Today I have been waiting for the results of the biopsy. When I finally got the phone call, it was simply to confirm that it is cancer - no surprise there. The good news, I’m told, is that it is early stage and treatable, even curable (I’m not entirely sure what the difference is). I also learned it is HPV positive, which means it responds well to treatment, or at least better than a non-HPV tumour.
HPV is human papillomavirus - a type of virus that infects the skin and cells lining the inside of the body. There are hundreds of different types of HPV with some ‘high risk’ types that can cause cancer. Cervical cancer is the main type of cancer linked to HPV.
It is estimated that around 8 out of 10 people will be infected with HPV at some point in their lives. For most people, the infection will get better on its own and they will never know they had it. Thankfully the HPV vaccine is now available to help prevent cancer by protecting against HPV. This means that HPV cancers should be almost completely eradicated in the future.
Sadly for my generation, there was no vaccine available, so here I am. But, it seems that having HPV cancer is relatively 'good' news, if indeed there is such a thing when it comes to having cancer. The bad news is that the treatment for throat cancer is one of the most brutal cancer treatments, because it impacts your ability to eat and drink, which obviously we need to continue to do to stay alive – not to mention is the core of our social lives - so I sense a challenging time ahead.
As well as the 2.5cm tumour (stage 2), the MRI also showed an enlarged lymph node in my neck, close to the tumour, so they are concerned this may mean one of the nodes is also cancerous. More tests and scans coming up to find out more. I have also now been referred formally to the Head and Neck cancer team at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, as my nearest hospital doesn’t offer this specialist service, so it's a 2.5 hour round trip for every hospital appointment.
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