Or you could bury your head in the sand.

Don't panic yet. This might not be the end of the world. I had a similar problem, and when I went to a proctologist she told me that it was a prolapsed internal hemorrhoid. That means an internal hemorrhoid had slipped out and is now poking outside. The proctologist wrapped very small rubber bands around it and pushed it back inside me. She had me come back in a couple of weeks and she injected a sclerotic agent into it and that basically was all it took. I don't know how old you are, but I'm 77 and just had a kidney transplant 9 months ago. Good luck with this one and try to not despair. There are lots of terrible things that can happen to us, but this may not be one of them. Don't stop with a PC. Get to a proctologist