When in Doubt, Get a 2nd Opinion!

What a difference a second opinion makes! When a nagging gut feeling tells you something smells fishy, trust your instincts!

Natalie had a followup appointment for colonoscopy results today with her wonderful new GI doctor, Dr. Elizondo. Her colon looks beautiful and normal and the biopsies didn't show anything unusual. Usually he sees a gradual increase in chronic cells in patients with IBD and that wasn't the case. He didn't see enough chronicty to label her as having inflammatory bowel disease or ulcerative colitis! That is great news!

The plan now is to gradually wean her off the harsh medicine she's had to take. When I say wean gradually that's what it means too! It's a two month process to reduce her medicine intake. Month one will see her taking Sulfasalazine twice a day, and month two it will drop down to once a day. After the second month, January 16th to be precise, (yes, it's already marked on the calendar) she'll be off of the putrid yellowish-orangish stuff. Dr. Elizondo would like to see her completely off the medicine to see if the bleeding returns or stays dormant. Maybe this was a one time event, or it's possibly something that will eventually return. It's really hard to say what will happen, but for the moment we can be content with the news that she can start reducing her medicine intake and maybe get back to normal. She's sick of doctors appointments and procedures that's for sure.

She has another appointment scheduled mid-January to see how she's progressing. Keep your fingers and toes crossed!