Human Papilloma Virus

Sergio1
Sergio1 Member Posts: 16
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
I have read that performing oral sex on females increases the risk of getting HPV induced cancer. Alcohol is also a risk factor. Guess smoking is also although that is something I never did.

Is there any significance to having had a P-16 or HPV+ cancer other than the fact that these cancers seem to respond well to treatment? After 16 months post treatment my Dr. decided to let me go 6 months before the next scan. Guess it doesn't look like I have any reoccurance at this time.

My Thyroid Stimulating Hormone is through the roof, eventhough I have been taking thyroxin daily. To try to get my TSH down, the dose was doubled. The Chemo did a number on my bone marrow, as I am still borderline anemic. My poor kidneys also took a beating. 10% damage was expected from the poisoning. Kidney specific enzymes remain elevated. Periodic iodine poisonings to take CT scans do not help.

While my lease and life has had an exenstion, the trade off (severe systemic damage for more life) sometimes does not seem to have been worth it. Choices were; die slowly and painfully in 2 years or live the rest of your life disabled. I wish cancer treatment centers were not so upbeat about "curing" this disease as the term is even misused. 90% alive after 5 years is not exactly the defnition of the word cured.

Comments

  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #2
    HPV and Treatment Survival..
    Hi Sergio...

    All possible contributors of having HPV derived cancer haven't really been defined as of yet (as far as I know). Though the ones you mentioned more than likely do contribute (other than possibly smoking).

    Unfortunately it sounds like you might have been on the short stick as for long term side effects.

    I'm not sure when you finished treatment...recovery is a very long and slow process. So hopefully if you are just finishing up recently, some of those side effects you acquired will improve.

    As for the five years and 90%...no guarantees on that even if you were never diagnosed. Unfortunately it's the luck of the draw....

    For me five years is better than two years or less..but that's just me.

    Thoughts and Prayers for your improvement,
    John
  • Ingrid K
    Ingrid K Member Posts: 813
    #3
    Skiffin16 said:

    HPV and Treatment Survival..
    Hi Sergio...

    All possible contributors of having HPV derived cancer haven't really been defined as of yet (as far as I know). Though the ones you mentioned more than likely do contribute (other than possibly smoking).

    Unfortunately it sounds like you might have been on the short stick as for long term side effects.

    I'm not sure when you finished treatment...recovery is a very long and slow process. So hopefully if you are just finishing up recently, some of those side effects you acquired will improve.

    As for the five years and 90%...no guarantees on that even if you were never diagnosed. Unfortunately it's the luck of the draw....

    For me five years is better than two years or less..but that's just me.

    Thoughts and Prayers for your improvement,
    John

    welcome Sergio
    Sergio, as John says above, perhaps you are not that far out yet from the end of treatment. I am 15 months out from surgery that removed 75% of my tongue and nearly one year out from my final radiation treatment. Every month, I see some slight improvement, but all in all it has been a long slow process. However, I would take this any time over the alternative.... so I for one am very happy to still be here to talk about it. Hang in there and I wish you continued improvement and reduction in severity of side effects.
  • Sergio1
    Sergio1 Member Posts: 16
    #4
    Skiffin16 said:

    HPV and Treatment Survival..
    Hi Sergio...

    All possible contributors of having HPV derived cancer haven't really been defined as of yet (as far as I know). Though the ones you mentioned more than likely do contribute (other than possibly smoking).

    Unfortunately it sounds like you might have been on the short stick as for long term side effects.

    I'm not sure when you finished treatment...recovery is a very long and slow process. So hopefully if you are just finishing up recently, some of those side effects you acquired will improve.

    As for the five years and 90%...no guarantees on that even if you were never diagnosed. Unfortunately it's the luck of the draw....

    For me five years is better than two years or less..but that's just me.

    Thoughts and Prayers for your improvement,
    John

    Survival rates
    Skiffin, the 90% after five years is (as far as I know) a bona fide Emory statistic of the patients they treat. For stage 4 (and this means the cancer has spread but does not indicate how far) base-of-the tongue and and throat (my lesion was accross the border of these two) they "cure" 89.6% of the cases. The number would be closer to 95% if a number of patients would not choose or be unable to complete the treatment.

    In my case the treatment was 33 radiation sessions and 3 heavy-dose chemotherapies with Cysplatin. This is the most toxic and oldest of the cancer killing chemicals. It does not knock your hair off off and has the best results against throat/toungue cancer. After the end of the 2nd chemo, my body was in such bad shape that I was unable to receive the 3rd treatment.

    My ENT and Oncologist were at odds regarding the chemo. The ent wanted weekly low dose infusions but the Oncologist wanted 3 high-dose (and more damaging) sessions. As it turns out 2 chemos seem to have been sufficient. The fact remains that if you have had cancer, the likelihood of developing the same or another cancer goes up some % over the general population. Guess that if you have had cancer it would be foolish to make plans too far in the future.

    I wonder how long the oldest (in terms of life after treatment) survivors on this forum have gone?
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #5
    Sergio1 said:

    Survival rates
    Skiffin, the 90% after five years is (as far as I know) a bona fide Emory statistic of the patients they treat. For stage 4 (and this means the cancer has spread but does not indicate how far) base-of-the tongue and and throat (my lesion was accross the border of these two) they "cure" 89.6% of the cases. The number would be closer to 95% if a number of patients would not choose or be unable to complete the treatment.

    In my case the treatment was 33 radiation sessions and 3 heavy-dose chemotherapies with Cysplatin. This is the most toxic and oldest of the cancer killing chemicals. It does not knock your hair off off and has the best results against throat/toungue cancer. After the end of the 2nd chemo, my body was in such bad shape that I was unable to receive the 3rd treatment.

