JLohr,

Sorry to hear about the Diagnosis. Dang HPV got me too. The good news is that was 6.5 years ago. The HPV status is something they defiantly can determine. While I was doing my research, I found somewhere, that 80% of BOT cancers were HPV. I believe it is much higher than that. If it is, this is highly treatable with good success rates. The down side is this treatment can be brutal. At least for me it was.

I had cisplatin. I was scheduled for 3 big bags. However I was so sick they cancelled the third dosage. This happens a lot. Weekly seems to be much more manageable. However I believe, (I admit, I could be wrong) that the three big bag method is still the "standard Treatment". To me that means, nothing has replaced this as the "best method". I mean that in the terms of kicking cancers ass. However, they are plenty of studies that say, weekly cisplatin or carboplatin are also good methods with much less side effects.

I had no issues with hearing loss but this a definite concern with cisplatin. I really bothers me that there is not a test to determine whether cisplatin will can hearing issues. To me, this seems odd because cisplatin has been around forever and therefore plenty of data is available to draw correlations or causation. It is like no one "want to know" or there is just "no money" to find out.

My advice, seek the best cancer center available. Find doctors you trust. Think long term but act short term. Try not to panic, follow all instructions. Get as much done now and clear your schedules, prepare for a rough 2-6 months. This is very treatable but the treatment is harsh.