Shimmering
You remember the tongue-twister poem, don’t you?
I never saw a purple blog
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow
I’d rather see than be one.
OK, OK! Substitute the word “cow” for “blog” and you’ll recognize the original.
This post, dear readers, mostly celebrates the color purple.
We offer, for your photographic pleasure, purple wings on a fish fly (how DID that fish fly sport purple wings, you ponder) and hundreds upon hundreds of purple lupines growing alongside our northern back-country road. The scent of lupines is splendiforous! The deer and raccoons and humans must be drunk on eau de lupine. I know I was when I wandered among the beauties yester evening.
Purple lupines stretch gloriously toward the sun
However, this post is not all purple goodness.
Sigh, how I wish it was.
How I wish I could spend the last day of Memorial Day weekend basking in the sun on the deck with a good book. (Assuming of course that the sun chooses to shine and a good book presents itself.)
Tandem lean toward sunlight
Instead, faithful reader, I must..gosh, it’s hard to type these words, hop in the silver Buick and travel to the hospital for an entertaining visit to the clinic.
(You sensed some sarcasm in the word “entertaining”, didn’t you?)
You are very astute.
I swear there are lupines for quarter-mile stretches along some side roads
Why, you wonder, must your blogger visit a doctor during a holiday weekend? I guess, in a way, you could call it Nature’s fault. You could blame those innocent-looking lupines waving so beautifully at the sun.
(But we shan’t blame lupines. Or fireflies. I am still undecidedly scowling at Mother Nature, though.)
Twas the wood tick who gets the blame. Not the teeny deer tick that causes Lyme Disease, but the common larger cousin, the wood tick. (OK, I’m sure it has some Latin name, but I refuse to dignify it by looking it up.)
On Friday at work I was chatting merrily with Harold, a retired doctor who came visiting for reasons to complicated to explain. As we covered Important Topics, I lazily reached toward my neck and noticed an attached lump. After the first thought receded “I’ve got cancer, oh no,” I witnessed the fingers perform their tick-removal dance.
We northern woods-dwellers pick off attached ticks quite regularly. We receive bites by ferocious wood tick teeth (or feet, who knows from whence they bite?) a few times a season. They attach themselves to tall grasses and colorful flowers like lupines and delight to discover jeans or bare legs walking amongst them. They latch on to the passersby and crawl aimlessly, or shall I say purposefully, searching for the tastiest morsel to bite.
Yep, the common wood tick
As I talked to Harold, with scarcely a quaver, never even drawing attention to the creature sucking uponst my blood, I smoothly grasped the tiny pencil eraser sized engorged sucker and smoothly deposited his crushed (although probably not killed) body in the wastebasket. Harold and I continued talking.
On Saturday awoke and felt the tell-tale itching which can last longer than a firefly hatch.
On Sunday awoke and stared in dismay at the bite site. Dang! A little red line meandered down from the bony precipice.
I am no stranger to little red bite lines. Two years ago a wasp–which I was trying to rescue from green onion strands–stung me viciously. OK, OK, he was just scared and utilized a little venom. Sure enough, red lines erupted upwards on the forearm.
I ignored it, but strangely enough, had to visit the doctor for an unrelated reason. He took one look at the meandering red line and announced, “I wouldn’t be concerned about your first problem, but this red line needs doctoring!” (OK, I made up the quote. He said something like this. How’s a person to remember what a doctor said two years ago?)
So on to antibiotics I went, swallow, swallow, faithfully swallow, until the red line subsided along with the wasp bite memory until–
Now.
OK, I am going to show you a graphic photo. All you squeamish ones find another blog, QUICK! I am going to show you a photo of why I probably, yep, probably, am going to the clinic when it opens at 11 a.m.
Bee’s eye view of lupine
OK, I gave you another lupine photo to give you more time to depart the blog before innocent eyes saw the nasty bite. Scroll down, you brave ones, to look at the photo.
What do you think? Would you go to the clinic?
Or would you wait and see?
Isn’t it challenging sometimes wondering if, when or why we should go to a doctor? And why do we always have to decide these things on a holiday weekend when there are no regular physician hours? Fortunately there are clinics. In the olden days, before clinics, you had to go the emergency room for questionable medical issues.
Why yours truly is going to the doctor on Memorial Day. 😦
We shall finish this purple blog (did you notice I was wearing a purple shirt when Barry took this rather unflattering photo last night?) with a few wise words:
I never saw a purple tick
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow
I’d rather see than be one.
