I want to share the story of my wife, thankfully so far a good story, in hopes it may help anyone out there.

First off, I am NOT a doctor.

My wife was diagnosed with severe dysplasia / non-invasive squamous cell carcinoma in-situ 7 years ago on a lesion underneath the back of her tongue. Since then she has undergone 4 surgeries to remove the recurring lesion, which has always come back from pathology as the same result.

Her last surgery was 2 years ago, and did not come back with clear margins. She continued in pain for the last 2 years and put off seeing the doctor (which I do NOT recommend!). I am rabid in my determination to help my wife through this and have conducted my own research via the web and through various contacts I have with health professionals. We tried most of the 'alternate therapies' such as herbs, vitamins, diets, lifestyle changes, etc. Some things helped a bit, but the biopsies dont lie.

For the last year I have been tracking the developments in cervical cancer and its direct relation to HPV, a disease very similar to herpes in the way it affects squamous cell DNA. I approached several ENT doctors about this and received a shake of the head and not much else. I decided to dig a little deeper.

I am not a genecist or a doctor of any kind, what I am about to advise is not from a scientific study or anything like that. It is purely personal experience.

Running out of options, I decided to take action and try to take some control back. My wife's lesion seemed to flare up during times of stress, just as her oral herpes would do. With the recent advances in cervical cancer (and the very similar nature of cervical cells and oral cells) I decided 'what the heck' and let's try a herpes treatment to see what happens. My wife went to her doctor and got a prescription to Valtrex, a herpes outbreak reducer drug. She started treatment 1/6/05 and at that time had a bleeding lesion in her mouth that we were sure was the same non-invasive carcinoma in-situ.

Over the next month, she complained that her tongue in fact felt 'different' and perhaps worse. I avidly check her tongue and it definitely looked smaller, pinker around the edges, yet more angry and red in the center. We decided to keep going.

One month later, 2/7/05, she went back to her ENT for a biopsy. The doctor took a biopsy from 4 places, really deep pieces. He was thorough. One week later, we were in his office for the results. Nothing. No cancer, no precancer, nothing. The cells displayed inflamation characteristics, but no signs of mitotic abnormalities and no sign of any dysplasia at all. Wow.

During the later part of that month, and in the week and a half since the doctor visit (brings us to today) her lesion has continued to improve and is now looking and feeling very very normal. This, after 7 years of constant bad biopsies with no variation, a bad December, she goes on Valtrex and suddenly things change.

A cure? I have NO idea. She was diagnosed at age 22, never smoked, doesnt drink, none of the 'typical' explanations fit her. She has had continous static biopsy results for 7 years, 4 surgeries, margins that were never clear after surgery .... the only thing that changed was Valtrex.

Please do not take false hope away from this. We tried Valtrex as a 'lets try it and see' ... and I have no scientific way of knowing whether Valtrex had ANYTHING to do with her apparent remission. The timing is a huge coincidence, and the way it felt during the first month of her taking it are signs as well.

So maybe if you have oral pre-cancer (or cancer itself), have oral herpes (cold sores are herpes), you might want to consider it. Just to see.

Has anyone else tried Valtrex and have any experiences they can share?

With prayers for all cancer patients and survivors and their families,

Fred