Hi all,

I've been on Canasa for cuffitis for the last 1.5 years. Lately, the rectal pain and bleeding has gotten worse, and I also have abdominal pain and nausea. I am waiting to hear back from my local GI doctor in Cincinnati, who is quite good, to schedule an upper and lower GI scope next week. While waiting for that, I heard back from Dr. Shen's office that he could get me in on Nov. 9 to do the scopes as well. I see my local GI doc for routine care and go to Shen for the more difficult issues.

I'm trying to decide which doc to go with for this. The benefit of my local GI doc is he's very thorough, easy to get a hold of and make an appointment with, and close (as opposed to a 4 hour drive to the Cleveland Clinic to see Dr. Shen). The benefit of Dr. Shen is that he is one of the leading doctors in this field and is better at more difficult problems. From what I've read on these forums, if my Cuffitis is no longer responding to medication, I may have to discuss the possibility of cuff advancement/mucosectomy, which I would need to discuss with Dr. Shen. But it's difficult to get follow-up appointments with him and the 4-hour drive is tough. If you were in my position, what would you do? Thank you!