Hello, I am unfortunately a new winner to the Oral cancer lottery. Non-smoker, moderate weekend drinker, yes HPV+. Needless to stay still bitter about the whole thing. I have many military/ college buddies who had led pretty much the same lifestyle as me and why did I end choosing the short straw!!I am a 38 year old male. I was diagnosed with T2N2Mx/ stage IVA on Mar 29th. Primary was R tonsil with 1 node involvement level II.

Had radical tonsillectomy with R neck resection at Wilmont Cancer center (Rochester, NY.) Surgery went well. This Tuesday will be 4 weeks post-op. They felt good with the surgery (negative margins and only one positive node) but the node did have focal Extracapsular extension frown so they want to do radiation to be safe.

Went to Roswell (Buffalo, NY) for 2nd opinion they said chemo (cisplatin) and radiation. Not sure what to do Wilmont says just radiation and Roswell say chemo and rads. frown so confused; I'm a Registered nurse so I have researched the side effects of both. Also I have read that HPV+ tumors respond well to tx; but not sure if that's with Rad alone or with chemo! I'm suppose to start Radiation on May 12th. Going to go to to Memorial Sloan Kettering on Friday for 3rd opinion. Not sure If I'm wasting my time; I'm sure they are going to say it's 50/50 flip a coin! frown scared and confused!
I know that the decision is ultimately up to me but would appreciate any advice!!


Charles


Charles

HPV +16 Right Tonsil SCC with 1 Right lymph node. Tonsillectomy and neck resection.

Got 33 radiation doses via tomo machine (58 gry to back of throat, 65 gry to right neck, and 56 gry to left neck) with 2 cisplatin and one carboplatin due to possible hearing loss.