None of my doctors have ever mentioned HPV. How do I find out? I'm scheduled for surgery thursday; do I ask then?
Pat

They can test a sample taken at the time of the surgery, it is not expensive, and is a common test. If they are not capable of doing the testing it can be sent to an outside lab like the one a Johns Hopkins, and they will do it for them.

By the by, no one got my respected friend David and I going again, a search of the boards will find that we have this argument as a matter of routine about every 6 months when it comes up. I suspect that even as a science based thinker, I am less pragmatic about this than David. As long as this thing is in my review mirror, I just don't care. I don't think about it anymore than why I was a survivor in Vietnam when other better people didn't make it, nor why I survived helicopter and plane crashes that others did not. Dwelling on those things or the cause of my disease (I know, but not because I went looking) I find little purpose in, and for the most part I try to stay focused on my future. When I am an old man reflecting on the past, (hell I'm already and old man, but I mean sitting on the park bench feeding pigeons) perhaps I'll reflect on the fortunes and misfortunes of the various cards I've been dealt, how I played them, the choices that I made, the randomness of some of it, and the why of it all. For now I am too busy, to be exploring something that the answer to, will not change my behaviors or life. It does make me a bit more interesting to TV crews, when I talk about my sex life and HPV though.... It's a useful tool in my life as an advocate for the cause. But that is an application of the information that most would not have a use for.

Well unlike our esteemed leader I was almost killed once in my life and I wanted to find out what was trying to do that. Maybe if I had led a James Bond life I would be more cavalier about it to. lol

I'm going to chime in here once on David and the HPV issue.

My original viewpoint was the same as Brian's, but I have also come to see that for David it has made a big deal. Here he was going along doing all the right things when WHAM! that piano dropped out of the sky and ruined his life, also ruining his bragging rights in process. By finding out that HPV is a likely source, he is reinforced by his life styles AND he can get the word out, pointing to his own case as an example. I can certainly see that it makes a difference for him for coping with OC.

Now if only I could find an article or research linking HPV and PEGs, we could combine both the OCF hot buttons.
Charm

LOL - good one!

Personally, I think dealing with the IRS as David does, is much more dangerous than many things that I have gotten myself into (or my government has gotten me into, James Bond indeed...).

I do have a natural curiosity, and I think that David has a good point, and that is if you can figure out how you almost got hit by a Mac truck by walking against the light, sorting that out in your mind is a very useful thing, which will keep you from making the same mistake twice. With opportunistic viruses, I don't think I can do anything different now that I know of, and like a piece of lead flying around in the air in the middle of a firefight, there is a certain randomness to viruses, be they HPV or the flu, that we have no control over, and cannot avoid exposure to. I would have to remain celibate to avoid it, and in my book, that just ain't gonna be.

As much as OCF tries to inform the public about HPV16 and the consequences of getting it, the truth is that the CDC thinks that about 80% of the whole US population will have some form of HPV in their lifetimes. We do not have any idea how many will get #16 vs. the other 129 versions, but we do know that the vast majority of people that get it, will have it cleared by their own immune systems, and it will be of no consequence to them. That being said, it is impossible to know today, given our understanding of our own genetics, how to determine who is in the group with an immune system that will recognize it, and who is not.

Given that, the ONLY thing that you have control over is getting screened for oral cancer every year. Maybe you are one of the lucky ones that has a perfect, robust immune system, maybe like David and I, you do not. We can't know or control that until it is too late. So OCF's mission is to drive people to annual opportunistic screenings, and we tell them about HPV because we want them to understand they cannot control this (like they could other risk factors like tobacco) and catching it early, is your best chance of staying on this side of the grass.

I do not find anything wrong with David wanting to know. I only comment on this occasionally, (as long as the treatment protocols stay the same) to make sure that it all stays in perspective. (Please note that on today's posting by David about PEG's I bit my tongue and offered no comment about continuing to swallow things if you have one. Indicating I am capable of restraint occasionally.)

I often used to wonder what attracted me to my first wife, who in our divorce, really cleaned my clock financially and in other ways. I finally figured it out, but after the fact, it was nothing more than an interesting observation on how my hormones were raging and how little control I had over them or my emotions. I still got my clock cleaned.... And figuring it out didn't put any money back in my account.

I would also like to say for as much as David and I like to snipe at each other in good faith and jest, I also agree that his passion for it is a good thing. It has turned him into a passionate advocate, something our disease does not have enough of, and we are lucky to have his passion on our side.

I thought this thread was about food. Focus, focus.
mark

My Mom has lost about 120 lbs..she was a bigger lady to begin with. Now shes down to 157. Ive never ever seen her this small and Im 25 years old. I wonder what happens to ppl that start out at a normal weight. Would you just waste away?
I know the cans of 'food' she supplements with are higher in calories than most but it still doesnt help

I think I lost a total of 110. I too was big to begin with and have never been this small. I love it. I also wonder how peopl that ae normal weight or underweight survive this horrific disease.