We have good news (kind of anyway).
Bella is now on the melanoma vaccine (£2500!) which should in theory trigger her immune system to attack the cancer cells. The oncologist has given her a 50% chance of survival into old age. If she had the oral melanoma he'd give her a higher chance but hers is the first case of this type of skin cancer he's seen so there's no research or experience to go on (needless to say the vaccine is fairly specific in that it only works for melanoma and not any other types of cancer).
For now she is mainly back to her old self with an off day probably once every five days ( where she'll have very pale gums and not want to go for a walk at all). She has to have 4 doses of the vaccine, one every two weeks, and then a booster every 6 months for life.
We don't know if the cancer has spread at all as we decided not to go down the route of hugely expensive scans and tests which would mean we then couldn't afford the vaccine ( covered by insurance but they only pay up to £4000 per condition per year, and with the previous tests, surgery and vaccine we've reached that).
So it's really a case of watch and wait and keep everything crossed. So far, so good
Thanks everyone for thinking of her.
