A week of scares, close calls and thrills.

This week, Chelsea and Gentry flew out to visit us. The original plans were to spend the week having fun and hanging out with our friends: visit the beach, ride roller coasters, and generally just goof off.



We went to LA, walked hollywood blvd, visited the wax museum and ripleys, then boogie boarded at Santa Monica beach. The week was off to a good start.



The second day, Skwissgaar, my dobe, started puking. The he started having diarrhea. I took him into the banfield that's attached to my school, they put him on antiemetics, and all was looking well. He was still running around, saying hi to everybody in the clinic, and for the most part, being his hyper self.



Later that night, he started puking again. Then around 2, he started shitting bloody liquid. It was seriously like he had some sort of super soaker spraying out of his butt. The whole time I worked at my old job, I never saw diarrhea that severe. Imagine the movie the exorcist. It was worse than the pea soup vomit. We rushed him to the emergency clinic. By the time we got there, he was refusing to stand up to get out of the car. Tyler had to drag him out. We were rushed into a room, and told that the doctor was finishing a surgery, and there'd be a tiny wait. In the less than 1/2 hour that we were sitting in the exam room, Skwissgaar basically crashed. He laid down on the floor, and when the doctor came in, he wouldn't even raise his head to look at her. I think if we had waited another hour, or if the doctor had been farther into the surgery, he would have died. Luckily, they were able to pump him full of fluids, and he started to get better. They diagnosed him with hemmorhagic gastroenteritis, with no idea what caused it.



It took less than 8 hours from the first vet visit, where he was acting normally, and feeling well enough that the vet didn't think it was a big deal, to crashing out on the floor of the emergency vet.



The next day, our out-of-town guests were stuck hanging out at the house, because I didn't want to be too far away from my pup. We went to visit him, and he was slowly, but steadily getting better.



The day after, I talked to the doctor, and she wanted to keep him an extra day, even though he was probably ok to go home, just to be on the safe side. We decided to take advantage of him feeling better, but being supervised somewhere else, and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain.

The only roller coasters I've ridden have been at Lakeside and Elitches. Let me tell you, those don't come close to the thrill that is Magic Mountain. The first one we rode was the Goliath. 85 mph, and a 255 foot 61 degree drop. Then we rode scream and Batman. Then came the Riddler's Revenge. Its a standing coaster, and was pretty amazing. Later in the day, we hit up the Terminator coaster, which by wooden coaster standards was really fast. Probably my favorite wooden coaster I've ridden so far. We then wrapped up the day with what ended up being the two best coasters at the park. First, was Tatsu. When you get on Tatsu, you sit normally like you would in any foot-dangling coaster, but your feet are clamped into these mechanical stocks. Then the ride rotates you, so instead of sitting, you're facing the ground head-first, as if you were standing on your hands and knees. It was this thrilling, almost freeing sensation of gliding through the air. The last coaster of the day was the X2. Its billed as the world's first "fourth dimensional" coaster. There are speakers embedded in the headrests. There are fireballs that shoot at you. And best of all, the seats rotate independently of the track. You start out going up a steep incline, then the seats rotate you so the first dive, you go over the edge head first and backwards. Then throughout the ride, the seats do flips and spin as you're doing loops and rolls on the track.



On the way home from six flags, I got the best news. Skwissgaar would be ready to go home the next day, and was most likely in the clear.



We picked him up, and even though he's sluggish, and obviously not feeling well, he's keeping his food down, he's no longer spewing liquid out both ends, he's lost about 10 pounds, but he's better! He's wagging his tail, eating small amounts of food, and occasionally playing with Izzy before passing out for a couple hours. My puppy's going to be ok!!!