HPV positive

NJMOM
NJMOM Member Posts: 64
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Hooray...or at least I think it's hooray!! The oncologist just called and said my husband is indeed HPV positive. I have heard and read that if the cancer is HPV related the prognosis and outcome are better. I know that the plan of treatment is the same but after being told that he had a 40-50% chance of being cured the day they did the biopsy, I'll take any glimmer of extra hope I can get at this point and was overjoyed when he called with that news. My husband doesn't want me to put too much faith in that so that I don't come crashing back down to earth if that's not the case. Any thoughts from the veterans of this site?!

Comments

  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
    #2
    It's a positive

    When cancer is graded it seems that HPV grades respond better to treatment and often require less extensive treatment which leads to less side effects. I think it also has the added advantage that in a monogamous relationship behavior is not going to cause a recurrence. I don't think I'm being clear on this, for instance if your cancer was cuased by drinking/smoking and after treatment you continue to smoke and drink, well you get the picture.

  • wmc
    wmc Member Posts: 1,804
    #3
    Positive is good.

    AS wrong as that sounds, HPV+ is good in that it does respond better.

  • NJMOM
    NJMOM Member Posts: 64
    #4
    ratface said:

    It's a positive

    When cancer is graded it seems that HPV grades respond better to treatment and often require less extensive treatment which leads to less side effects. I think it also has the added advantage that in a monogamous relationship behavior is not going to cause a recurrence. I don't think I'm being clear on this, for instance if your cancer was cuased by drinking/smoking and after treatment you continue to smoke and drink, well you get the picture.

    I do get the picture! He

    I do get the picture! He never smoked a day in his life but he does/did like to have s few light beers with dinner. Don't know how he'll handle life after treatment as far as that issue is concerned but we shall see.

  • NJMOM
    NJMOM Member Posts: 64
    #5
    wmc said:

    Positive is good.

    AS wrong as that sounds, HPV+ is good in that it does respond better.

    Thanks

    I have read that having it be positive is actually a positive for the outcome...fingers crossed that that's the case for my husband. Even if it just ups his chances by 10%. I'll take it!

  • debbiejeanne
    debbiejeanne Member Posts: 3,102 Member
    #6
    nj, with this awful disease,

    nj, with this awful disease, every positive and glimmer of hope is BIG!!!  i say run with the feeling!

    God bless you and your family,

    dj

  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #7
    Congrats..., LOL

    Well..., cancer is cancer, so ...

    But yes, they say that HPV derived cancer tends to respond better and have a good prognosis.. Myself and many here had similar Dx..

    I'm now over six years post Tx.., alive well, and kicking..

    STGIII Tonsils, lymphnode and HPV+.. Sixteen weeks, four types of chemo, and seven of those strapped to the table with the good ole mask bolted on.

    Best,

    John

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #8
    HPV

     

    That is the way I heard it too HPV odds are better than others. Keep focus on getting better and getting back to a new normal, if you believe in the power of prayer get as many people as you can praying. People may laugh at it but I can tell you for a fact, there is power in prayer that we don’t understand.   

     

    Tim  

     

  • NJMOM
    NJMOM Member Posts: 64
    #9
    Hondo said:

    HPV

     

    That is the way I heard it too HPV odds are better than others. Keep focus on getting better and getting back to a new normal, if you believe in the power of prayer get as many people as you can praying. People may laugh at it but I can tell you for a fact, there is power in prayer that we don’t understand.   

     

    Tim  

     

    Thanks Tim

    I totally agree! I have found out just how many good people there still are in this world. I have all kinds of people praying for my husband and I totally believe in the power of prayer! If prayers and positive thinking could heal someone I don't think there would be any question about my husband being cured of this vile disease. That being said, we are doing everything the doctors ask to ensure that that is the end result. Thanks for the words of encouragement from somebody who has walked the walk!

  • avisemi
    avisemi Member Posts: 172
    #10
    Njmom,
    I'll keep your husband

    Njmom,

    I'll keep your husband in my prayers. It always made me feel good to have a little army of people praying for Dima. :) I ask God to keep your husband and you under His wings and to give you constant peace, strength and love. 

  • NJMOM
    NJMOM Member Posts: 64
    #11
    avisemi said:

    Njmom,
    I'll keep your husband

    Njmom,

    I'll keep your husband in my prayers. It always made me feel good to have a little army of people praying for Dima. :) I ask God to keep your husband and you under His wings and to give you constant peace, strength and love. 

    Thanks so much!! It's getting

    Thanks so much!! It's getting so much harder to watch him start to suffer from the treatment.

  • Mikemetz
    Mikemetz Member Posts: 465 Member
    #12
    NJMOM said:

    Thanks so much!! It's getting

    Thanks so much!! It's getting so much harder to watch him start to suffer from the treatment.

    HPV+ and HPV- survival rates

    At some point I recall my onco doc saying that the 5-year survival rate for HNC HPV+ is more than 80%, while the rate for HPV- is around 55%. Big difference, if that's accurate.

    mike

     

  • patricke
    patricke Member Posts: 570 Member
    #13
    SOUNDS LIKE GOOD NEWS

    Hey NJMOM,

    It sounds like, based on your information, that you have received some good news, all things considered.  The belief that has always driven me during my strolls through the gauntlets, is that no matter what the diagnosis, I just put on my war paint, buckled in, and did whatever needed to be done.  When I was diagnosed with BOT, I didn't ask what the percentages were, and did not find out until years later, when I did ask, that it was around 15%, give or take.  So, no matter what, you just keep it mov'in forward with attitude, one nanosecond or more, at a time.   I'm sending you the best of mojo, and all things positive as you begin your journey; you, and your husband can do this!

