Laura’s bleeding a little less today for the first time.  This is good news according to Dr Cervantes. Her only symptom for her melanoma of the cervix is the ever increasing bleeding. In recent weeks it has gotten so bad she soaks through 5 big pads a day (even getting up in the night to change them). There is no other sign. Outwardly she seems to be in great shape.  A week before we came here, she could still beat me on a bike around Central Park.

The first sign of melanoma was one or two drops of blood from her vagina back in January 2013.  Her gynecologist didn’t think it was cause for alarm at first – possibly a bleeding fibroid. But as the month’s progressed (and Laura waited until the end of May 2013 to get a proper gynecological check up), the drip got faster. After the melanoma was biopsied in early June, the drips turned into a flood.

Does biopsy spread melanoma?  We think it might. Not only did the bleeding increase after the biopsy, but the tumor, which we call ‘the pickle’, turned into the pickle family in less than 10 days.