Get vaccinated against HPV, NOW!
Hey guys,
I’m a newer member here, and I’ve been working on PE for about 10 months now. I’m going to start another thread about that some time, but I’m working on something in the next month, and I was to see how that pans out before I post much. In any case, I wanted to share a different story and hopefully convince you to all go out and get the Gardasil vaccination against HPV.
Let’s just say that I’m a very “upper level” medical professional with more letters after my name than in my name, so this advice isn’t coming from Joe Schmo on the street. I was married for 18 years, and together for 20. I was 22 when I got married and my wife was the only woman I was ever with sexually, and she was a virgin too…so clean slate there. 5 years ago, she decides to call it quits…typical I love you, but I’m not in love whatnot. I did everything I could to keep it together, etc. She made the right choice, I just didn’t realize it then. At age 40 I go out on the market, already having had a vasectomy (which women loved). Well, I had a few whirlwind romances, and within 6 months I found my current wife. Let’s just say that her slate wasn’t as clean, even though she was with her ex for 13 years. Shit happens. I knew going in that she had cold sores (Herpes Simplex Virus-1), which is common in 80% of the population. Well, even though my dad had it, I guess I never had it, so now I’ve got HSV-1 on my penis. I knew it was a risk, and she never went down on me when she had something active, but the virus can still shed. It was a risk, but who’s going to turn down oral for the rest of their life? It cleared up with anti-viral meds and hasn’t come back in years. That wasn’t really the point of this post, but if she had HSV-2 (more commonly associated with the genital area), and it wasn’t active, the same thing can happen…which could still happen with a condom or not, so be careful.
There is no vaccine for HSV, but there is one for many strains of HPV—human papilloma virus. As we all know, HPV causes genital warts, but can also cause cervical cancer in women, and penile, anal, and oral cancer in men. Unfortunately, that’s something a person can get, can be very mild, and then go dormant…which is what happens with a lot of women. They have it and never know they did and can pass it on. That happened to me. My current wife had previously has an irregular pap smear decades ago, which could’ve been a sign. About a year after getting together, I noticed some small bumps. Technically I could’ve gotten it from one of the 2 women I was with between marriages, but it was only once with both of them and the timeline makes more sense that it was from my wife. In any case, Gardasil-9 can protect you from HPV—-not only the strains that cause visible warts (usually HPV 6, which is what I have), but also the ones that you never see. Those strains are the ones that can cause cervical cancer in women and oral cancer in men. That’s where my big warning lies——the oral cancer thing. That’s the fastest growing cancer in men, and it’s because we like going down on women (and men, if that’s your thing). That’s what happened to Michael Douglas, and likely, Val Kilmer too. Oral cancer is really bad and has a poor mortality rate. After my first marriage, I asked my doctor about getting Gardasil, but he said it wasn’t approved for people over 26. The stupid thing about that is that was only because that was the population they studied, because that’s when you’re most sexually active with multiple partners. They figured by age 26, you’ve either already had it, or are married and won’t get it. Dumbasses didn’t think about people like me, and my situation, who get divorced later in life. Well, now they raised the age to 45. Had I been able to get it when I wanted to, I would never had contracted it. It’s a series of 3 shots over 6 months. I got the vaccination (even though I have HPV-6) for other reasons. You don’t need to see you doctor about it (they probably won’t have it anyway) and you don’t need a referral. You can just make an appointment at the CVS Minute Clinic, and it should be covered by your insurance.
So, even if you’re in your 30s and married, or just sexually active, you never know what might happen. Protect yourself.