    PATRICK 

  • rodny
    rodny Member Posts: 4
    #14
    virus

    yes positive for HPV virus is very good for local regional control and overall survival. I'm told cure rate is over 85% Good luck! 

  • JFT
    JFT Member Posts: 1
    #15
    HPV Survivor here

    I just finished my 6 month check up and I am indeed Cancer free since 2013.  There is a light at the end of the rainbow for you.  I was on Cisplatin and 35 radiation treatments and it looked like it did the trick.  I also had a port put in to receive the chemo and I had a stomach feeding tube installed before treatment.  That came in handy because the radiation prevented me from eating and I used the tube for 4 months.  It was the best thing I ever did.  I din't get the dental trays and it cost me my top teeth which I am going to need dentures.  There wasn't time to do it so I look at it as a small inconvenience when measured against beating the disease.  Just stay strong and it should come out well for you all.  I am a 64 year old man.

  • AnotherSurvivor
    AnotherSurvivor Member Posts: 384 Member
    #16
    I've been talking to

    I've been talking to researchers on HPV+ and take what you get off the web with caution.  They THINK there may be a link to oral sex, but there has been very little research and NO causal link has been established.  Short of some very expensive research things look to stay that way.  They think the HPV virus can stay resident but dormant for 40 years or more.  Probably what will eventually come out is something triggers vulnerability, a weakening of the immunity.  Given that the new HPV vacines may prevent it, probably research will head that way.  I was told the high success rates with current treatments are preventing development of better treatments.  I had Stage III n-1 m-0 and was told 95-97% five year survival rates.  At those odds I wasn't much interested in a new trial treatment.

    That's the good news.  Bad news is while it seems easy to cure, treatment remains pretty brutal.  Side-effects are very common, including thrombosis leading to embolisms (I ended up with 3 in my lungs).  The chemo will pretty well destroy the immune system for up to a couple of months after end of treatment.  Up to chemo treatment 4, I was having an easy time.  After C4 I spent nights in ERs and ICUs and 10 days total in hospitals.  You end up vulnerable to pretty much everything.  Colds and flu and infections are more immediately life-threatening than the cancer.  Wash your hands.  A lot.

    I came out of it, life gets better pretty much every day, but it will probably not be easy.  Keep in mind the bad aspects are cumulative, and backend loaded.  The misery magnitude at week 3 was nothing compared to week 6.  By R35, he will be in pretty sorry shape.  But it does get better every day after that.

     

     

     

  • jkinobay
    jkinobay Member Posts: 298 Member
    #17
    AnotherSurvivor said:

    I've been talking to

    I've been talking to researchers on HPV+ and take what you get off the web with caution.  They THINK there may be a link to oral sex, but there has been very little research and NO causal link has been established.  Short of some very expensive research things look to stay that way.  They think the HPV virus can stay resident but dormant for 40 years or more.  Probably what will eventually come out is something triggers vulnerability, a weakening of the immunity.  Given that the new HPV vacines may prevent it, probably research will head that way.  I was told the high success rates with current treatments are preventing development of better treatments.  I had Stage III n-1 m-0 and was told 95-97% five year survival rates.  At those odds I wasn't much interested in a new trial treatment.

    That's the good news.  Bad news is while it seems easy to cure, treatment remains pretty brutal.  Side-effects are very common, including thrombosis leading to embolisms (I ended up with 3 in my lungs).  The chemo will pretty well destroy the immune system for up to a couple of months after end of treatment.  Up to chemo treatment 4, I was having an easy time.  After C4 I spent nights in ERs and ICUs and 10 days total in hospitals.  You end up vulnerable to pretty much everything.  Colds and flu and infections are more immediately life-threatening than the cancer.  Wash your hands.  A lot.

    I came out of it, life gets better pretty much every day, but it will probably not be easy.  Keep in mind the bad aspects are cumulative, and backend loaded.  The misery magnitude at week 3 was nothing compared to week 6.  By R35, he will be in pretty sorry shape.  But it does get better every day after that.

     

     

     

    HPV 16 & 33......Hard to believe they can be good news

    I am a nearly 10 year survivor, HPV 16 positive.  I too was told, and now believe wholeheartedly, that an HPV Positive diagnosis is in reality good news because it responds very well to treatment and as a result the survival rate is, I hear, now above 90%.

    Like many, I was very surprised at the HPV discovery and the probable link to oral sex. In my case though, and you'll have to take my word for it, but oral sex was not the culprit.  However, second opinion Pathology and a  DNA analysis indicated that my HPV positive tumor was encapsulated and likely had been in my body since my trip through the birth canal remaining dormant until I was 58.   And, guess what............my BioMom died of Cervical Cancer not too many years after I was born.  SO, is it likely she had it........absolutely.  Is it likely she passed it on to me............absolutely.

     

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