I'm very curious...

Why does HPV attack the BOT?

Are we sure that other parts of the tongue are not susceptible to HPV?

The reason for my curiosity is that there seems to be a great number of people on this site that don't fit the typical profile of an OC patient, but yet they don't seem to have OC that is HPV related. Am I missing something?

When I get back to work I might just go ahead and pay out of pocket for my specimen to be tested for HPV...I find this very perplexing...As a child I use to get warts on the bottom of my feet(plantar warts)and on my hands. Once I hit the age of 12 or 13 I stopped getting them altogether. Even though I know that all warts are some form of HPV, and from personal experiences HPV's are very cumbersome--they like to come back. What are the chances of OC related to HPV coming back even after a successful treatment? Or wouldn't the HPV be able to come back to an area that was radiated? My guess is that we don't know yet...

Btw--I'm not sure if this makes a difference in my case or not but when I would drink or eat anything too acidic (citrus or tomatoes) my mouth would get these little white painful sores/ulcers. I was so susceptible to this I couldn't even take vitamin C without getting these sores. So, I know my PH levels must be a little off balance. It bothers me that I don't know what caused my cancer...How can I find out?

Last edited by Ray1971; 12-29-2008 05:21 PM.
7-16-08 age 37@Dx, T3N0M0 SCC 4.778cm tumor, left side of oral tongue, non smoker, casual drinker, I am the 4th in my family to have H&N cancer
8-13-08 left neck dissection and 40% of tongue removed, submandibular salivary gland & 14 nodes clean, no chemo, IMRTx35
11-4-08 Recovering & feeling better