I wanted to give everyone an update on the last couple of days with Bubbles.  She arrived at her Surgical Facility Sunday evening.  I was greeted by her Surgeon and Bubbles was situated in her new home for the next week.  Monday was a day for extensive bloodwork and advanced imaging to be done before surgery on Tuesday.  Bubbles bloodwork came back great for her and her anemia had improved.  She will not need a blood transfusion prior to surgery but will need one after the procedure.   She is eating like a champ and sleeping like a champ.  The tumor takes so much energy from the rest of her body so it can grow that she is tired a lot because of it.  Imagine carrying around a bowling ball attached to your head.  The tumor also takes a lot of her nutrients so it can grow.  The rest of her body is second in line behind this mass to be fed.  

The type of tumor Bubbles has is an MLO which is a slow-growing tumor.  Multilobular osteochondroma or osteochondrosarcoma (MLO) is a primary tumor of the flat bones of the skull. Clinically, these cases present as a firm, fixed, slow growing mass.   The typical radiographic and CT appearance of an MLO is that of a “popcorn ball” because of varied nodular mineralized densities within the mass, the multilobular nature of the tumor, and the osteoproductive and osteolytic pattern.   The tumor is typically not an invasive tumor.  The course of treatment for primary bone tumors such as MLO's is to remove the tumor.   That is what we are doing today.  As you can see from the picture, extensive advanced imaging was done to guide the surgeons ahead of time as to what exactly the tumor has invaded and what it hasn't.  The tumor is growing on the Zygomatic Arch and is growing out from there in typical popcorn fashion.   The surgery is pretty straight forward for someone that does this all the time.   Bubbles Surgeon has been doing this type of surgery for a long time.  The size of the tumor doesn't change the course of action.  They are all treated the same whether they are big or small.   The size of Bubbles tumor has given us some positive feedback.   The Surgeons believe Bubbles is closer to being 5 years old.  The fact she is still alive with this large a tumor is in her favor.  She is a very strong healthy dog and the tumor is very slow growing or she would have been dead a long time ago.   I know the imaging is very unsettling to see.   What you don't realize is that this image and all of the other scans that were taken are the very reason why this surgery is possible.  This is Bubbles ONLY chance to survive this horrible ordeal.  She will be in ICU for the next couple of days to make sure her pain is kept under control and that she is comfortable at all times.  

Bubbles is the most courageous dog.  Please, send her positive energy and prayers throughout  the course of the day and the next couple of days.  She has fought so hard to be given this opportunity and has endured so much.  Today is her day to finally be free of the parasite that has tried to destroy her Life for so long.   Today is Bubbles big Day.  Today we are surrounding her with nothing but love and lots positive energy.  The next post will be later on tonight once she is stable and her surgery is behind her.  Please, be patient.  We have chosen to not post this on Facebook but to have it on our Web Site ONLY.   There has been too much misinformation on Facebook from unprofessional people that are not involved in her care.   Thanks for being her Guardian Angel.