconcile the apparent contradiction between the colonoscopy results and the MRI scan? No, they were at a loss to explain the differences.

The MRI report noted a 100mm stricture in the transverse colon and another in the ascending colon. Neither had been apparent from the scoping. The scan also showed adhesions, one of which was between  intestine and bladder. This could potentially lead to a fistula developing between the two. The tell tale sign would be gas when passing urine. That was a new one on me and certainly not something I had experienced so far.

The word that worried me was “fistula” but he pointed out that it was a possibility not a certainty.

The options left were to repeat the colonoscopy, or the MRI scan, but a barium enema, which is a test designed to look at the colon, would be preferable. (Not sure for whom. I still remember the last one over 30 years ago.) Rather than going straight to another procedure he suggested that we carry out a calprotectin test and if the result was the same or higher than last time (512) then it would be time to start practicising the buttock clench, so vital for the enema.

He asked how I felt generally. My answer was “very well” apart from every 10 days or so getting an upset stomach for half a day then back to normal. There was also an incident when I seemed to be leaking fresh blood but it only lasted a day and I concluded it was purely mechanical, maybe a burst blood vessel. He agreed with my conclusion.

I explained that I was keen to remain drug free having been taking no Crohn’s medication since 2010 (post-ileostomy). Was that an option with mild inflammation? Yes. The aim would be to start treatment early enough, to avoid surgery, should the inflammation worsen. (The knife is always a threat though). In line with my aim of not taking any new drugs I hadn’t been to see my GP about starting Questran for Bile Acid Malabsorption. I would remain on just Loperamide and adjust the dosage accordingly.

The one question I forgot to ask was “Does my reaction to Azathioprine (bone marrow suppression) suggest that some of other common drugs may be unsuitable?” That will have to wait for the next appointment.

I would be having my annual upper GI endoscopy at St.Thomas’ the following week and was wondering if we should also be monitoring my liver for stiffening (PSC). He said I should ask the endoscopist as it was their specialist area. The visit would also give me a chance to drop off the calprotectin sample to the path lab. I would then need to email my consultant in mid-January to get the results. Fingers crossed for <512. Clench.

At the end of the appointment I mentioned that I had eliminated a major element of stress by no longer commuting to London and have virtually retired. As I now had time in my hands I would be keen to do something for the IBD Community.

What is so nice about these appointments is that you never feel rushed. Every question gets a considered answer and all decisions are made jointly. Excellent.

After the appointment it was off to have lunch with a fellow IBD sufferer and then on to meet up with an old colleague for a coffee before attempting to get a train home.