This post was going to be about how our dog and our van make friends for us wherever we go. Seems everyone has either owned a Westy, has wanted to own a Westy or has known someone who has owned a Westy.

And, just yesterday before noon, 3 different people told us what a good looking dog Chettie was. They want to know what breed she is and they comment on her curly hair and the conversation goes from there: Where are we from? Where are we going? I joked that no one is telling Mike what a good looking wife he has; what's up with that?

Or maybe this post would be about Chet's first swim in the real ocean waves. What a great day that was!

Instead, this post is about a sad situation that has befallen our Chettie.

After we provisioned up yesterday and Chet had gotten her three-compliments-before-noon, we headed up the coast on Highway 1 toward an area recommended to us for some Forest Service camping.

Beautiful drive up the coast....gorgeous scenery....easy to find camping area that required 4WD to access. We were up high above the ocean with a great view out over the pacific. It was a good 3 miles in on this road, virtually straight up.

We set up camp and started to settle in for the night. Mike took the new solar panel off the van to check it out and set it up for maximum solar collection and Chet and I took a walk further up the road. I took a couple of pictures looking back on our campsite but decided I'd have to retake them in the morning when the light was coming from the east, not the west.

Back into camp, hanging out, listening to tunes and thinking about getting dinner going when we noticed Chettie kind of wobbling on her feet. Looked like she had lost her muscle control. We got her to lie down as we watched and wondered what had happened.

She continued to shake and we wondered if she was having a stroke. It seemed like something was affecting her central nervous system. It was as if she'd been poisoned. There were lots of prarie dogs in the area...had someone put poison in some of the holes?

The sun was setting.

We quickly decided it would be best to break camp and head down. We knew if we waited any longer it would be nearly impossible to drive down that road in the dark.

Once back on the highway we headed south to the first sign of civilization, a small convenience store, and made a call to a vet further south. We were over an hour away, on the very twisty, windy, dark Pacific Coast Highway.

We headed off, with Chettie in the back like a bag of Jello: little control over her movements and very confused. She didn't seem scared, as when dogs have seizures, but rather, confused.

Finally, and I mean finally, we got to Atascadero and found the vet. They assessed her and thought that, indeed, she may have gotten into some poison. It could have been a plant, even mushrooms perhaps. They gave her something to make her throw up but nothing came up that offered a clue as to what could be causing these symptoms.

They gave her charcoal that can absorb toxins and they gave her saline intraveneously. They said they would keep her overnight.

Grimly, we checked into a Motel 6 across the street and tried our best not to let our minds race to the worst.

First thing this morning we called and they told us she had had a couple of seizures in the night and they had to give her anti-seizure medication. They said she had lost her eyesight. This was a bad situation that seemed to be getting worse. They wanted to do some blood work which, of course, we agreed to.

We headed across the street and met with the vet. She was very nice and knowledgeable and showed us the results of the blood tests. They revealed that her sodium and chloride levels were very high, as were her amalyse levels. Could Chettie's big swim in the ocean have caused elevated sodium levels? She certainly drank more salt water than she ever had before. No, the vet didn't think so.

The vet said we would probably never know what it was and at this point it seemed multi-factorial. Amalyse is a pancreatic enzyme that would be working on processing what ever had gotten to her. The elevated sodium levels can be dangerous as they cause swelling in brain and, if not corrected, can cause death.

The vet told us at this point we had to wait and see how things unfolded. They would work toward bringing her Na/Cl levels down and see how she did as her body processed whatever had gotten into her.

We visited with Chettie and she instantly thumped her tail and tried to get up. She knew who we were and seemed to want us to tell her what the heck had happened. If only we knew.

We keeped her quiet and just reassured her that we were there. After a while we left and spent a gut-wrenching day pretending to be busy with things that still have to be done. The van seemed empty without her hanging out with us. We called several times to hear she was 'resting comfortably'.

At 2:30 we called and spoke to the vet. They had done additional blood tests and her sodium and amalyse levels were coming down. She was alert and seemed to be responding to shadows. She had been up and walking slowly. They had taken her for a walk and she had pooped. All good signs.

They had a very hectic day with several emergency surgeries and asked that we wait a few hours before coming in for another visit. So here we are back at the Motel 6.

We are encouraged that the news this afternoon was headed in the right direction and we hope things continue to improve. We know that there could be permanent damage to internal organs and to her eyesight but we are still hoping for a positive resolution.

She had so much fun swimming in the ocean. She took to the waves like a natural swimmer. So many times we have talked about what a great traveling partner she has been.

We'll know more later tonight and more still tomorrow morning. Send Chettie your love. We'll send an update in the morning once we know more.

Through tears,

Trish and Mike