P.S. Barry just phoned. He’s at work writing his column for the local newspaper, the L’Anse Sentinel, which is about our garden. I said I was writing a funny blog about the wood tick bite. He said, “You won’t be laughing if the doctor has to cut off your neck!” (Or something similar. How’s a person supposed to remember a quote from five minutes ago?)
We’re such wanna-be comedians, aren’t we? I’ll let you know later–in the comments–how the visit proceeds. Assuming said neck is still attached.
Lake Superior Spirit 
Yes, I would have had this looked into too by an MD…..
Fountainpen
Yep, we’ve come to this opinion as well, Fountainpen. Sigh. Darn ticks. And they should LOVE me. I always catch and release them.
You should go. Even if only for the reassurance of being told that it is not serious. It looks like you have an allergy but I am not an expert.
Hope it stops itching soon Kathy.
Yep, it’s that reassurance which is necessary during these don’t-know times, Kerry. I suspect I have an allergy to bites, too. Writing this is helping me keep my mind off it until the clinic opens.
I am sure you will be fine. Maybe antibiotics or a cream will sort it out.
Best wishes anyway and let us know how you get on.
Oh my! Well the purple lupines are lovely and I can only imagine the sight of a field full of those lovelies. I only experienced Lupines when I was in Washington State a few years back…
as for ticks, with two big dogs, and walking through the wood we are picking ticks off ourselves all the time.
well I hope the little creature doesn’t make you purple and that you get to enjoy your self in the”city” ! Ha ha!
Lupines are gorgeous, Jeff! I am glad you’ve been able to enjoy a field of them. I’ll bet you and the dogs are always picking ticks off. We nature-lovers are tick magnets, it seems. As for the city, I’m only going to our little town. We actually have a hospital/clinic only 15 miles away, hurray!
Goodness, Kathy, get thee to a doctor! Quick! I wonder if it’s more serious on your chest as opposed to a limb. Very funny post about a potentially unfunny situation. You always manage to make us laugh, even amidst your own misfortune or itch. Happy Memoiral Day, my friend!
Hugs,
Kathy
I’m grinning at your comment, Kathy. Where would we humans be without a funny bone to amuse us? And sometimes it’s just way too much fun to poke humor at a potentially not humorous situation. I would be going to the doctor now but must wait until the clinic opens at 11 a.m. I suppose they’ll put me on antibiotics and take a lyme disease test. Happy Memorial Day to you as well!
Your lupine photos are stunning! Hope that things go well at the clinic, and the neck remains attached!
Me and the lupines are voting for the neck staying attached. **grin** (The lupines want their pictures taken again, so they need the neck.)
Oh…I’m so sorry to hear that. I will be waiting to see how your visit goes. I just picked one off yesterday and am wondering how long it was on my back shoulder blade. No redness or itching like yours though so I am glad you are looking into it! Hope you can redeem the day! Love to you!
Ruth, it’s YOU! Happy to see you. I’ve been meaning to call you and see how you’re doing. Glad your tick bite is cooperating, like good tick bites should. Maybe I should have lunch in town? That always does something to redeem a doctor-day!
Personally I think I’d rather be a tick than see one. (Did I just say that? Yes, I think I did. Stupid me.) Off to the doctor you go to bravely do what what I’m too weak-willed to do. I got bitten something rotten a few weeks ago but I don’t know what (but probably not a tick) and after two and a half months or so (how am I supposed to remember that I said ‘a few weeks’, just a few words back?) a couple of them still itch.
Your reaction might (like mine) be an allergic rash. If you chicken out of the doctor’s (which you know you shouldn’t, just like I shouldn’t’ve), try taking an antihistamine and see if it settles it.
Hugs.
PS. The Lupins are fabulous! 🙂 (Here in the UK we remove the ‘e’ and just call ’em plain old Lupins. Unless we’re gardeners, I assume.
Ha ha, Val~~wouldn’t it be interesting to BE a tick? I guess I wouldn’t go to the doctor if it just itched/hurt. It’s that darn red line that has me worried. I am sorry that you’ve had a reaction to your bite for 2 1/2 months! Oh no…what a pain. I have taken a couple Benadryls and it they’ve helped–a little. Interesting that you guys have removed the “e” from the word Lupine, or, heck, maybe we added the “e”! They’re beautiful, anyway.
