It's time to tell you about Justine, since Bonnie McKinly, our night nurse, says we could wallpaper the clinic with stories about her. Justine is the famous cat that works at the Either Or book store on Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach. She's been in the L.A. Times and local newspapers as the unique hostess of the independent book store. Last July, Justine had abdominal pain. Tests showed that she had a cystic mass in her abdomen. In surgery, we found a tumor in the pancreas and Dr. Willauer skillfully removed it. She recovered nicely. The biopsy report said that Justine had cancer of her pancreas (same that killed Michael Landon). We consulted with Lee Hendrix, who owns the book store and cares for Justine. Lee O.K.'d treatment with the anti cancer drug, Adriamycin, every 3 weeks. Justine was doing very well until one day in September, a dog attacked her as she sat in the door way of the store. She suffered a broken jaw and could not eat. Lee decided to repair Justine's jaw and see if she could make it. Here we are in January and Justine's new x-rays are still tumor free and she feels well. She was even pictured in a full page color photo with Dr. Villalobos, her oncologist, in this months CATS MAGAZINE. The staff at Coast Pet Clinic/Animal Cancer Center salutes Lee Hendrix and the loyal staff at Either Or book store who care for Justine (who dodged thousands of tumbling books during the earthquake).
