Gardasil Injections

osmotar
osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
edited April 2013 in Head and Neck Cancer #1

I received my 3rd and final gardasil injection yesterday; even though I am way , way,  did I mention way, over the age range that they are normally given; my rad doc feels since I was never a smoker or much of a social drinker, that my cancer was something viral. I asked about HPV when he mentioned the injections last year , he said all my biopsies were negative for the virus. So who knows, I may have had the virus a zillion years ago,  I could have been exposed to the pesticides sprayed on the farm areas I lived near, Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Harrisburg, PA  wasn't far from me, the pesticides used for bugs in the office where I used to work , spraying while we worked, heck it could have been all those visits to the dentist when they took xrays and never protected my neck,  or even as my ENT said when I asked how , tells me , I may just fall into that small percentage of "we don't know". None the less perhaps my rad doc and internist are right , these shots will boost my immune and metabolism system...lets hope for the best.

 

Linda

 

Linda

Comments

  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #2
    Cool Deal...

    If I remember Charles, IrishGypsie also got the injections post treatment...

    JG

  • D Lewis
    D Lewis Member Posts: 1,581 Member
    #3
    I got em

    I waited till my first post-treatment scans showed clear, and then got the three shots as immune boosters.

    Deb

  • osmotar
    osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
    #4
    D Lewis said:

    I got em

    I waited till my first post-treatment scans showed clear, and then got the three shots as immune boosters.

    Deb

    How

    Deb,

    How long ago did you get your injections?

  • osmotar
    osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
    #5
    Skiffin16 said:

    Cool Deal...

    If I remember Charles, IrishGypsie also got the injections post treatment...

    JG

    Will wait

    Will wait n see , can't hurt to get them I guess.

  • Tim6003
    Tim6003 Member Posts: 1,514 Member
    #6
    osmotar said:

    How

    Deb,

    How long ago did you get your injections?

    Sounds like a good plan to me ...

    Maybe I should get them...but just bc I am NED, does that mean I now do not carry the HPV virus...I just figures I still carry it ..just one of the little booger cells went c on me?

    How much does each shot cost?  And are there three shots total, is that correct?

    Thanks for sharing your info.

    Tim

  • D Lewis
    D Lewis Member Posts: 1,581 Member
    #7
    osmotar said:

    How

    Deb,

    How long ago did you get your injections?

    Injections

    I got my injections shortly after my three-month PET CT was NED. About August of 2010.

    At that time, one of the complaints against the shots was that no one knew how long they would be effective. To my mind, even if it was only a couple of years, that was fine.  I wanted to do everything in my power to discourage the cancer from returning in those important first two years.  So far so good.

     

    Deb

  • osmotar
    osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
    #8
    D Lewis said:

    Injections

    I got my injections shortly after my three-month PET CT was NED. About August of 2010.

    At that time, one of the complaints against the shots was that no one knew how long they would be effective. To my mind, even if it was only a couple of years, that was fine.  I wanted to do everything in my power to discourage the cancer from returning in those important first two years.  So far so good.

     

    Deb

    Good

    Good to know, I feel the same way..if it helps all the better.

  • osmotar
    osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
    #9
    Tim6003 said:

    Sounds like a good plan to me ...

    Maybe I should get them...but just bc I am NED, does that mean I now do not carry the HPV virus...I just figures I still carry it ..just one of the little booger cells went c on me?

    How much does each shot cost?  And are there three shots total, is that correct?

    Thanks for sharing your info.

    Tim

    Shots

    Tim,

    there are a total of 3 injections, 0.5 ml, you get the first shot, 2 months later the 2nd, 6 months later the 3rd. The shots run $250'- $275 , depends on the doctors I office , mine had an injection fee alone of $30 to admin the shot. My insurance picked up some of it as my dinger isn't coded it as treatment not preventative. My ins made a case by case determination based on the doctors coding, not all ins carriers pay for it at all

  • Kskokko
    Kskokko Member Posts: 42
    #10
    Gardasil

    this is an old thread but I have requested the gardasil.   My pcp supports the request but oncology does not

     

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,724 Member
    #11
    you will not feel a thing.

    Kskokko,

    But, Linda, Deb, Tim and Jon are not too old.

    I don’t know of any harm caused by having the Gardasil injections in people in the 40’s and 50’s (or however old you may be) , but if it helps to prevent a reoccurrence, then more power to you.

    I will need to do more research on this subject.

    Matt

  • Kskokko
    Kskokko Member Posts: 42
    #12
    CivilMatt said:

    you will not feel a thing.

    Kskokko,

    But, Linda, Deb, Tim and Jon are not too old.

    I don’t know of any harm caused by having the Gardasil injections in people in the 40’s and 50’s (or however old you may be) , but if it helps to prevent a reoccurrence, then more power to you.

    I will need to do more research on this subject.

    Matt

    Gardasil

    that is the hope, but no clinical evidence.    the worst thing may be my sore arm.  

    The idea here is that the therapy wiped out the hpv infection and I am starting over.  THe gardasil may prevent future infections.    

    The cited study in these pages refers to a study in which several thousand women with hpv but no evident disease were followed for four years.   Those with gardasil had a lower incidence of developing a hpv disease.  

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