The Colon Club

Hi. I had an emergency colonoscopy two days ago due to several symptoms I thought might indicate cancer- pencil-thin stools, occasional bleeding, pressure like I always have to go, low iron, fatigue, and I felt a round, soft lump about 1-2 inches in diameter about 1-2 inches inside. After the colonoscopy, the GI doc said no signs of cancer. However, he found what he thinks are anal warts, and he also found many tiny white spots on the rectal wall which he could not explain. I had two polyps removed. What puzzles me is that I have been totally sexually inactive for 14 years. How would I get HPV and anal warts now??? And I still don't know what the lump is. Sorry to be graphic, but if I insert a finger into my rectum, I can palpate all the way around the lump. It's probably the size of a golf ball, maybe slightly smaller, but it's not in my rectum or colon. I have appointments with both a rectal surgeon and my gynecologist in a week. I'm still scared. Any thoughts?

I'm glad you had a scope and are receiving follow up care. We're not doctors here so this really isn't the place to look for answers as serious as those you are dealing with. Best of luck in working with your doctors and figuring out what's going on - and what treatment, if any, will help alleviate your symptoms and treat any issues you may be dealing with. And yahoo that it's not cancer!

Sunshine64 wrote: I have appointments with both a rectal surgeon and my gynecologist in a week. I'm still scared. Any thoughts?

Here's a link to a leaflet that might be relevant to your case: http://www.stmarkshospital.org.uk/uploads/content/AnalWarts.pdf

Even though you might not have a cancer diagnosis now, it looks like you should try to have these growths removed as soon as possible, because they, like polyps, can become cancerous over time if not treated.

About the large, golf-ball size lump, you might ask the doctor if some kind of imaging diagnostic could be done to identify what the lump is. They have a range of imaging diagnostics, from ultrasound, to MRI, to CT-scan, to PET-scan. I would imagine that there would be some kind of non-invasive diagnostic test that could be done to help identify the problem.