HPV stage IV throat cancer: can it be transmitted to the spouse?

I am very new at all this, my boyfriend just got diagnose with stage IV HPV throat cancer. The  2  ear nose and throat ENT doctors that we saw told him that he was to late for them and that no surgery can be perform to remove the tumor in is throat. The  tumor is very big, about the size of a egg and the left side of his neck is very disform by it. The lenght of the  treatment is 7 weeks,   20 minutes of radiation  5x a week and chemotherapy every other weeks. I am gathering information where I can, being in the health care field (plastic surgery)  I know personally many physicians and I have so much different scenarios that are throw at me that my head is spinning. I cant get the real story from his oncologist because I am just his girlfriend and because of HYPPA privacy they cant tell me nothing and I know my boyfriend is not telling me everything.

Please if anybody can share some experiences good or bad with me it will help me a lot.

I am also very concern about how much I am at risk of contracting any HPV myself. Can it be spread via saliva , like kissing ? I can not find anything on the internet talking about it. I dont want to kiss him or get intimate with him because of the fear that he can contaminate me, but it breaks my heart to denie him to close momments.

Please any info will help.

Good bless all of you.

I am finishing treatment for a stage IV squamous cell tumor in my throat (next to tonsil).  It was 5 cm or about 2 inches is size and I'm pleased to say that the combination of chemo and radiation treatments have removed the tumor entirely based on the pre and post CT scans.  I get a PET scan in three weeks and hope to be pronounced cancer free. 

I'm surprised they diagnosed your boyfriend's tumor as being caused by HPV.  I did not have any of the causal behaviors for a squamous cell throat tumor and the doctors suspected it was HPV related but the biopsy test to confirm that diagnosis was very expensive (several thousand dollars) and not covered by insurance nor was I willing to pay.  So we can only suspect it was caused by HPV. 

If your boyfriend's tumor is HPV related, it's good news for both of you.  For him, the success rate of treatment is much higher for HPV squamous cell tumors than from smoking/chewing caused tumors.  For you, I asked the question about impacting/transferring HPV to my spouse.  My oncologist (who I trust very much) was quick to say "no worry".  Most adults have the HPV virus and it may or may not cause health issues.  It isn't something the medical field can predict.   

Get your boyfriend to a good treatment facility, one with IMRT radiation technology and a good radiologist.  The treatment is difficult but take it a day at a time and he'll do fine.   

 

On 9/15/2008 JohnRay wrote:

I am finishing treatment for a stage IV squamous cell tumor in my throat (next to tonsil).  It was 5 cm or about 2 inches is size and I'm pleased to say that the combination of chemo and radiation treatments have removed the tumor entirely based on the pre and post CT scans.  I get a PET scan in three weeks and hope to be pronounced cancer free. 

I'm surprised they diagnosed your boyfriend's tumor as being caused by HPV.  I did not have any of the causal behaviors for a squamous cell throat tumor and the doctors suspected it was HPV related but the biopsy test to confirm that diagnosis was very expensive (several thousand dollars) and not covered by insurance nor was I willing to pay.  So we can only suspect it was caused by HPV. 

If your boyfriend's tumor is HPV related, it's good news for both of you.  For him, the success rate of treatment is much higher for HPV squamous cell tumors than from smoking/chewing caused tumors.  For you, I asked the question about impacting/transferring HPV to my spouse.  My oncologist (who I trust very much) was quick to say "no worry".  Most adults have the HPV virus and it may or may not cause health issues.  It isn't something the medical field can predict.   

Get your boyfriend to a good treatment facility, one with IMRT radiation technology and a good radiologist.  The treatment is difficult but take it a day at a time and he'll do fine.   

Thank you so much for your answer. I am glad to see that you are doing well and that you are done with your treatment, that sure gives me a lot of hope. How many weeks of treatment did you receive and what was the frequency? If you dont mind, can you describe for us what you experience during your treatment, were the symptoms severes or tolerable and I do you feel now.

As for the HPV, it is very hard to get any straight answer, that virus is epidemic in the baby boomer demographics and I guess we will learn more about it as the research progress.

Today he saw the radiation oncologist that reassured him that he his very lucky and the type of tumor he has is very contain and localize, it is the size of a marble. Nothing else is affected, as of tongue, larynx ect. and that he should do very well with the treatment. This week they will put the port and peg, do the PET scan, check is stomach to rule out any cancer cells and start the treatment early next week. I made sure he had the dental trays, very thick ones to protect his teeth, (thank you for this site, for that info) and here we go!

Again thank you for your input, wish you the best.

And to all of you, going thru this God bless you, there is a light at the end of the tunnel :-)

M

I also had SCC, don't know about HPV but my cancer was very big when it was diagnosed.  I couldn't swallow and had to have a trachea fitted in case my wind pipe was compromised. I had 7 weeks radiation and chemo cisplatin once a week for 7 weeks. That was 3 years ago and I am cancer free. Just have one problem I lost the use of my swallow muscles and am on peg feeds. Ask about exercises for the swallow during treatment, I wasn't given the exercises till my treatment was finished and maybe if i had been doing them all along I wouldn't have been so bad. hope this helps, Noreen 

