I had had 5 recurrences in less than 3 years and had three surgeries, radiation three times for a total of 130Gy, as well as chemo and targeted therapy twice. Usually after a recurrence, the stats are grim, but reirridation is being done more and more, as well as surgery, so that's changing everything. As mentioned, each case is different, and so is the doctors training and experience matters if they can treat you or not. Usually for a recurrence, the best option is usually surgery with or without radiation or chemoradiation.

The recurrence rate for HPV related cancer H&N cancer is about 15 percent, much lower than non HPV. In a HPV positive smoker, the recurrence rate may be higher. Also, they have found distant failure after 5 years with some HPV, maybe a different subtype, while non HPV cancer failure levels off after two years, so it's being recommended that surveillance with HPV cancer be continued past the 5 years.