Beau's Valley Fever

I have had a few requests for information on Valley Fever. Basically, it is a fungus that lives in the soil here in the Southwest. When it rains a lot, the fungus will grow and create spores. Then it dries and the spores disperse. Any creature that breaths with lungs can breathe in the spores, which then get into the blood stream. In the bloodstream, in grows and infects the individual with Valley Fever.

Evidently, to diagnosis this, the doctor has to dilute the blood sample to determine how strong the Valley Fever. The more that the blood has to be diluted, the stronger the infection. Beau's number in 1:8, which means that the blood needed to be diluted four times before the fungus was not present. If he was a 1:64, that would be twice as bad. The counting is similar to half-lives of radioactive materials.

A co-worker was telling me that her big dog had Valley Fever. She spent 8 months trying to convince her Vet to test for it. Her dogs number was 1:32. So they are worse off then Beau. I told her about the medicine and how much it cost. She suggested a difference pharmacy that provides the medicine at a much more affordable price...and they deliver...and they sent a toy with the medicine. I am currently working on getting this set up.

So all in all, Beau is doing better. The bump comes and goes, but the valley fever is under control. We are going to keep up the medicine and keep an eye on him. Hopefully, this will be a short time to solve, but I understand that it may be a long time.