 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | If you were to ask every HPV+ SCC patient I would guess a very large percentage of them would tell you that their only clue to something possibly wrong was a totally painless swollen neck node. Many, if not all, of their first doctors put them on a dose or 2 of antibiotics before they eventually had a biopsy and found out they were Staged a III or IV. While the staging of HPV+ SCC patients may one day consider the current response to Tx or the Tx itself may one day be modified to take these studies into consideration remains to be seen. I myself was told by a well respected MO and I quote as he shook my hand " Congratulations, you don't have cancer!" If it were not for my persistant wife I may have found out to late.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
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