Okay, I'm back, so a little more.

Save yourself a bunch of grief and just flush away all this wonder, worry, anything emotional about HPV-16. I promise you, thinking about it a dead end street. If you are going to spend any time at all thinking about it, think about what you are going to do to be able to have future involvements with other people, and that will lead you squarely into being involved only with other people who have it too. That leads you to the STD dating sites, like STDmingle and PositiveSingles. Ask me how I know this (I'm just a couple of months ahead of you in the journey). Your alternative is a life of celibacy, and that is a real drag. At first I thought I was destined for aloneness until I googled std dating sites.

Do realize that knowingly infecting someone is I believe a felony, not that you would ever want to do that.

Lastly, your new passion for protecting your son. At 15 he may already be too old to get the shots, though I could be wrong on that. To prevent HPV infection, they absolutely want the child to have never had the opportunity to become sexually involved. That's why they push for like 11 and 12 year olds to get it. Of course, I know nothing about your son, but it's not impossible for a 15 year old to have already been involved. If he has been involved, and worse yet, already been exposed, then I think the shots absolutely won't work. Again, let me reiterate, I'm not accusing your son of anything, just passing on to you the little I know about the vaccine, all of which probably needs to be confirmed by another source.

The last thing I will pass on to you is to locate the user named Bart on this forum. He has a lot to teach you about how to prepare your mind for the upcoming journey. It's all about not allowing yourself to worry ... about anything. It's way harder to do than you think, but worry will make your journey way more difficult. Some of it is keeping yourself busy doing things that are enjoyable, some of it is learning how to "not attach to outcomes", and there are other parts too. Learning how to do that successfully made my journey through treatment way easier. Yes, I do know other forum members who didn't do it successfully and at least one of them is now worried that they are clinically depressed and hasn't posted on the forum in like 2 months, when they needed the support we provide the most.

If you want to see how a journey can go my introduce yourself and treatment threads are identified in my signature. Go find them and read. It's not the only way things go, but it's a place to start.

I've said enough. Digest all this, then start asking your questions and letting us know how you are getting along on a regular basis, we really do want to know.

Tony

Last edited by n74tg; 01-07-2014 04:54 PM.
Tony, 69, non-smoker, aerobatics pilot, bridge player/teacher, avid dancer (ballroom, latin, swing, country)

09/13 SCC, HPV 16, tonsillectomy, T2N0.
11/13 start rads, no chemo
12/13 taste gone, dry mouth,
02/14 hair slowly returning
05/14 taste the same, dry sinuses, irrigation helps.
01/15 food taste about 60% returned, dry sinuses are worse in winter.
12/20 no more sinus problems, taste pretty good