recurrence article

I am too fresh out of surgery (June 30) to see this as encouraging yet. Congrats to you, though, for making it to the 6-month mark with NED. May you continue on this journey successfully!

This is scary for me to read while still healing and now getting ready to meet with radiation oncologists at two major cancer centers up north to get treatment plans for rads. I'm one to always over-think, over-research, and get more than one opinion. It is just one thing after another, isn't it? After diagnosis, it doesn't stop. One huge stressor, after another. The idea of taking one day at a time is challenging for me, but I have to change my perspective. We have to remember to keep breathing.  

Great article and thanks for posting. I am 6 plus years post SCC, BOT, HPV+ also. I asked my treatment team if i was all clear after 5 years like they told me I should be a few years back. They informed me that more recently they have been seeing some HPV re-occurences as far out as seven years. I guess I have 1 more year to go but I am confident. I have plenty of side effects consuming me anyway;-)

This info came from the Stanford H & N cancer center fwiw.

wmc said:

Interesting artical

This is referring to HPV+. What I have seen here is not that much in the first six months, but more in the 3 to 4 year mark. We have had several that have had recurrences.  HPV+ responds much better to treatment but has a chance of it returning. There is so much they are still learning about all cancers but even more so with Head and Neck as it covers so many areas. What I have seen here is many need radiation and chemo and it is one rough ride, but when they get to the end of that long tunnel, they start their recovery which can take some time, but they do so well. I would guess in the last close to 3 years for me, I have seen hundreds all get through it and doing good. You can get some effects from the radiation and where you were treated matters too. Don't get real concerned with numbers or odds. According to the ACC, I had Stage 3 SCC supraglottic cancer and I have 53% survival rate for 5 years. Another was more general and gave me 60%. 

I have bad lungs and my coworkers were always scared as I would go gray color and had to stop work because I was coughing blood. It got worse before they found where it was from and they found the tumor. They could not even do a biopsy because they were afraid they could not stop the bleeding, and I was in a hospital.  I was given two options. Have my larynx removed, or do nothing as I would not survive surgery or radiation.  I had the surgery and have been NED ever since I woke up from surgery. Yes having your voice removed is life changing, but I have a life to change. I can do almost everything I did before and have a prosthesis in my throat that allows me to have a new voice. You see if you give it your all, you create your own odds. I was back at work in 10 weeks and my job was mostly talking to the crew member and on the phone. Heck, my breathing got so much better they are not talking about removing 30% of both lungs.  This sounds strange, but I will live longer because I had cancer. So what are my odds of survival, my guess is around 80% +.  My COPD is worse, but I ride my bicycle 15 miles every day. I rode 3100 miles last year. And to think, only five people ever thought I would survive, and that is counting myself and wife and doctor. My brother and son never thought I would make it. I knew I would be fine. Odds are just something to be broken.

Bill   Oct 2013

Thia article does not imply the recurrence rate to be zero after 6 months, it simply ststes most recurrences ocur within the 1st 6 months. Based on my observation on this and two other cancer forums, the majority of recurrences happen within the 1st two years. Both my RO and head and neck surgeon told me the chances of recurrence 2 years post treatment is about 5%. These stats are only for HPV positive cancers.