Here’s Olivia at the specialist’s office. Despite a long day being transported from the shelter, she’s checking out everything that’s going on.
Here’s Olivia shortly after being picked up from the shelter. She was so happy to be outside in the fresh air and sunshine! As you can see, the tumor is quite large and angry-looking. We were relieved to hear that the tumor does not cause her any pain - the doctor tested that rather extensively because we wanted to know if she should have pain medication.
For those of you who like more detail, this is an ulcerated squamous cell carcinoma that is locally invasive and has a medium high potential to metastisize. It goes from deep in her jaw to the base of her ear. It is a not a contained type of tumor, but rather one that sends infiltrating tendrils into surrounding tissue (skin, muscle, salivary gland). It does ooze fluid and blood, so her foster home washes her blanket and bed frequently, and they keep the tumor and eye area clean. We are grateful to have such wonderful volunteers who are willing to give this sweet gal a warm home and loving care.
RSS feed for comments on this post. | TrackBack URI
February 25th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Thank you so much for caring for Olivia. She is so lucky to have wonderful people to spend her life with.