Encouragement COMES IN MANY FORMS

• I've been having follow up CT scans about every 3 months since a follow up PET/CT found that my previously active lymph nodes had returned to a normal uptake and saw no distant metastases.  I had another scan yesterday and again CT found no evidence of progression, consistent with my circulating tumor DNA results.
• Tuesday was World Cancer day - the Conquer Cancer foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) provided a playlist from various artists through Amazon to encourage cancer survivors and caregivers.  I am a patient advocate member of ASCO and was pleased and proud to find this  very cool initiative #LouderThanCancer# initiative. Give it a listen!  Each stream from the playlist results in a $1 donation to the foundation. 
• Finally, I heard from a caregiver friend- we connected after she found my story and her spouse began treatment like mine and has been having very good results. She made me aware of a promising phase 1 trial reporting early results of a personalized cancer vaccine.  The context is renal cell carcinoma but the mechanism could also apply to bladder cancer.  It generates a robust immune response targeted to each patient.  The nine patients in the trial remained cancer free for three years (as long as they have been followed).  The goal is to improve on efficacy and reduce off-target immune toxicity.