Hi David, there's tons of information on this subject that you can find by doing a search on the forum and the home page.

The testing process for head and neck cancers caused by the HPV 16 virus is done on your tumor slides, and not all hospitals do the test. We had Jack's slides sent to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore because it wasn't available locally.

That said, it won't change your treatment plan. We didn't worry about it until after he was thru the chemo/radiation - too much going on. Jack's was positive but there are others on the forum that also had no risk factors and tested negative. About 4 months after treatment Jack participated in a clinical trial at Hopkins testing a vaccine. This is only a phase 1 trial so they don't know what the best dose is or if it will work in preventing recurrence. It is not the same as the guardisal vaccine you are probably seeing ads for on TV for cervical cancer.

The test for your wife would be handled thru her GYN, that's a simple process. I think that's a good idea in general and please feel free to have her send me a private message if she has specific questions.

Good luck next week. This too shall pass. Jack found the mask was hard to deal with and used Ativan for that. Make sure you are getting between 2-3 quarts of liquid as well as 2200 calories or more daily. That's the best way to assist your body to handle the treatments. Are you going to have amifostine injections? If so, it's even more important to stay well hydrated. Keep swallowing and stretching your mouth muscles open and closed to prevent trismus later - also lots of information on that subject.
Regards JoAnne