Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Valley Fever

My human told me to hold off posting this one for awhile so I did. In fact it's been 4-5 months since I was diagnosed with valley fever and for several months before then my human knew something wasn't quite right with me.

You see it all started with a limp and a sore leg. Normally valley fever starts with a cough. I just like to make things difficult by not getting the typical symptoms. So for awhile my human simply thought I twisted my leg and needed some rest. After resting a week I'd be fine, the after a few days of normal activity I'd be limping again.

We did that cycle a few times before my human finally called the vet to have me seen. She and I were both still hoping it was something structural like a torn ligament or tendon. The vet did his exam and as he got to my right elbow I squeaked in pain. So he ordered x-rays. They didn't show anything super obvious so he ordered blood work at which time I tried to hide under the bench my human was sitting on. Darn my big back end, I couldn't get hidden away well enough so they dragged me out for the blood test.

We were then sent home to wait for a few days until the test results came in. Sure even I tested positive for valley fever, I just didn't have it in my lungs, it was in my bones! To make matters worse I had it bad, very bad. Titer of 32 which is apparently very bad according to everyone my human talked to.

I was started on medication right away and I hate taking pills. My human has to give me the pill every 12 hours with food. Ok so the with food part I don't mind. Naturally I tried everything to not take the pill as prescribed. I hid the pill in the cheek, ate the yummys then spit the pill out; that's no as easy as it sounds when you're a dog. So my human put the pill in a tater tot, I ate the tot and spit out the pill. My human finally had to push the pill down my throat a few times and follow it with some treats to make sure I didn't spit it back up again. Still a managed to spit it out a few times and one a few occasions I was quick enough to step on the pill so she couldn't find it. Hee hee.

Of course when she did find the skillfully hidden pill she was never happy and would still make me take it. She's so stubborn like that. While on my medication treatment I'm also semi-retired from service dog work. I'm on light duty only because of my sore bones. In fact I think I'm starting to understand my human feels all the time. Oh my joints! Some days are better than other days and during my bad days my human is kind enough to keep Atlantis busy so I can rest. On my good days I still enjoy beating the tar out of the crazy pup.

I guess in a way the timing wasn't too bad. I'm semi-retired and Atlantis is starting to fill my shoes, paws, doggie booties.. ok not sure how that saying will work under these circumstances.

Atlantis isn't doing to bad either. She's really stepping up and is starting to pull her weight around here. Yes she's still crazy pup most of the time but there a moments she's model service dog material. I'll give her a B- for now.

A few days ago I went back to have my titer count rechecked. We were all hoping for some improvement but it didn't happen. I'm still at 32 and now the vet is increasing my medication and we are all hoping I can handle the new dosage with out any side effects.

Keep your paws crossed for me.

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