Mine was certainly elective.
Yes I had flares. Remicade along with everything else quit working. I was so exhausted after an eight hour shift I collapsed in the bed after work most nights.
And being a man prostate cancer was a possibility being that my uc was right at the end of my colon and I had had it so long. Hard to believe my uc affected such a small part and caused so many problems. But it did.
So in my mind I elected to have the surgery to avoid cancer first and get rid of the uc that was making me so sick.
In my case it was elective. Although I mentally and physically couldn't go on with it much longer had I not had the surgery.
R.