Tick...Tick...Tick...

There seems to be some interest in our tick adventure....so here's the saga...

Yesterday morning was bad. Sam came into our room at 7:32 to let us know that he was "soakin wet". 7:32 I was so tired that when I looked at the clock, it didn't even register...7:32. In fact, it didn't register for a full five minutes...7:37...Holy crap!!!

I was supposed to be at the church by 8:15 to start setting up for MOPS and Sam has to be dropped off at school before that! Making matters worse, is the fact that because I had MOPS, I needed to shower, do my hair, and put makeup and a cute outfit on (things that I don't normally do....).

I jumped out of bed and dragged Sam down to the shower with me. He was SOAKED and he STUNK...too bad you can't use Lysol wipes on your kids....anyways, while I was washing his hair he said, "Don't scratch my head like that, it hurts." Honestly, I thought he was just being a brat and I ignored him and kept right on scrubbing his scalp.

We hopped out of the shower and I ran up stairs to get ready...it's 7:45. I left Sam naked on the couch watching TV. Quick blow dry, threw some make up on, put on something cute (okay, maybe not cute, but it was clean...). I got Grace dressed while screaming for Sam to come upstairs. Brad got Sam dressed and I started to comb his hair (while brushing my teeth).

I was trying to figure out his crazy part when I see a big scab hanging on his scalp. "What did you do to your head buddy?" He didn't know. I start picking at it and discover that the scab has legs...it's a tick and it's full of my sons blood. I wanted to scream but I didn't want to scare Sam. I vaguely remembered reading that you're supposed to flip them over and then grab their head with a pair of tweezers. I tried, but the thing wouldn't budge....However, while it was flipped over I could see its little legs moving....disgusting!

I was afraid that I might break the head off and leave it buried in Sam's scalp (something else I've read)...so midway through the procedure I stopped and Googled "remove a tick". The stuff I found was unhelpful, it basically said to do what I was doing (FYI: in case your child ever has a tick and you are considering BURNING it off of them with a match, don't. The literature suggests that you may hurt someone...). I went back to work at it and finally got it out. It was alive, but I quickly put an end to that. I stuck it in a swab of alcohol in case the doctor wanted to see it....Sam handled it like a champ...much better than I would have had I been the one with a blood sucking bug burrowed in my head.

After MOPS I called the doctors office. The conversation went something like this:

"When was Sam last outside rolling around on the ground or playing in the leaves?"

"Um, yesterday. Everyday, he does that everyday."

"So you found it while you were washing his hair? When did you last wash his hair?"

"Hmm...three days ago...but he usually takes a bath every night....I just don't always wash his hair....(Please don't think I'm neglectful...) Oh, and I didn't find it when I was washing his hair, I was combing it."

"Oh, so if it had been there yesterday, you would have seen it when you combed his hair yesterday?"

"Um, no. I didn't comb his hair yesterday. We usually only comb it on the days he has school...., so Tuesday was probably the last time he had his hair combed, but maybe not..It's short..."(please don't call DSS on me)...

The doctor apparently came to the conclusion that this thing could have been on my kids head for a long time without me noticing...so he tried to determine whether it was a deer tick or not....

"How big was the tick?"

"Well, it's pretty small....like two freckles maybe, small freckles..."

"Freckles? Is is the size of a ball point pen?

"Hold on, let me get a ball point pen (I honestly couldn't picture the size of a ball point pen tip and I already had the dead tick in my hand). "Hmmm...I'd say it's about two ball point pen tips....maybe less, bigger than one less than two...maybe."

"Is it bigger than a match head?"

"No. Well not a wooden match stick but maybe the same as a paper match...."

"Okay, well I'm having a hard time getting a sense of the size of the tick. Why don't we go ahead and treat him, that's probably the safest bet."

Later I went on line and found the picture I've posted at the top....it's a deer tick, just like the one I found on my sweet boy....DISGUSTING!