Monday morning I woke up and went to the bathroom to take a piss. As I was pissing there pain for a second and then things were normal. I thought, WTF? So I looked at my dick and saw some “crusties” on my Prince Albert. That’s never a good sign. That day Jayson Park hit me up to come over the next day and film me fucking him. I told him that might not be possible since there was a chance I had gonorrhea. I’ve also had similar symptoms from the PA just getting in a bad position overnight (since I sleep on my belly). It’ll get irritated and then have to heal.
There were no other symptoms the rest of the day so I was starting to think I was in the clear, but then… Tuesday when I woke up I had to run to the bathroom to take a shit and I forgot to check my dick before I sat down and started pissing. Afterwards I looked and there were a few “crusties” built up on my PA, so I called things off with Jayson – two days in a row wasn’t good. But again there were no symptoms the rest of the day.
Wednesday I took a good look before taking a piss and there was goopy thick yellowish discharge in my urethra. That settled it – I knew for sure I had gono. At 8:30 I called Callen-Lorde (the gay health clinic) and they said their first STD appointment was on Monday (WTF?!?!). They suggested I come into the Saturday drop-in clinic. Ummm… That’s 3 days away. I wanted to get treated sooner than that.
So I spent the next hour or so texting my recent tricks. I told the little skinny kid, the black fuck bud, plus the guy who tagged him with me. It’s weird, I always tell my tricks when I get something. But I can’t remember the last time someone told me. Maybe it’s just easier for a top to figure out he’s got a problem.
Today I went to one of the Department of Health’s STD clinics. I had only ever been to one before a long time ago and was expecting the worst. I went to the one in Manhattanville (125th on the 1 train – the neighborhood Columbia University sorta took over via eminent domain). I was expecting to be there all day and have anti-gay people asking me questions. Honestly it wasn’t all that bad…
There was almost no one there. The only problem was DOH officials came to do “a training” with the doctors at just the wrong time. One was on lunch and they took 20+ minutes with the other doctor when I was next in line to see her. I it hadn’t been for that I would have been in and out of there as quickly as I could have hoped.
The only bad thing that happened was the doctor was a little judgmental when she asked how many people I had sex with in the past 3 months. I pulled 20 out of thin air, and she seemed shocked and mortified. Looking at my spreadsheet, he real number is 23 hookups with 20 different guys – so I was actually spot on. I said “well, maybe the number was closer to 15” to make her feel better – but it didn’t seem to work. She was rather incredulous that my last test was negative saying something about me being high risk. At that point I stopped and told her I really wasn’t high risk – at least not for HIV. What I do is only slightly more risky than what safe sex bottoms do. When I said, “look, the CDC has released the numbers on this stuff – given what you do all day, you should understand relative risk levels”. She did not like me being an assertive dom top and started arguing with me – saying it was her job to read certain questions. To which I replied, yes, but I don’t need the commentary and judgments. “I’m not being judgmental” she replied. That went in a circular argument for a minute or two at which point I just stopped it and said “Can we get back to the questions?” She was much more polite and friendly after that and knew not to fuck with me. At one point she said something like “so if I want you to see a counselor, you’d say ‘no’, right?” Hopefully I’ll get a note on my record chart that says “just stick to the questions”. Apparently I have one like that at Callen-Lorde too.
I mean seriously… I went through the AIDS crisis. I cared for a lover who died of AIDS. I’ve thought about these issues a lot. Respect my informed decisions. It’s my body. As things were wrapping up I apologized and said I have a long history with some of “the best” doctors telling me to do things which in hindsight were poor medical decisions for me. Unfortunately that means I have a rather adversarial relationships with doctors until I know them and trust them.
Anyway, today the discharge isn’t just in the morning – it’s pretty constant. I just snapped a pic of my dick – this is the hole of my Prince Albert oozing yellow discharge (lovely, eh?)
When she saw that she was pretty certain I had gono, but treated me for chlamydia as well.
BTW, as I was leaving she told me I should tell all my partners for the past 90 days. Again she’s wrong – the NIH says it can take up to a month to develop symptoms. Why she tripled that number, I don’t know. Can’t these people read the literature on what’s supposed to be their specialty.
Anyway, there was a point to all of this that’s gotten lost in the drama of the test…
I always take STDs seriously. There are a few crazies on Breeding Zone who disturb me greatly because they get into spreading STDs (other than HIV). That’s just fucked up. I let them post in part so other people will be aware that they exist. If someone hits you up wanting to hookup and you see they’re posting saying how hot STDs are, you’re gonna think twice…
Right now gonorrhea in particular is quite worrisome. There’s a strain going around that only responds to one type of treatment. Once it mutates and is resistant to the one treatment that’s available we’re sorta fucked – there will be incurable gonorrhea on the loose.
What’s curious is that the DOH didn’t give me the treatment for the new strain of gonorrhea. They gave me two Azithromycin plus a shot of something. I guess the City doesn’t want to pay for anything other than generic drugs unless they have to. They even handed me a survey when I got there asking how I’d feel if they started charging for their services – which is pretty absurd since it’s in taxpayer’s best interests if clinics like theirs are available for easy, free treatment of STDs. But the same thing could be said of all healthcare I guess. So I’m guessing if I have the type of strain that doesn’t respond to conventional meds, I’ll get a call and be asked to come in. But I should know pretty soon – usually things dry up in a day or so. If that doesn’t happen I’ll know I have the bad strain even before they call.
So if you even suspect you have an STD, go get tested. “What goes around comes around” is absolutely the case here. The more aggressive we are getting rid of STDs, the fewer we’ll get. And if you have a lot of sex (especially as a bottom who takes loads), have regular STD checks every 3-6 months depending on how active you are.
This means I’m out of commission sexually for another week. Next time I’ll be able to fuck is next Thursday. In the meantime I’ve given myself permission to jack off until Monday. Then I’ll go back to my “all loads go in an ass” policy.