Health Update: Gertrude (Jan 2021)

Gertrude, or Gertie, is an aloof chimp. She is not motivated by food or toys. She loves her friends and one or two caretakers and that’s it.

But her friends mean everything to her. She is always seen comforting Gracie and Latrica when they need it or getting groomed by them. She is what you would call an old soul at 16. 

Her constant circle of friends makes up-close observations more difficult. But fortunately, the care staff could tell you even the minor details about their routine. So, one day, when they noticed her routine was a little off, everyone was alerted.

What’s up with her bottom?

Later in the day we could see one side of her swelling, or sex skin, was swollen. A swelling is often swollen, hence the name, but always symmetrical. Just one side is atypical. Gertrude also would not sit on it and seemed uncomfortable. 

She has a history of abscesses (four have been observed since arriving at Project Chimps in 2016) and they have always resolved on their own without further intervention. But four in four years is too frequent to be coincidence and the pattern had to be investigated.

The vet scheduled Gertrude for a sedation the very next day. 

The medical exam

The troops all got together on short notice, because when it comes to the chimps, everything else can be put on hold.

Care staff and volunteers all got ready. Gertrude knew she wasn’t feeling well and went into the squeeze room, a small safe area, and voluntarily presented her arm for an injection of sedatives.

Once sedated, she was intubated, received an IV line and fluids, a full physical exam with blood, urine, and culture samples taken. Her sedation and anesthesia went quickly and perfectly. There is always a risk of death for any creature, including humans, when undergoing anesthesia so we only do it when it is absolutely necessary.

Not a normal abscess

While an abscess in and of itself is an abnormality, they follow a standard normal presentation. As soon as we had our hands-on Gertrude, we knew this was not just a simple abscess.

A mass the size of a small eggplant was found along the right side of her vagina running deeply into her pelvic canal. There were many pockets of fluid surrounding the mass. Gertrude also had five very enlarged inguinal lymph nodes. Cytology samples were taken from the mass and the lymph nodes. A culture was taken from the fluid along with our standard blood, urine and fecal culture testing.

We also took imaging both radiographically and via ultrasound of the mass, her abdomen, and her chest.  The team cleaned out as much of the fluid as we could and we gave injectable antibiotics, pain medication, and vitamins.

The little-C

Unfortunately, the results from all of Gertrude’s tests are not great. But they are also not as horrible as we feared they might be.

Her bloodwork indicated a strong, active infection, which is to be expected. The cytology from the mass however revealed a mesenchymal tumor, most likely a leiomyoma, and it has not spread to her lymph nodes. A leiomyoma is typically a benign cancer which means it is unlikely to invade other tissues or metastasize (ie spread). Malignant tumors do both which makes them very aggressive and dangerous. 

She is very young to have any tumors at all, but this does mean she has the best chance to fight this cancer.

Wait and see

After reviewing the diagnostic scans and discussing with other experts in both veterinary and human medicine, we’ve determined that the best thing we can do for Gertrude is to just wait and see what happens. The tumor is in a location that would require an extremely invasive surgery; the surgery itself would be riskier than allowing the mass to remain.

In all likelihood, the tumor is benign but the area around it becomes inflamed and irritated, causing her secondary issues in her swelling. If we can monitor and treat the situations that spark the inflammation by further regulating her hormones, then she could live with the tumor for many years to come without any severe incidents. If the tumor itself grows over time, it could cause pressure on her bladder or bowels and restrict the pathways for elimination. In that situation, we would have to reevaluate the risk of surgically removing the tumor with her ongoing quality of life.

Nothing could have been done to prevent this type of tumor from forming. But knowledge is power and now that we know what we are up against, we are ready to fight it with everything we got and that includes Gertrude – Gertrude has a lot of spirit in her. Gertrude is fortunate that she doesn’t know what we know; she can continue to focus on just being a chimp and not dwell on her condition or how it may develop. She is not sad, or concerned, or worried about her future, as long as there are more grapes coming her way, she’s content.

No matter what, we will make sure she has a happy, comfortable life as is possible to give her.

You can sponsor Gertrude and assist us in providing her with ongoing care; visit this page to learn more.