anal cancer

I have just started another round of follow-up tests, so it's been an anxiety-provoking week. I got a positive (i.e. negative) report on Thursday that the "area of concern" for 6 months is "reactive inflammation, with no sign of dysplasia," which means the scab up my ass is not a precancerous or cancerous lesion (recurrence) like the one that killed Farrah Fawcett.

To say this wreaks havoc with one's sex life is an understatement. I hate my dilators and all the sex toys in the box. I hate using the wonderful vitamin E (for oral use only) and saliva for lubrication (which work like a charm, I'm very lucky). I have always wanted sex, lots of it, and good sex, and had plenty.

I got HPV from it, which was treated successfully in 1987. The medical profession did not yet know how to test for anal HPV ...which I must have had, DESPITE the fact that I was not into anal sex.