Hi Jo

did you get an answer to your question re neck dissection? The only things I can add are that sometimes one or more of the nodes is close to or intertwined with an important structure in the neck like a blood vessel or nerve and by giving radiotherapy it can shrink the node away and allow safe dissection for its removal.

Just at home recovering from my op - 3 weeks post neck dissection and doing lots of range of movement exercises plus 1 week post oropharangectomy which is surgical clearance of the ‘tonsillar fossa’ following my tonsil cancer diagnosis. 

I had a pain management breakthrough yesterday.... oxycodone patch which means I do not have to psyche myself for swallowing medicine during the night when my mouth is glued and painful. It’s a slow release opioid which doesn’t make one feel sicky. Also I drink only warm water which seems to thin and shift mucus (warm milk okay if a bit claggy but sugar seems to sting and be a no no.

Good luck and keep in touch 

Jane x

Hi Dave .yes unfortunately h p v 16+ or 18+  head and neck cancer in males is the fastest growing cancer in the western world 97% male and I am in the minority of 3% female which are the figures my oncologist gave me last year. 

He is hoping that by 2050 it’s is almost eradicated as young girls  age 13 providing parents allow it are vaccinated against h p v before they are sexually active likewise fingers x young males in the U.K. will be vaccinated next year around the age of 13 again parents allowing it. It’s up to us as cancer survivors of it to push the message across. You can pay for boys to be vaccinated before they become sexually active think is approximately £700 ,a couple who we met whilst having treatment (dad) had it paid for their 15 year old as they didn’t want him to get it later in life. 

Hope this helps explain. Little apparently 84% of the worlds population at any one time have the virus normally our bodies get rid of it within 2 years .

thus may be me but ut seem s that some of us are at a time of life where we are relatively fit before we get diagnosed and is this making  immune systems weaker ? And therefore easier for the virus to attack ?

rant over 

h xx 

Thanks Hazel, my consultant said as we get older things dont work as well as they used to..

we are renewing cells by the billions all the time and the HPV virus attacks our DNA and causes a cell to divide, that becomes cancerous and the process begins. 

As a woman you are even more unlucky than all the men  getting this, a rare case.

Dave

HibDave thank you was always special. Lol. Xx

Hi! I work in a research lab and I have been reading about HPV in the last years. As you may already know, it is a really common infection that 80% of people will have sooner or later in life and usually our inmune system can get rid of it. That's why you must have heard some vitamins help, but it is not directly true. As it has been mentioned before, it seems that there is a new "epidemic" of HPV related cancers, specially tonsil/base of the tongue, caused mainly by strains 16/18/58... Researchers thinks this is probably because there is an increase of oral sex and people tend to think that unprotected oral sex doesn't carry major risks, but also because doctors started to investigate this after finding this type of cancer in non smokers. In the past the smoking/drinking rates were way higher and we thought it was simply the cause for this cancer. But when younger people started to develope this, they focused on finding other risk factors and the HPV appeared. Since then almost every case is investigated to see if it is caused by HPV or not since it is a signal of good prognosis. Also, a "fun fact" is that HPV tonsil cancer was also thought to be less common in the past because people used to get rid of their tonsils when they were born. That doesn't mean that removing your tonsils when you are a kid will protect you from getting tonsil cancer, since small parts of tonsillar tissue can be left during the op and also it can cause your base of the tongue tissue to grow, but it seems to decrease the chances of getting it. 

You are correct, right now there is no vaccine to clear HPV from our system. At least, not yet. There is an investigation about a therapeutic vaccine (one that can clear HPV once infected) called VGX-3100, and the same company is developing a new inmunotherapy to treat HPV related head and neck cancers to avoid the actual treatment. 

What's the problem with HPV? Well, there are ways to keep track of HPV infections in the cervix and also in anal parts through smears... but that's not the case for the mouth. That's why VGX-3100 is focused on cervical and anal lesions. There is no way of keep track of an infection in the throat so most conclusions are empirical.

The scientific community is focused on vaccinating the entire population, not just girls as happens in most of modern countries right now. Gardasil 9 is supossed to give protection against strains 16/18/58 among others, who are the ones that cause most of cancers. We still don't know for sure if it also provides protection to the mouth/base of the tongue but it is reasonable to think so and thats why some countries are starting to vaccinate boys too. 

There are studies trying to understand how HPV infection of the tonsils work. It seems that the tissue of the tonsils "hides" the virus to our inmune system, making it harder to clear than in the cervix. But, until we find more ways of keeping track of infections and not wait until the cancer develops vaccinating the entire population and trying to find new ways of treatment to those who lose protection/are not vaccinating is the way to go.

Thanks Lemonice I had my tonsils out aged 4 so Iv been especially unlucky, keep the info coming.

Dave

I've been looking into getting the HPV vaccine for our son, so can say a little more about the cost etc.  We're on the south coast, and things might be different in other parts of the country, but both Boots and Superdrug do it for around £450-£475.  For over 15 year olds it involves having 3 shots, with a month between the first and second, and the third being given 6 months after the first.  They think it should give 10 years protection - by which time a generation of schoolchildren (hopefully both male and female) will have been vaccinated and the overall risk of coming into contact with a 'dangerous' strain of HPV should be lower.

The cheapest place for us is Lloyds Pharmacy chain who do all three shots for £429, but I don't know how much of the country they cover.

 

Really interesting and very helpful Lemoice.

Like Dave I had my tonsils removed when I was 4 and was told procedure back then did not remove them completely so hence ability to grow back in again. 

Same Jaxter

Helpful iinformation around yet another aspect around this type of cancer

Found both posts to be really helpful and informative insight.

Onwards & Upwards
Ian

Hi jaxter thanks for tha I know the couple who paid £700 couldn’t get an appointment at Lloyd’s Superdrug or boots for months hence they ended up paying privately as his dad was being treated they just wanted their son covering. It’s great what information we can pull together 

thank you lemon ice very informative keep it coming

h x