I've been free and clear for 4 years. I get irration on the left side of my tongue from time to time. That's the side they radiated the most. Irration started last weekend. Two days ago a small hole with white tissue around it appeared though I didn't bite myself. Will be going in to have dentist scan it early this week, but was wondering what percentages of HPV-16 survivors have re-occurence? What's the typical prognosis? Can they cut it out only? Or do they do radiation again?

Original diagnosis revealed cancer in left tonsil and I had a cluster of tumors in lymphnodes on the left side of my neck, and PET scan before treatment revealed it was already started in a lymphnode on the right also. My understanding was that I had to have just about the maximum radiation possible. I did 6.5 weeks rad and 6 weeks Cisplatin concurrently.

When I was sick and read people's stories here, I got the idea that if it reoccurred it was just a protracted ending. Is it usually? Or does one have a shot at being able to live with a quality of life worth living?

Frank