I’d like to add that it is critical to get the biopsy at a CCC. My local ENT did it (of a swollen lymph node that was miscategorized as a cyst) 2/2017 and it came back normal. When the lymph node was removed a month later (per my request, they wanted to delay) the pathology came back with P16+ SCC.

Several biopsies were performed and after TransOralRoboticSurgery (TORS) a 2mm tumor in the back of my tongue (vallecula) was discovered. I had 30 days of radiation as treatment that ended in July 2017 and currently have no evidence of disease.

Trust your instincts and get the best practitioners possible.

For what it is worth, I don’t have HPV, no other biopsy samples (11 out of 12) tested positive for HPV or P16, and my life partner does not have HPV.

P16+ Is correlated to HPV greater than 75% of the time but to say it is definitely HPV requires separate testing.

Wishing you the best,
Stef

Last edited by Stef H; 04-08-2018 12:12 PM.
Keep fighting friends!

Me -- currently 53 years old
SCC diagnosed 3/7/2017 at age 48
Staging SCC HPV+ T0,N1 primary unknown
PET 3/16, no activity, biopsies 3/23 benign
TORS surgery identified 2mm tumor in BOT (vallecula)
Cancer restaged T1, N2, M0
Begin 30 sessions of radiation (60 Gy) 6/13
Completed radiation 7/24/2017
1st MRI clear 10/23/2017!!
2nd MRI clear 10/17/2018!