    My ENT and Oncologist were at odds regarding the chemo. The ent wanted weekly low dose infusions but the Oncologist wanted 3 high-dose (and more damaging) sessions. As it turns out 2 chemos seem to have been sufficient. The fact remains that if you have had cancer, the likelihood of developing the same or another cancer goes up some % over the general population. Guess that if you have had cancer it would be foolish to make plans too far in the future.

    I wonder how long the oldest (in terms of life after treatment) survivors on this forum have gone?

    Greater Than 15
    There are more than a few that are greater than 15 years post treatment, and still going strong.

    JG
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
    #6
    Skiffin16 said:

    Greater Than 15
    There are more than a few that are greater than 15 years post treatment, and still going strong.

    JG

    Personally I think the whole
    Personally I think the whole discussion of life spans after rx of scchn is more subjective than objective. Even the staging is a generalization. So many factors come into play, not the least of which are age, general health, tumor location, tumor size and the list could go on infintum. Cancer is nasty, and I have had three of them, all different. The good news is there appears to be more awareness of scchn lately and that may lead to better treatments. Being HPV+ may be good but one study said that even though the tumor may be HPV+ the cause can still be attributed to other factors so who really knows if it makes a difference at the end of the day. Like someone once said "you should dance like no one is watching" and remember that "life is not a dress rehearsal". Wish you all the best.
    John
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #7
    Skiffin16 said:

    Greater Than 15
    There are more than a few that are greater than 15 years post treatment, and still going strong.

    JG

    BTW...
    That 15+ years doesn't really mean squat in the big picture.

    That's just a small sampling of people that take the time to participate on this forum. How many thousans of people don't and are busy living their life to the fullest and not looking back, or what ifs....

    JG
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
    #8
    Skiffin16 said:

    BTW...
    That 15+ years doesn't really mean squat in the big picture.

    That's just a small sampling of people that take the time to participate on this forum. How many thousans of people don't and are busy living their life to the fullest and not looking back, or what ifs....

    JG

    Agree. I am becoming much
    Agree. I am becoming much more aware of how short life really is.
  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #9
    Sergio1 said:

    Survival rates
    Skiffin, the 90% after five years is (as far as I know) a bona fide Emory statistic of the patients they treat. For stage 4 (and this means the cancer has spread but does not indicate how far) base-of-the tongue and and throat (my lesion was accross the border of these two) they "cure" 89.6% of the cases. The number would be closer to 95% if a number of patients would not choose or be unable to complete the treatment.

    In my case the treatment was 33 radiation sessions and 3 heavy-dose chemotherapies with Cysplatin. This is the most toxic and oldest of the cancer killing chemicals. It does not knock your hair off off and has the best results against throat/toungue cancer. After the end of the 2nd chemo, my body was in such bad shape that I was unable to receive the 3rd treatment.

    My ENT and Oncologist were at odds regarding the chemo. The ent wanted weekly low dose infusions but the Oncologist wanted 3 high-dose (and more damaging) sessions. As it turns out 2 chemos seem to have been sufficient. The fact remains that if you have had cancer, the likelihood of developing the same or another cancer goes up some % over the general population. Guess that if you have had cancer it would be foolish to make plans too far in the future.

    I wonder how long the oldest (in terms of life after treatment) survivors on this forum have gone?

    23 years
    is the longest I habe seen on this board. But there are many others out there who dont search this board out. I guess Im confused by your posts. Are you saying you are sorry you chose to be treated?

    Best regards


    Pat
  • Sergio1
    Sergio1 Member Posts: 16
    #10
    longtermsurvivor said:

    23 years
    is the longest I habe seen on this board. But there are many others out there who dont search this board out. I guess Im confused by your posts. Are you saying you are sorry you chose to be treated?

    Best regards


    Pat

    Being cured
    I remember disgraced investor michael miliken speak publicly about having had cancer. He made a point of saying "in remisson" rather than cured. I am impressed that so many on this forum (and not) are long term survivors. With throat cancer afflicting men in their in their 50s and 60s, 20 years is a good run. I was 58 when diagnosed and treated. I am 60 now.

    My drs. are frequenly in conflict but the radilogist likes to say that 2 years is the new thinking for "cured". My oncologist says 5. He had insisted in scans every three months the 1st year post treatment, and every 4 the following year. After just one he decided I can wait 6 months till the next one.

    These guys make my head spin.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #11
    Sergio1 said:

    Being cured
    I remember disgraced investor michael miliken speak publicly about having had cancer. He made a point of saying "in remisson" rather than cured. I am impressed that so many on this forum (and not) are long term survivors. With throat cancer afflicting men in their in their 50s and 60s, 20 years is a good run. I was 58 when diagnosed and treated. I am 60 now.

    My drs. are frequenly in conflict but the radilogist likes to say that 2 years is the new thinking for "cured". My oncologist says 5. He had insisted in scans every three months the 1st year post treatment, and every 4 the following year. After just one he decided I can wait 6 months till the next one.

    These guys make my head spin.

    Many Rules of Thought...
    Here's another of my thoughts and experiences, LOL...

    My ENT says cured after two years if nothing is going on and all has been good, first year being a milestone.

    My chemo MD says the same thing.

    But I think when it come to anything insurance related, the always infer five years... The question is always have you had cancer within the last five years"...

    And here is my take (given to me by a friend on here)....

    If when you die, it's from something else other than cancer...you are officially cured.

    Best,
    John

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