I would just like to say that yes I may overreact to some things. And when it comes to my child, I overreact about A LOT of things. Ha! Yesterday evening we pull up to dance a little early so Zoe decides she wants to climb up to the front to sit beside me. Well, in the process, she slips (dang those ballet slippers). She hits her ear on the door handle and inconsolable sobs and big crocodile tears emerge. So I pull her over to me, hug her close, kiss her forehead and check her ear. I noticed this little dot behind her ear. I try to pull it off (it looked like a little piece of chocolate or dirt), but she was so upset that she wasn't having it. She kept saying that she now had an ear infection. Ha! So fast forward about 10 minutes, we are sitting in the waiting area at dance when I told Stacy (my sister) what happened, including the thing behind Zoe's ear. Stacy, nonchalantly, says "Zoe let Aunt Stacy see behind your ear." Stacy then proceeds to pull off this tiny, round thing saying, "that's a tick." so calmly. Well, this mother was not calm. I immediately start freaking out. I mean ticks carry diseases such as Lyme Disease!!! My sister and the other moms I sit with kept telling me everything would be fine. Lyme Disease carrying ticks are not common in Mobile, AL. I spent the whole hour googling ticks and what I, as the parent, am suppose to do. According to every website, there is nothing I can do but watch for fever, flu like symptoms and/or rash. So far no signs of any of those. Thank God! Before we left dance, I made the comment of stopping by the Urgent Care just to be safe. Everyone told me to just save my $30 (the co-pay) because they are just going to tell me to do what Web MD said to do. Believe me the first sign of any fever, rash or cold for that matter, we are heading to the doctor! When we got home, I gave her a bath and looked over her entire body for any more of those little boogers. Thankfully I didn't find any. I even spent 25 minutes going through her hair! That girl's got a lot of hair.
See that little red dot by her hairline? That's the tick bite. Chris made fun of me because of how I overreacted. I texted him immediately. I said ticks carry diseases! His response, "mosquitos carry malaria. It will be ok." This went on for about an hour. This morning, I'm still a little uneasy about it. He continues to laugh about my overreaction, saying "she's not the first person to ever be bit by a tick." No, she's not. But it is the first time I've ever dealt with a tick, and she's my child. I have a right to worry and overreact. :)
I'm not sure where the tick came from. My first thought was it came from camping this weekend and vowed to never go camping again. (and I wonder where Zoe gets being so dramatic from?! lol) But the tick was not engorged, and it would have been since 3 days had past since our camping trip.
It could have attached to her at afterschool care. They play on the playground every afternoon. Zoe and Parker had been making dirt pies and rolling around in the grass yesterday. There really is no telling where the lovely (insert sarcastic tone here) tick came from. I'm just thankful I saw it and had Stacy look at it because I really had no idea!
Did you get the the entire tick out? Sometimes the bodies are left as they burrow. When you pull them out they detach. Not to freak you out more but you have to make sure. If you got it all out then she will be fine. I promise, as a survivor of a few ticks.
ReplyDeleteI live in an area where there are a lot of ticks and a high incidence of Lyme Disease. Everyone in my family has had a tick, most more than one, but none of us has had Lyme. I used to panic, too. But, now they are just no big deal - lol. If it wasn't engorged, it likely was not on for long. And, the red dot is tiny. The area would look much nastier if it had been in there for awhile. Also, it's a good sign that it was pulled about by someone's fingers. A deeply borrowed tick needs tweezers, for sure!
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