We went up to visit my sister and family over President's day weekend. We had a great time, and played outside in the beautiful weather. Unfortunately, beautiful weather means tick season.
We arrived at our home airport at about 5, which is exactly dinner time. The nearest/best place to have dinner turned out to be Arby's (which has an allergy menu online), and while eating dinner I noticed that Amanda had a tick on her shoulder.
I grew up in Minnesota, so I know in theory the methods used to remove a tick---pulling gently and firmly with a tweezers (apparently Vaseline, nail polish and other removal methods are not recommended anymore). However, all the knowledge in the world doesn't help when you have a panicky 3-year old screaming for you not to touch the tick, being in a restaurant far from home with no tweezers, as well as having to take care of a tired 5 year old and 1 year old. I knew that we didn't have to get the tick out absolutely immediately (it hadn't been on there for more than a few hours) and yet I panicked myself in trying to keep Amanda healthy, which made her panic, which made everything much more difficult.
Overall we did not do very well. We took out the tick, but didn't manage to save it (although it was clearly a large tick, not a deer tick). The head was still embedded in Amanda's skin, but she didn't want us to try to take it out with a needle, and who can blame her. After much crying, we eventually put a band-aid on it and put her to bed---very very very late.
We thought that the problem would sort itself out over the next few days, but then Amanda started taking naps. This is the girl who gave up naps just after her 2nd birthday. Then she started getting very grumpy before bed and sleeping about an hour later than usual, then she started putting herself to bed at 4, not waking up for dinner, and sleeping for 15 hours a day instead of the usual 11-12. The strange thing was that she didn't have a fever and she didn't seem to be otherwise in pain, although she said that her neck hurt a little. She was just very tired.
Finally I went to the Doctor. I admit I was completely prepared for them to say, "She's sick. Give her some tylenol and wait until she's better, come back if she gets worse," which is how most of my Dr. visits have gone lately. The alarm of the doctor was gratifying, in some ways =) She decided to take the little bit of tick out of Amanda's shoulder. Poor Amanda cried and screamed, poor Luke was being neglected...until a nurse came in and took him to be played with, so I could hold Amanda. Finally, after about half an hour of screaming, numbing Amanda's shoulder and using a needle and tweezers, they managed to get the little pin prick of a head out. Amanda got two lollipops that day.
The best part was that she improved almost immediately: she stayed up until her usual bedtime, got up at the usual time, and was generally happy. She is still (two weeks later) leery about anyone touching her "tick bite", but it appears to be healing well. The doctor mentioned that it might be tick paralysis. It was certainly not a deer tick, which means it probably won't result in Lyme disease. The doctor said it was a good thing she was bitten up north, otherwise there would be danger of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Ugh. We're just glad to have Amanda back. And next time, I hope, we will be more prepared for the whole experience, from taking out the tick to going to the Dr. right away.
It would be better if there weren't a next time.
*Some of you may notice that this is the title to a Kim Possible episode... If you've never seen Kim Possible (one person described her by comparing her to a cross between James Bond had a high school cheerleader?" =) I highly recommend it.
We arrived at our home airport at about 5, which is exactly dinner time. The nearest/best place to have dinner turned out to be Arby's (which has an allergy menu online), and while eating dinner I noticed that Amanda had a tick on her shoulder.
I grew up in Minnesota, so I know in theory the methods used to remove a tick---pulling gently and firmly with a tweezers (apparently Vaseline, nail polish and other removal methods are not recommended anymore). However, all the knowledge in the world doesn't help when you have a panicky 3-year old screaming for you not to touch the tick, being in a restaurant far from home with no tweezers, as well as having to take care of a tired 5 year old and 1 year old. I knew that we didn't have to get the tick out absolutely immediately (it hadn't been on there for more than a few hours) and yet I panicked myself in trying to keep Amanda healthy, which made her panic, which made everything much more difficult.
Overall we did not do very well. We took out the tick, but didn't manage to save it (although it was clearly a large tick, not a deer tick). The head was still embedded in Amanda's skin, but she didn't want us to try to take it out with a needle, and who can blame her. After much crying, we eventually put a band-aid on it and put her to bed---very very very late.
We thought that the problem would sort itself out over the next few days, but then Amanda started taking naps. This is the girl who gave up naps just after her 2nd birthday. Then she started getting very grumpy before bed and sleeping about an hour later than usual, then she started putting herself to bed at 4, not waking up for dinner, and sleeping for 15 hours a day instead of the usual 11-12. The strange thing was that she didn't have a fever and she didn't seem to be otherwise in pain, although she said that her neck hurt a little. She was just very tired.
Finally I went to the Doctor. I admit I was completely prepared for them to say, "She's sick. Give her some tylenol and wait until she's better, come back if she gets worse," which is how most of my Dr. visits have gone lately. The alarm of the doctor was gratifying, in some ways =) She decided to take the little bit of tick out of Amanda's shoulder. Poor Amanda cried and screamed, poor Luke was being neglected...until a nurse came in and took him to be played with, so I could hold Amanda. Finally, after about half an hour of screaming, numbing Amanda's shoulder and using a needle and tweezers, they managed to get the little pin prick of a head out. Amanda got two lollipops that day.
The best part was that she improved almost immediately: she stayed up until her usual bedtime, got up at the usual time, and was generally happy. She is still (two weeks later) leery about anyone touching her "tick bite", but it appears to be healing well. The doctor mentioned that it might be tick paralysis. It was certainly not a deer tick, which means it probably won't result in Lyme disease. The doctor said it was a good thing she was bitten up north, otherwise there would be danger of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Ugh. We're just glad to have Amanda back. And next time, I hope, we will be more prepared for the whole experience, from taking out the tick to going to the Dr. right away.
It would be better if there weren't a next time.
*Some of you may notice that this is the title to a Kim Possible episode... If you've never seen Kim Possible (one person described her by comparing her to a cross between James Bond had a high school cheerleader?" =) I highly recommend it.
Comments