Can I ask for some positive vibes from everyone today? Kobie has to have a complete blood panel done this afternoon. She's been coughing for almost three weeks, and the antibiotics we've been giving her haven't helped. The vet thought it was probably kennel cough, which is no big deal; she had it when we adopted her from the shelter two years ago.

Now the vet thinks it might be a case of Valley Fever, and we're terribly nervous about that. VF is a disease caused by a fungus that lives in the dirt in parts of the Southwest US, and if you inhale the spores it's bad news. We're in a major VF area here, and other dogs (and people) have been getting it since this fall. Most of the time an infection is nothing too major, kind of like a bad cold or flu, but it can also turn deadly and it never goes away. I have a friend who almost died of it--his case turned into meningitis! Sooo, we're nervous...and hoping Kobie has caught something else. Anything else.

Thanks. I'll let you all know the news whenever we hear it.