I was appalled that my last post was three months ago. So much has happened this summer! A new daughter-in-law, our first grand-baby, a family reunion, conventions, activities with Girl Scouts....
I posted a cryptic message on Facebook about Richelle, a tick bite, and Lyme disease that I thought I'd explain in more detail here.
Speaking of Girl Scout activities....
June 11-13th we went camping at a Boy Scout camp that our girls have re-named Camp Lotsa Ticks - in 48 hours, we pulled six ticks off our girls. That Saturday afternoon, Richelle came to where us adults were sitting and plopped herself down on my knees. The girls were so jumpy about ticks by that time (and one adult in particular) that I couldn't resist having a little fun.
I slowly pulled her shirt up her back, waiting for her to ask what I was doing, upon which I was going to answer, "Searching for ticks, of course," and wait for her leap off my lap shrieking. She didn't ask, so I kept lifting her shirt (modestly, of course!) until I came to her bra strap. Still no response, so I lifted that (I was really wanting a reaction) and froze stock still.
There, embedded up to its shoulders in a circle of angry red flesh, was a tick already half engorged. Visions of a trip to Urgent Care or the emergency room danced before my eyes.
My absolute stillness alerted two of the adults and they were beside me almost instantly. Out came the well-used tweezers and the tick was "unscrewed". All three of us checked that the head was attached to the body and it was carefully placed in the campfire. I scrubbed the site with an alcohol prep pad and hoped for the best.
The strange thing was that Richelle hadn't felt the tick boring in. Perhaps because it was on her back.
Over the next few weeks, I kept an eye on the site. Other than it taking a while to go from angry red to pale pink, there wasn't anything unusual and I eventually forgot about it.
About six weeks ago, Richelle came out from her (hot) shower with a towel wrapped around her, walking away from me. I saw the tick site was an angry red again. I felt something like a little pustule at the site and it itched Richelle for me to touch it. I decided to talk with a few nursing friends of mine before I spent time and money at the doctor.
Last Tuesday evening Richelle complained of a sore throat, post-nasal drip, and a general not-feel-good feeling. I gave her half an anti-histamine and sent her to bed. Next morning (I let her sleep in) she said that along with her sore throat and post-nasal drip, she had a headache, an upset stomach, felt feverish and generally unwell. I encouraged her to take a shower and she said she didn't think her legs would hold her up long enough for that. I thought she meant she felt weak, left her in bed, and did our normal Wednesday afternoon/evening activities in town.
Imagine my horror when I got home later that evening and realized she'd meant that her thigh muscles were partially paralyzed! I had her wiggle her toes and move her feet but she was slow to move her knees in any direction I asked; up, back, out, or in while she was lying down (she said they didn't respond at all when she was in the sitting position). So I knew it wasn't something spinal but for some reason, she'd lost at least 50% use of those muscles for about thirty hours.
(I'm giving all these details for those readers in the medical profession, not to scare the non-medical ones to death!)
When questioned intensely, she admitted to having paralysis in one leg or the other for the preceding two weeks but since it would occur in one leg or the other and last just a minute or two, she didn't say anything to me.
I had a chance the next evening for a nurse friend to look at it (thank you, Dawn) and she noticed discoloration and the beginnings of a welt around the site. She also confirmed that 14 weeks wasn't abnormal for signs of Lyme's disease to show up.
So I took her in yesterday and they removed a plug of tissue at the bite site to get whatever we'd unknowingly left behind and they drew blood to send off for Lyme's disease testing. Results should be in by the beginning of next week.
