Valley Fever- At the Hospital part 2

Part 2 of a series on Bailey and Our Path to Recovery.

Sage Veterinary Hospitals are located in Dublin, Campbell, San Mateo, and Concord, CA.  Three days ago I placed Bailey in the car and headed to the Concord Sage Emergency.  This is a new and modern facility on Monument Blvd.  We checked into the emergency and within just a few minutes were taken into an examination room.  The emergency doctor came in and checked Bailey over and we talked.  Bailey's fever was still over 103.  I told the doctor the symptoms of lethargy, not eating, coughing, and shortness of breath.  In our conversation the topic of RV trips came up.  I told her we had been in Arizona the month prior.
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We checked Bailey into the hospital where x-rays, blood work, and other tests were going to be performed.  He was sick; that was obvious, but what was it? The ER doctor was uncertain.

While in the ER I sent  e-mail to my wife. "We are hospitalizing the boy. X-rays, ultrasound and lab work. Could be something from the desert."

She e-mailed me back, "Oh God yes; there are strange things that go on out there in the desert disease-wise."  By the time I got home, she had left a printed article on Valley Fever on my desk.

I left the clinic and a few hours later the ER doctor called.  Bailey's lymph nodes were enlarged, he had white speckles in his lungs, his white blood cell counts were high, but she did not know what it was and was going to turn the information and Bailey's care over to their staff internal specialist and have others look at the x-rays.

The next morning, Dr. Kris Bruskiewicz gave me a call.  They highly suspected Valley Fever and sent out samples to U.C. Davis -- fungal titers for evaluation -- but did not want to wait to start treatment.  She said we needed to get Bailey on fluconazole, an antifungal, ASAP.  They did not carry that in the clinic because so few cases of Valley Fever show up in the Bay Area.  She sent the prescription over to Costco and my wife and I went and got that and then went and picked Bailey up and brought him home and started treatment.

I am glad we have pet insurance.  This is not going to be inexpensive to treat.  We will see how PetPlan is to work with during this recovery.  The emergency room and overnight stay and tests was over $2,500.  Fluconazole in 200mg is more expensive than it used to be as only one company in the world makes it.  $39.84 for 14 pills and will require 2 pills a day for months, if not years. 

Bailey is resting now next to me in his sleeping bag.  Poor guy.

Do not know where this adventure will lead us, but he is a big part of our family and we will do what we can to get him healthy and back on the trails where he loves to run.