The sound of my voice, and awesome thing to hear.

Today I had the opportunity to talk at the patient melanoma seminar at Huntsman Cancer Institute.  I was on a panel of cancer survivors.  I was one of five who shared their stories and how they have dealt with the treatments and side effects.  I have spent this last week going through old posts to figure out what happened when.  It was a sweet sorrowful trip.  I laughed a lot and cried a little.  I realized how important you all are in supporting me and my family through our trials.  I read some posts Peggy wrote, that I don't recall ever reading before.  Some making fun of me, and making me laugh, some praising me and making me cry.  I was up late last night reading posts and putting together my talk.  I didn't sleep well and was up early.  I guess sometimes I still get nervous talking to people.  Which is weird because I don't normally have a problem talking to people.  I learned about some new treatments coming down the pike, which are awesome!  They have been able to get some new treatments that inject a cold like vaccine into the tumor and the body creates antibodies which kill the tumors all over the body.  It was a really good seminar with tons of information.  I have a lot of information to digest and get some clarity on which ones might work for me.  So.. it was a great thing to attend.  I was able to talk with the leading specialist on TIL procedures in the nation - Dr. Patrick Hwu.  He had been talking to my Dr. about my situation and had some interesting things to tell me.  We looked a TIL back in 2012, it is the one where they take a sample of the tumor, grow antibodies from the tumor and then reintroduce them back in, where they go and kill the tumors.  He told me that I should try a few different options before looking at TIL.  They are new options and are a lot less intrusive and toxic than the previous treatments I have endured.  So good news all around.  They recorded the seminar and I will be posting a link to it when they make it available.

That is all for now.
Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Andy Layne.