Amy’s Mucosal melanoma

Melanoma entered our life in a rare and unusual way.
Amy had gone for a routine Pap smear. The doctor told her she had a few freckles down there. Amy has red hair, green eyes and freckles so it wasn’t a big deal. She was referred to a gynaecologist who did some biopsies. 11 biopsies all had some stage of mucosal melanoma. Since she was in her 40s they tried to preserve as much as they could.

Surgeon thought it was all gone and it was for awhile. It kept recurring until now her bladder, bowel, anus, rectum, and all female parts are gone. She wears a urostomy bag and a colostomy bag. She gets continual fecal e. Coli infections and most recently was hospitalized with sepsis.

Currently, she is on massive doses of antibiotics because she needs a stent placed into her kidney but the infection must be gone before that surgery can happen.
Her energy level varies between 40-50%. Having a shower requires a rest, changing her bags takes a lot out of her, stairs are murderous. I feel so helpless.

Mucosal melanoma isn’t the same as cutaneous melanoma. It isn’t caused by tanning. The only similarities are that they both grow on the skin. Mucosal grows in wet areas like vagina, eyes or mouth. Because these areas have a high concentration of blood vessels it tends to spread quickly and is aggressive.
The 5 year survival rate is 14%. Out of all melanomas diagnosed only 1% are mucosal. Out of all MM only .8 % of those are vaginal.

Wow, how frightening are those numbers? Amy has beat them all! Yes, it metastasized to her bladder and bowel and yes she’s technically palliative but she’s a fighter and still hanging in there.
MM doesn’t have to be a death sentence. She’s proof of that!

these are melanoma stats