@simplygrand
Hi, My diagnosis was similar back in Oct 2025, Stage 1-2 tonsil cancer HPV+.
Thanks to this support group I discovered that a blood test is now available for this cancer and was able to stop treatments early because of it testing negative for cancer after 3 days of cesplatin and 24 radiation sessions or 48gy.
So after 5 weeks took a week off from treatments then tested which took about a week to get results back. NavDx is the name of the test it will come up in a Google search'. You may have to ask for it like I did but good chance it could save you from unnecessary toxic treatments. I highly recommend it.
You will have to advocate for yourself though , seems some cancer centers are hell bent on maximum treatments still despite overwhelming evidence that this particular cancer often only needs about 1/2 what is recommended to kill it..

Hi @simplygrand

I was 39yrs. old in 2008 when I was officially diagnosed with cancer Stage IVB T2N3M0 on left tonsil caused by HPV and one of my 3 infected lymph nodes was over 7cm and that is not a typo. I had 35 rounds (7 weeks) of Photon radiation which amounted to 70 Gy and 3 rounds (211mg each) for a total of 633 mgs of the platinum-based chemo Cisplatin and had no surgery whatsoever.
One thing I am finding out is this big de-escalation Head & Neck cancer treatments coming about especially for people who got it as a result of HPV. I attached 4 articles (pdfs) on it here. Also, I talked to my oncologist recently and he said I would have four different options if I had tonsil cancer today.

Hope this helps.

Hello @simplygrand and welcome to H&N Connect. To address your hearing situation, My SCC was in my ear canal so initial surgery removed the ear canal and left me with unilateral hearing. My hero medical oncologist at Mayo addressed this saying cisplatin and carboplatin were both off the table due to limited hearing. She recommended a targeted therapy along with radiation which was Cetuximab (Erbitux). Now my cancer is considered skin origin, not mucous membrane like oral cancers, so there may be different options for these different types. In any case, 14 years later and there has been no recurrence at the initial site, I was fitted with a bone anchored hearing aid at Mayo and now hear from both sides again, but also have metastatic disease which has been controlled with both surgery and immunotherapy. My husband was also treated at Mayo for bladder cancer and due to his hearing loss he was given carboplatin instead of cisplatin. That was 5 years ago and his hearing was not damaged much by that treatment. Another family member just completed that same cisplatin/radiation regimen and has had no hearing loss up to this point but he is only 44 and 4 months out from treatment. Definitely have this discussion with your medical team so you can have the least risk possible to your hearing without sacrificing efficacy against the cancer.