Welcome Lolyd, fear of the unknown is sometimes worse than knowing like you mentioned. In a nutshell, prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and pre-planing is a good idea, but some things can go unexpectedly, unplanned, but having an idea is good. Most do well, but it's a difficult 7 weeks, not including the time treatment stops, at which time recovery may be at it's worst. Everyone is different, but I haven't heard many say it was a walk in a park lol.

P16 is a tumor suppressor gene, which positivity is likely HPV, not always, but HPV positivity is a good as far as response to treatment, prognosis.

As far as moving, it depends, but maybe you should plan someone else to move you, if you planned on physically doing it yourself. Other household chores should be planned, in case you are unable to do yourself, shopping, cooking, cleaning, pets, yard work, not to mention seeing in advance your employment benefits, medical continuation, dealing with finances and payment of bills. I don't know if you have a caretaker, but doing it alone, is difficult.

As far as weight loss, the average weight loss is 30lbs in oropharyngeal Tx. I lost 110lbs just from chemo, 40lbs from another time with just radiation. Doctors get concerned when you lose 5% of your body weight. If too much weight is lost, a new mask may have to be made, not to mention other factors.

You will learn, hear mostly about the effects of radiation, but don't underestimate the effects of chemo. Chemo can set you back, more so than radiation, and few don't ever complete the full radiation, but many do not compete chemo due to tje toxicities. You may be having Cisplatin, which is the gold standard. They do base-line testing for many things like creatinine, hemoglobin, etc., but not so much with others like hearing, vision, thyroid, testosterone, which treatment can impact, so if time allows, you may want to look into them. Both chemo and radiation have short, less than three months, and long term toxicities, lasting more than three months.

Usually you have the CT simulation when the mask is made, I did, and then treatment followed on my next visit, if the dentist gave you an all clear to start.

Without covering everything, since it's so much, I'll break it down to some things to help get through. Each can probably fill its own page, and will learn further about.

Adequate nutrition, and hydration
Impeccable oral care
Anti-nausea meds
Pain meds
Treatment for mucocitis
Treatment for dry mouth
Neck creams
Rest/sleep

That's it for now, tired from typing, but look at the OCF pages, which has tons of info, other member posts, and hopefully others will add. If you have any questions, just ask.

http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/treatment/