Goodbye Gillette

Sept 25, 2006

Today we left the Championships in Gillette, Wyoming much to the dismay of both Sparkie and Wazzu. We said the last goodbyes to the remaining folks from the Pacific Northwest. It’s very sad to have said our final goodbyes as we won’t see any of our friends and family for quite some time.

We did a relatively short drive of only 2.5 hours to Rapid City, South Dakota. Mike and the dogs took a really nice hike in the Black Hills. We think Sparkie ran close to 20 miles and boy was she tired (but happy) when she got home. Wazzu did a good amount of running around as well.

The park we’re at is called Happy Holidays Campground. It is fairly good size and is right across the road from the Reptile Gardens. Mike said I could go look around there while they went hiking but I politely declined! Each RV site has its own large covered picnic area complete with a couple picnic tables. But the guys like it here lots because there are bunnies everywhere. Too bad we’re just here overnight. Originally we’d planned on staying here a few days, but now that we have to hurry to Minneapolis for RV repair we’re going to miss having time in one of my most favorite parts of the country. Oh well, that’s the way things go sometimes.

When Wazzu started out on her Valley Fever meds she was given a compounded drug. Supposedly these are more easily digested and have a few other benefits as well. Wazzu was on those for about six or seven weeks. By that time we were under the care of a different vet and were told to switch to the generic form of the drug.

We thought that would be fine especially since from all cases we’d heard about the dog starts showing signs of improvement just a week or two after starting the meds. However, Wazzu had not shown any sign of improvement whatsoever which was becoming a concern for us.

Within a week after switching meds Wazzu started to act much perkier, had a happy look on her face once again, and had more sustained energy. We don’t know if it is actually the change of meds or if the increased dose that is making a difference but whatever the case, Wazzu is starting to act like herself again. Hopefully the improvement will continue and I’ll have my girl back.

I have to tell you something funny. Each time I finish writing my blog I run the spell check. And every time it comes across the name “Wazzu” it recommends I change it to “Wacko.” How rude is that!