Cat with possible face cancer?

My 10 year old boy had a small hard bump 3 weeks ago, a little above between his eyes. It swelled the last two weeks, and I had assumed he had gotten into a scuffle with a housemate. Over the weekend his eye swelled up badly.. Suddently. To the point of being swollen shut. I made the first appointment available which was for tonight. I was reading another thread and was moved to start one to see if anyone had some suggestions.
The vet, whom Ive gone to for 20 years tends to give his honest opinion and does not rack up the costs, so he will tell me outright if something should be persued or not. Looking at my guy, it started off as an abcess, but after examining it and trying to aspirate it to relieve the pressure and swelling, he tried 6 times in four different positions and could not get anything drawn at all. It did not even bleed even slightly from any of those pokes. Thats when he said it is an aggressive cancer. He began with saying we can do xrays to see, but from how badly his face is getting deformed he believes the bones have been eaten away or that there is some hard tissue over the tumor. He recommended euthing right then and there... Despite that he is eating, purring, playing, and has no changes. He is a hefty muscular cat and a little over ten pounds. When i asked why now, he said that it will get very bad.. Do it now so that the cat never knows suffering. I understand and respect that, but this cat is absolutely normal.. Asking how long I can expect to have him, he couldnt estimate, only saying he will get even worsely deformed and be in a lot of pain. He also said he is probably in a lot of pain right now but not showing it because they have a high tolerance. I kept trying to get a specific answer on what kind of cancer this is, because strangely enough I had a cat years ago with this same thing and they were not related in any way. Does anyone know what kind of cancer could disfigure the upper part of their face? It is by the bridge of the nose/between the eye area.
Also, the vet checked his mouth and said he had bad teeth on that side, but that it is "secondary" and not related. Part of me is so sad about the cancer part, but theres a part of me wanting to believe maybe it really is the teeth issue.
Obviously I did not euth. He is on my feet as I type this, which is his favorite place to be. On top of all this, I am moving to a new house two hours away beginning this weekend and then the rest the weekend following. Can anyone relate or give suggestions? I was sent home with prednisone and he was given an anti inflammatory shot.

march 1

I positively would get a second opinion from a different vet, and demand an X-ray. Any way you can get to a specialist?

Hi, thank you! I was having trouble uploading, working off an ipad,.. I wound up posting twice after this post same post but the other two pictures are there and show the progression. Yes i can get a second opinion / xray but will not be until after the move in 2 weeks.

Are you going to get any further testing on him?  It sounds like you'd need x-rays or other tests to find out for sure what's going on with your boy.  

I agree that you should get a second opinion and have more tests run.  I'm sorry that your baby is going through this.  I hope it turns out to be not serious and he gets better. Sending prayers and hugs to you both. 

Hi guys thanks so much for your replies. Overnight, the swelling went down so much that his eye opened, so I do agree with you both on further testing at this point. It isnt nearly as hard, so I am wondering if it was an infected abcess that caused hard swelling?? As timing would have it I am in the middle of a move 90 miles away (2 hours)! I was going to bring him back to evaluate him today since there was such improvement in less than 24 hours, but i am going to give it until Thursday to monitor it. Maybe it will clear by then! The pictures posted are from last night, and then this morning, i dont think a tumor would respond overnight to just one shot, or would it??