oooohhhhh...opening up the "statistical can of worms". Brian had great advice...don't focus on the numbers, just live. I'm a numbers guy, love them and had always thought that numbers would give me the information I needed to make the right decisions in life and business.

When I got cancer, I kept asking for statistics, which for my diagnosis wasn't good, and not one of my Dr's would tell me. Then my RO put it to me the clearest way possible. "Eric, it's either 0 or 100%...you are either going to make it through this or you are not."

I mean if you really want to get into numbers...Brian said only 16000 people are diagnosed with HPV + oral cancer a year...out of about 300,000,000 people in the US. That's lottery statistics there (scratch games )...just not the kind of lottery anyone would ever want to win (sorry favorite quote from a friend). Now what really blows my mind when I think about my situation is that I'm HPV neg, never used tobacco (ever) and very light drinker as I'm allergic to alcohol (mildly)...what are the statistics on that? Did it matter in my situation? Nope.

When it comes down to it...just live, to the fullest and if a recurrence happens, deal with it then. There are many on these boards, hero's of mine (Christine and Charm) that have had multiple recurrences and are still around to tell the tale and help others along this crazy path. They are living proof that an oral cancer diagnosis and multiple recurrences are not a definite death sentence.


Eric