One place I wasn't expecting to see any wildlife was on my daughter, Anna. I was holding her on my lap last night, comforting some bump or bruise, when I discovered that Spring had finally happened and that she had a tick.
I grew up in the country. I know about ticks. They don't make me even a little squeamish. But I should specify that I am mostly used to your standard wood tick. My darling Anna had somehow managed to pick up a deer tick. And this bugger meant business. I don't think I've ever seen a wood tick so intent. I thought that a gentle tug would take care of the little guy, but apparently I was wrong. I got his body alright, but not his head. I haven't had a Parental Freak-out Overload moment like that in a long while. The area was already red looking and I should mention that in our region Lyme's Disease is a very real danger.
The end result was a 7:45 pm doctor's appointment, right at little Anna's bedtime. I got her into her little pink sleeper--yes, the fleece one with the footies--and put her hair up into pig tales so that the doctor could see the bite. She was adorable in the waiting room, cheerfully chomping her sugar cookie and smiling at the other patients. I was miserable because, in my experience, the more adorable the kids are in the waiting room, the more painful and unhappy their visit with the doctor will be. It's a Law of the Universe.
The appointment was as you would expect it to be. She was such a trooper at first, but eventually the removal procedure just got to be too much. She crumbled her cookie and sobbed--well you can imagine. Poor thing. The doctor couldn't get it all out, either, but said that there was only a tiny bit left that would most likely work itself out over the next few days. She was put on amoxicillin (yea for her--she loves medicine, boo-hoo for me--I hate keeping track of it) and was in bed by (eye roll) nine o'clock.
At the end of her appointment she sat on my lap, looked at me, and said, "That was a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad BUG!"
That's right, baby. It was a BAD BUG. Poor thing!
4 comments:
Poor Anna!!! I've never seen anything BUT deer ticks. My dog got one ten years ago. NOT fun. I have always been so paranoid ever since. I personally know three people that have had Lyme disease, two of them children and one was a two year old. It is one of the things I most dislike about where we live.
Oh no! How scary! We live in a high-Lyme area, too, and I hate having to be on red-alert tick patrol all the time. Sounds like you found your daughter' tick quickly--so glad she was able to get treated for it immediately!
I can sympathize with you. You can reference out blog if you want. We had an instance with them with Alex that I freaked out about too!
I completely agree that wildlife is a wonderful thing. However, if wildlife finds its way into my house it usually finds itself below the fly swatter squished. My 4 y.o. had a wood tick in her ear the other night. My husband's got it out intact, thankfully, but I'm with Anna, ticks are bad bad bad bad bugs. I HATE them!
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