My husband was diagnosed in December with Squamous Cell Carcinoma. He first noticed two lumps on each side of his neck. They took a biopsy of both of them. Came back saying that they didn't see any cancer, but said it could be hidding. So they took one of the tumors out and sent it to Stanford in Ca. It came back positive being cancer. They then stuck a tube with a light down his nose and it had a claw of a thing that pick pieces out to biopsy because they could not fine the primary where the cancer had started. So by doing that, they found the cancer started on the floor of the mouth, tongue. They won't operate because there were to much to start cutting...So he now has a Doctor for Chem 3 treatments 1 every three weeks and Raditation treatments Monday-Friday for two months. Head Neck & Throat cancer has 4 stages he is a stage 4 because his is bi-lideral which means it is on both side of the neck. The Chemo doctor said a 20% survial rate and Raditation doctor said 30 to 40%. He will be starting this week.  Now as for how he got the cancer? Well HIV causes this kind of cancer, but this is not in his case because he is in the National Guard and they check for this often regularly.  Another cause is HPV. As for HPV you can get this from ORAL SEX!  So you should be checked to see if you have HPV and gave it to him...Or he could of gotton it from someone else at some point. Or it could be from the tonsils. In my husbands case he has no tonsils. You can fine so much information on google looking up Squamous Cell Carcinoma and where his is located...I put in NECK THROAT SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA IN GOOGLE.  You can find so much information using google.  Another site is the WWW.MAYOCLINIC.COM and WWW.,EDSCAPE.COM WWW.CANCER.ORG  You should not have sex when he is having the raditation because you can be effected by the raditation. I'm putting my faith in God. I wish you all the best and pray that your boyfriend and my husband is one of the lucky ones that all this Chemo and Raditation they are having will get rid of the cancer.

God Bless

Patty

 

On 2/8/2009 Proxielocks wrote:

My husband was diagnosed in December with Squamous Cell Carcinoma. He first noticed two lumps on each side of his neck. They took a biopsy of both of them. Came back saying that they didn't see any cancer, but said it could be hidding. So they took one of the tumors out and sent it to Stanford in Ca. It came back positive being cancer. They then stuck a tube with a light down his nose and it had a claw of a thing that pick pieces out to biopsy because they could not fine the primary where the cancer had started. So by doing that, they found the cancer started on the floor of the mouth, tongue. They won't operate because there were to much to start cutting...So he now has a Doctor for Chem 3 treatments 1 every three weeks and Raditation treatments Monday-Friday for two months. Head Neck & Throat cancer has 4 stages he is a stage 4 because his is bi-lideral which means it is on both side of the neck. The Chemo doctor said a 20% survial rate and Raditation doctor said 30 to 40%. He will be starting this week.  Now as for how he got the cancer? Well HIV causes this kind of cancer, but this is not in his case because he is in the National Guard and they check for this often regularly.  Another cause is HPV. As for HPV you can get this from ORAL SEX!  So you should be checked to see if you have HPV and gave it to him...Or he could of gotton it from someone else at some point. Or it could be from the tonsils. In my husbands case he has no tonsils. You can fine so much information on google looking up Squamous Cell Carcinoma and where his is located...I put in NECK THROAT SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA IN GOOGLE.  You can find so much information using google.  Another site is the WWW.MAYOCLINIC.COM and WWW.,EDSCAPE.COM WWW.CANCER.ORG  You should not have sex when he is having the raditation because you can be effected by the raditation. I'm putting my faith in God. I wish you all the best and pray that your boyfriend and my husband is one of the lucky ones that all this Chemo and Raditation they are having will get rid of the cancer.

God Bless

Patty

If and when you get any answers to your question please let me know. My Wife has the same fears that you do. I am on the Head and neck cancer  message board onder La From NC asking the same questions

I didn't get much of and answer either. let me kow what you find out.

 

LA From NC

Excatly under what heading are you under? And do you know what Page?

My husband is half way through his radiation and has one more Chemo to take. He had the second Chemo last week 3/16/09 and this one hit him pretty hard.  He was working most of the day 5 days a week but now has taken time off. He did finally get the PEG tube in on the 16th and that was the best thing for him to have because he was not eating. Pryor to the tube he had not ate for about 12 days. He has lost about 30 pounds all together since he came down with cancer.

We will not know if the Chemo and Radiation has worked until all the treatments are over. The doctor thinks that he will need to have surgery afterwards to take the other tumor out.

This has been a long process and I know that I just have to have patients with him.  He gets cranky and also mean when he talks to me. But if you really love someone, no matter how cranky and mean they are you will still love them. And pray that God will take the cancer away.

 

 

On 3/25/2009 Proxielocks wrote:

Excatly under what heading are you under? And do you know what Page?

My husband is half way through his radiation and has one more Chemo to take. He had the second Chemo last week 3/16/09 and this one hit him pretty hard.  He was working most of the day 5 days a week but now has taken time off. He did finally get the PEG tube in on the 16th and that was the best thing for him to have because he was not eating. Pryor to the tube he had not ate for about 12 days. He has lost about 30 pounds all together since he came down with cancer.

We will not know if the Chemo and Radiation has worked until all the treatments are over. The doctor thinks that he will need to have surgery afterwards to take the other tumor out.

This has been a long process and I know that I just have to have patients with him.  He gets cranky and also mean when he talks to me. But if you really love someone, no matter how cranky and mean they are you will still love them. And pray that God will take the cancer away.

      Hi,

                          Go to the message board click on head and neck go to the second page you will find my message under LA from NC asking the same question you ask. I have a lot of info I can provide on your hubbys condition. I have already had the radation and the chemo and the neck disection. so ask away. I'll check it tomorrow. I lost a total og 68 lbs. I have gained back 20 and I fell great I still have the peg tube and the trache in my neck so I know what your hubby is going through.

 

LA from NC