I had never heard of RIMPAC until a couple of weeks ago. Then I started seeing international flags going up all over the Navy Exchange and figured something was afoot. In short, RIMPAC is a joint military exercise that the US Navy conducts every two years with an assortment friendly foreign nations. It has made for a very crowded, very busy Pearl Harbor. They seem to be mooring warships wherever they can find room. When I first moved to Hawaii, and was driving around Pearl Harbor for the first few times, I was surprised at how quiet, how empty the place felt, especially after working hours. Granted, sailors with families live off base, so many sailors leave at the end of the day, but there are probably thousands of single sailors living in the barracks at Pearl. It struck me as odd that being on base after hours was like being in a ghost town. No one walking around, the bars on base relatively empty, most sports facilities idle except for the gym. Even Zac noted that the place seemed a lot more abandoned than when he was here in the early 2000s.
The arrival of 34 ships, 5 subs, 150 aircraft and 20,000+ sailors from 14 different countries has certainly changed the vibe around the place. I was over there on Thursday evening and Pearl Harbor was buzzing with activity. Sailors getting on shuttle buses to the Navy Exchange, maybe down to Waikiki, sports teams playing against one another (they have tournaments set up for five or six different sports), sailors actually lined up at payphones(!), and guys just walking around - destination and purpose unknown. It was kind of fun for me to see the place so full. I also thought it was really neat seeing all the different ships from all over the world. Who knew that the Canadian ships were a different color? (They're more of a green-blue than our gray-blue.)
The arrival of the RIMPAC ships also has meant the arrival of people that Zac hasn't seen in awhile. We were able to hang out with one of his friends from Zac's days on the Port Royal this weekend. I enjoy meeting people who have known Zac at different times in his Navy career. The stories are terrific. It sounds like the ships will be in port for a little longer then they'll get underway for a few weeks, head back in to port for a few days and then everyone goes home. Hopefully this means Zac will be able to have some more opportunities to hang out with his friends.
The other excitement around our house involves Toivo. [warning: this might be a little gross.] On Thursday last week Toivo started having the runs. That's not entirely unusual. Every now and again he'll eat too much grass or something and he has issues for a day. But this time around it lasted all day Thursday and Friday. I didn't think a lot of it since, other than the diarrhea, he seemed fine. On Saturday afternoon Zac noticed that Toivo was passing straight blood. That scared the hell out of me so I whisked Toivo over to our vet.
We couldn't get an appointment, but the clinic (which is also a 24-hour emergency vet hospital) does accept walk-ins. When we arrived a tech did a quick check to make sure that Toivo was stable. We ended up waiting for an hour and half to be seen. (I would have waited however it long it took.) The vet was concerned, but seemed to immediately know what was wrong with Toivo. He took a blood sample and ran a PCV test, which measures how much of the blood's volume is red blood cells. Toivo's was really high (64). Essentially that means that his blood was a lot thicker than it should be. Left untreated, the thickening of the blood can cause major complications.
The high PCV result confirmed the vet's suspicion that Toivo had Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis (HGE). The vet recommended an IV of fluids to get Toivo's blood back in balance and starting him on antibiotics. This meant a night at the hospital for Toivo. I'll admit, I teared up when they took him in back. Even though you know that you're doing the right thing, it still makes you sad to see your dog being taken away by techs to be kept in a strange and scary place for the night. The vet told me that most dogs respond to treatment within 24 hours and sure enough, he was right. I got a call Sunday morning saying that Toivo had a good night and that if his next PCV test came back normal, he could go home. Finally around 8 o'clock I got to bring him home. We were both relieved to be walking out of there.
So now that he's home, and feeling better, I can breathe a little easier. Toivo is still a little tired, but he's not suffering. He gets to eat specially formulated wet dog food that is easy on the digestive tract. (We never give the dogs wet food.) This drives Zoe nuts, which I'm pretty sure pleases Toivo to no end. (Don't tell Toivo, but I did slip Zoe a spoonful of the food when he wasn't looking, just to be sort-of fair.) And, of course, he's getting lots of love.
But I can't help but laugh at his leg. They had to shave part of it for the IV. Since Toivo is so fluffy, this has resulted in a spot on his leg that looked naked and alien. I tried to take some photos that accurately reflect the hilarity of it, but I'm not sure they do the trick.
This just confirms to me that I can never shave my dogs because they would look terrible. I bet they're only half their size under all that fur. But the inch and a half that Toivo has exposed is gut-busting funny. (Only because he's okay, though.)
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