David,

With all due respect, unless someone tests positive for HPV (and maybe even if they do) it is always going to be no more than an educated guess what the cause of their cancer is. That's why medical journals don't publish case studies usually because WHY questions can't be answered by looking at an individual case--there are too manhy possible factors and nothing controlled, as they would be in clinical trials.

I respect that you are asking this question out of curiousity--you did say you once thought about getting a medical degree-- but the way to answer a question like that is read published research. Not ask people here to give you an explanation they don't have and really can't possibly get in most cases.

The part I feel you are not getting is how frustrating it can be, when you are in a bad spot, to be given the epxectation from someone else that you should explain how you got there. "Why" questions seem important to me when it might affect a decision you make "eg. "Did your doctor say why he recommended just radiation but not chemo?" but they are worse than useless, even if they COULD be answered, when someone is looking for support.

Questions such as "why did your dysphagia happen to you when it doesn't happen to other people", "why did your husband have a recurrence that is now demed terminal", "why did you get tongue cancer"--all of which I've seen you ask in the last week or so--are not supportive IMO. We are not here to be case studies for someone's curiosity.

Again, I say this with respect for your curiousity, which I have myself as a result of scientific training, as well as for your good intentions. I know you are not intending to make anyone feel worse. But having been on the other end of this I have to say that is how it made me feel.

I also, though would ask you to examine yourself for why you have the urge to ask "why" so much. The psychology of this is that often we ask "why" when even if we got that answer, it isn't really going to fill the need we had when asking. We ask why to give ourselves some illusion of control--that if we know why somehting bad happened to someone else, maybe we can feel safer that it won't happen to us. It is sometimes a question asked out of fear, is wnhat I'm saying.

Just something to consider.

Nelie