Hi-

Back in December of last year (2008) I went to see my primary care physician because of this ‘bump’ just on the inside of the anus wall (you kinda had to pull the anus opening apart to see it). I didn’t know what it was and I had had it for a while. It was basically the size of like a pea (elongated) and it had two white raised ‘dots’ on it…the entire thing in question was kind of hard feeling when you touched it. Anyways my doctor wasn’t sure what it was (I was worried it was a wart), she thought it might be a skin tag so she sent me to see a colorectal surgeon. I saw the colorectal specialist later that day, he examined the area in question visually and assured me it was not a wart nor was it anything sexually related and insisted it was a lesion, an anal lesion to be exact. He also did a lower colonoscopy on me while I was in the office as well (after a short prep time) and said everything looked great! He did however say that the lesion had to come out, because it could turn into cancer in the future if it was not removed.

Last week I had it removed and am now 1 week out post op. I had my post op appointment with the surgeon yesterday (2/10) and he BRIEFLY discussed the pathology findings with me, they were: “tissue for HPV is negative for both low and high risk HPV genotypes” and then went on to tell me that that I was indeed negative for HPV (since that is what I was really worried about from the get go). He did tell me however that the pathology report indicated that the lesion was 3-4 steps away from turning into cancer and that is why these things are removed to prevent that from happening…I was like OK great! He wants to see me back in 3 weeks to continue my post op care and once this situation is all done and over with, he then wants to see me at the 3 month mark, 6 month mark and then yearly to make sure that nothing else pops up (ok good doctor). But there is a part that I’m troubled with and you know how it is, when you are in with the doctor you forget what you want to ask them…I swear it happens everytime with me!

Here is the problem, he gave me a copy of his operative report that he wrote up on me and there are some things that are troubling on the report to me that I don’t understand.

His preoperative diagnosis: History of condyloma acuminatum in the past (genital warts) and leukoplakia of posterior anal canal (something that can turn into cancer). OK first of all I’ve never had a history of “condyloma acuminaturm in the past as he reported I had…I don’t know where he got that from! I told him that back in 2005 I had a fistulotomy because of a fistula I had gotten from constant constipation…that is hardly genital warts LOL! The leukoplakia I can understand…because that had to do with the lesion itself that he saw and if it wasn’t removed yes it could eventually have turned into cancer but the other thing that he says in his report totally throws me for a loop as I’ve never had warts before!

Then his postoperative diagnosis: Was the same thing as the preoperative diagnosis…WORD FOR WORD! He continues to say I have a history of condyloma acuminatum (again this is genital warts) but again I’ve never had genital warts…not only have I never had them, but even the pathology report on the lesion he removed said it was negative for both low and high risk HPV!

After reading further is his notes he also says (once again) that I have a history of a previous anal condyloma (again genital warts) and that I had it “excised” in the past. Again, what he is referring to is the fistula I had which resulted in having a fistulotomy to have it repaired…this is not genital warts lol!

I plan on discussing this with him when I return to see him in March but for the time being I was hoping to get some feedback from other places because his report is really throwing me for a loop…it’s completely and totally contradicting to what the truth actually is! I hope someone here can help me out.

BTW…since we are talking about HPV and cancer here, I still find this subject very confusing. When one gets HPV (the virus that causes warts, cancer, etc) does one always have it for the rest of their life? Even if it’s ‘inactive’ with no visual signs? I’m just kinda curious on how that actually works or how it plays out once someone gets it. I never had even heard of HPV before until they started pumping out those commercials a few years back, I find it to be an extremely ‘silent’ STD.

Again, thanks for any help anyone can give me here, I appreciate it! I definitely plan on writing out my questions for him so when I go back in March, I can ask him without forgetting this time. Oh I’m a guy in case anyone was curious heh.