vstRN- Yes, that's the way I'm thinking. I just wish there was a guarantee that there would be little to no complications.
ke353- Right.. it's not my entire colon. It's my lower left side of the colon and GI told me it's diseased for about a 6" span. Surgeon will hopefully see that in what my GI sent to him.
DJBHusky- I will pray that it is not Crohns!! I've read where there were misdiagnosis' in many cases where the patients were diagnosed and treated for Colitis but it was really Crohns. Not good. You have been through it! 17 plus years of pouchitis- Have you thought about getting a new GI who will determine whether you have now developed Crohns? If you current doc can't confirm or deny, I'd see someone else. Just my opinion.
ActiveUC'er- This is my understanding as well. From everything that I've read over the past few years, that UC will likely come back if the entire colon isn't removed.
Sue- Thank you! It affects my lower left side about 6" moving upward in the colon. My entire problem (hence my original post here in this forum) is that my doctor confused me when she said she has patients worse off than me. So I started to think that maybe she meant that if only a portion of colon is affected that I'm not as bad off as others who's entire colons are infected. I was thinking to myself, well if I'm in this much pain and having flares of this magnitude on a regular basis, people who have entire colon infection must be near death. The fact (so I'm finding) is that Ulcerative Colitis is Ulcerative Colitis and regardless of how extensive injury to the bowel is, if medications are no longer working and I've depleted all medication options, then I can either continue to live with it (and possibly prednisone) or have surgery.
chiromancer- One thing my GI did say was that if biologics don't work for me, there are no other medications to try but prednisone (which doesn't put into remission in my case) mixed with some of the drugs that stopped working in my past. I DO have another appt with her for the week after I meet with the surgeon. I will ask her again if there are any other options (besides any experimental surgeries) that might put me into remission. I would love to hear if you know something more...Please let me know if you know of any and I'll definitely speak to my GI about them. I haven't even read of any other options.
Thanks to everyone for all of your ideas and information!!