Hi Roger
Don't beat yourself up over the MJ. I am a trials and statistics person so the first thing I did was go looking for studies that would show that MJ increased the risk of either OC or a recurrence in order to convince my Alex to give it away. You know what? Couldn't find anything of any weight to show that MJ had any compelling involvement in the development of OC so made the emotional appeal instead (the logical leap).
Remember too that you have been diagnosed with an
HPV+ve tumour which suggests your cancer was not caused by smoking of any kind. On the plus side, although treatment for
HPV+ve tumours are currently the same as for other types of OC, the prognosis is better.
A relatively recent proposition is that
HPV+ve tumours may respond to a less brutal treatment (eg less rads or no concomitant chemo) than the accepted standard. My Alex was
HPV+ve. Would we have entered a trial that gave him anything less than the currently accepted treatment? No. And therein lies the problem for such a trial...
Having said that, I think I read somewhere that such a trial is either being proposed or conducted but am unsure of this.
Yes the teeth issues are scary. But remember the positives: it will keep you more vigilant with your oral care won't it? You won't miss any more dental appointments will you? And if you are someone who has perfect pearly whites, then remember ORN is a relatively rare complication and probably won't happen to you - especially if you keep those dentist visits up.
May I also suggest you keep a journal to log your progress. When you get frustrated and feel you are not moving forward fast enough, you can read back and realise that today's bad day is a vast improvement over last month's bad day. My Alex regularly tells me that he is struggling with this or that issue and a reminder of "this time last year/month/week" helps put it back in perspective (along with lots of sympathy and cuddles). Alex can no longer remember many of the details of his tribulations which I guess is his coping mechanism.
