Hi!

Hi Shab, welcome to our little community. 

First....leave Google alone. The best place for advice is your team and here. There are lots of folk who have made it through and are living well.

Anybody new should pick up your post and join in.

HPV driven oropharyngeal cancer is eminently curable. The treatment is rough...there's no denying but you take it a day at a time and soon you are out the other side.

I have a blog linked at the bottom of the page you might like to look at which goes a little into my cancer treatment. 

Also take a look at MARK'S DIARY Mark is a member here and has written a really good detailed account

Stick around, there are lots of really helpful people here

Good luck and best wishes 

Hi Shab. Welcome to our small community group sorry you’ve found yourself here but we will help if we can. I too was extremely well apart from the lump in collar bone area. We all handle it differently in my case I was miss positive it wasn’t going to get me. That’s not to say I didn’t sit on kitchen floor at 0300 crying. As Dani says h p v positive tumours respond really well ti treatment kerp thst in mind. My family didn’t make a fuss they treated me the same. That’s not ti say I did with them done times I was down right  nasty to my long suffering husband. My blogs below it give a timeline of my treatment. Am now over 3 years snd living my life 

Pop on here with questions stsy away from google please. 
Hazel 

Shab71 said:

I'd like to know if there's anyone else newly diagnosed with something similar,

 have a look at Ozzer just about the same timeline as you. A little in front. 

Hi Shab71 and welcome.

I was diagnosed with HPV driven base of tongue cancer in May 2018 - it responds very well to treatment..  I too was well and fit at my diagnosis.

There are lots of people on the forum who have been through similar and can offer support and advice.  Steer clear of Google searches, especially as you're waiting for a full diagnosis and treatment plan, as you wll be misled and it can be frightening.

All the best.

Linda x   

Hi Shab,

I was diagnosed with HPV16 cancer in my left tonsil last July. Same as you, no symptoms except a small lump in my neck. I started my treatment in September and had 6 weeks of treatment, 30 RT and 5 chemo and no surgery, no feeding tubes. I am now 11 weeks post treatment and am able to eat most foods and luckily have been off pain killers for a while. My taste is still not all there, I sadly can’t taste sugar at all! I am suffering from dry mouth too. I was fit before, practising yoga daily. I managed to keep up the yoga for most of the time through treatment, I found it so helped as did acupuncture. The advice from this forum was invaluable and really helped me prepare myself for what was to come. I have my MRI on the 7/2 and am meeting my oncologist on the 16th so am keeping everything crossed. Do keep positive it so helps and eat well before treatment starts. All the best x

Thank you so much x

Thank you Hazel, it's such a mine field and the waiting time... urgh! I'm done with Google, some of it seems outdated and very confusing. I'm staying positive, have lovely family and friends surrounding me. It's such a shock and the many thoughts and feelings are overwhelming at times. So pleased there's such great support here. Well done for getting through it... keep living life to the full x

Hi Linda, thank you. it's the weirdest time when you're not unwell. The only thing I can say is I haven't had my mojo for a while but couldn't put my finger on it.... now I know. Im definitely not pre-empting anything until scans are done and I've a better idea of what's next. Hope you're well... its so good to know there's others who have gone through this and treatment responds well x

Thank you Marwari, this is really helpful, I'm just starting to realise it's not quite a walk in the park... no wonder my consultant was so serious and seemed to be ramming things home. I've definitely been in the dark about what's involved. Feeding tubes... !!! I'd never even considered that! I'm sure once I have scan results I'll have a better idea. All I know is I can't not have treatment... whatever that entails. Well done for getting through this so far, hope time heals for you... ill keep fingers crossed for you for the 16th, please let me know how you get on... and if you need a friendly ear ill happily listen x 

Thank you x