I've got a new specialist

It's been a while since I've ended up with someone new to see. This one is for monitoring the possibility of anal cancer. I have an appt for a procedure next Feb. Not exactly pleasant but I'd rather go through such inconvenience than get my ass chopped out from cancer :s

I was taking part in the anal cancer study earlier this year but for reasons unforeseen I had to pull out. However they did offer a follow up appt to discuss the results of my first visit, which I went to yesterday. The study is because gay HIV+ men have a much higher incidence of anal cancer than non-HIV+ men. Even though new treatments for HIV have drastically improved lives and health of those with HIV, the anal cancer stats haven't come down correspondingly, hence the anal cancer study.

So I went and got the whole results explained to me yesterday. They'd sort of been explained before but I didn't really get what they were saying. However it was very clear yesterday and so I decided to go ahead with the specialist suggestion that I have a follow up proceedure. Usually done about a year after the first one, in this case Feb.

They took a biopsy last time, plus a swab. Both came out as abnormal. The idea is to keep an eye on it in case the cells go really bananas and turn into cancer. Which is like the cells break through the wall of the anus and spread through the rest of your body.

Like I said not a pleasant subject, and it's quite a thing to have a doctor stuffing around with something so, um, personal..... But it's certainly a lot better than the big C.