I was just reading a site that’s got some info that was useful to me
http://www.bayvalleypest.com/Biting_Insects.htm
and I’m thinking my bites might have been rat mites as we had rats in our loft for quite a while (all gone now) but we’ve also been getting far too many spiders here, so could be them instead (or as well as. As Bruce says of biting things’ interest in me, “they love you”!)
What is the red line, by the way? Is it a swollen blood vessel or what?
Sorry the biting insects love you, Val. (I think they love me, too.) The red line is the infection working its way toward the heart, or something. I haven’t been able to find a clear answer–and forgot to ask the doctor, darn it.
red line –> Bartonella
I have had Bartonella for about 5 years and Lyme/Babesia for 2 years.
I found your website by way of looking up to see if ticks like to hang out in lupine, and you have confirmed that theory! I now know exactly when and where I got that first tick bite, and I have a photo of myself in a kayak amongst a field of lupine to prove it. I was so focused on smiling for the camera that I did not notice that 20+ ticks all crawled into my boat, which caused much screaming, flailing, and nearly jumping into the water (which in retrospect would have been the best idea).
The Bartonella type that comes from tick bites is not limited just to the deer ticks (Lyme ones), other ticks carry it. I ended up in a wheelchair, with a drooped eyelid, choking all the time, dementia, and seizures (3 dif kinds!) before I got diagnosed — I was in law school in the wheelchair thinking it was degeneration from a really bad streak of spinal injuries. That first semester, all the other neuro issues began — once I developed partial Bell’s palsy with the eyelid and choking and also numb patches on one side of my face, it was clear that we weren’t in Kansas anymore! It was not my spine but something higher up causing these neuro issues — 7th cranial nerve apparently got inflamed.
Anyway, the best best best thing to do is just go on the antibiotics right away. The tick-borne infection can usually be stopped in its tracks and eradicated. Leave things to culture in your brain for a few years, and you will end up bedridden for years, in so much pain all over you doubt you can get through the hour, so many other problems from digestion (needed stomach surgery) to peeing (needed bladder surgery) — and then there was the oh-so-fun subacute Meningitis week when the antibiotics reached the brain and it got inflamed as some of the bugs were dying, meanwhile stealthy Lyme spirochetes (corkscrew-shaped bacteria) were burrowing deeper into my brain.
I cannot describe the hell I’ve been going through, and I swear, every single day I wonder if I am going to make it. So, please, spare yourselves!!! Immediate antibiotics for any type of reaction from any type of tick — demand them, don’t end up like me.
I enjoyed your humorous narrative, though! Helps add some levity to an otherwise heinous situation. So yeah, red lines mean Bartonella. (You do not necessarily have to have red lines, but if you do, it’s a classic sign.) I hope you got treated and are feeling better, but be hypervigilant as far as any “odd” neuro issues — twitching muscles, muscle tightness=spasticity, neuropathies especially if they do not line up with areas of spinal damage (–thanks guys for figuring That out about 3 years too late!), sore soles of your feet especially when you take your first steps in the morning, nagging sore throat especially if also with swollen lymph nodes… look up the full list of signs and symptoms and make sure you get listened to. Tick infections (especially when undiagnosed and left to fester to the point of stage 3 chronic infection) is a politically controversial situation where most docs will not acknowledge it, blood tests may show up as false negatives if your immune system has been ravaged to the point of lymphocyte depletion (CD57 test at LabCorp — demand it!!!– lower than 60 means one of only 2 possibilities: HIV or Lyme/co-infections). Look up LLMD (Lyme literate medical doctor) online, there are a few scattered around the country — they are the most honest and willing to risk their careers in order to treat their patients properly. If all else fails, look up the herbal protocol for Bartonella — if you take everything in the proper dosage and start to feel like you are dying, this confirms that you DO have the infection because you are experiencing the toxin release from the initial die-off of the infection (Epsom salt baths every day, tons of hydrating, milk thistle, high doses of Vit C, Benadryl and analgesics to calm the temporary new symptoms while you then make sure to get to an LLMD and report exactly what you took, dosages, dates, and exactly when/what you experienced for symptoms. This is called the Herxheimer reaction, or casually “Herxing” and it’s pure hell, but it means you are on the right track.
Gosh, I hope something I have learned can spare you from unnecessary suffering and prevent chronic infection. But, most of all, keep in mind — your symptoms are REAL, not in your head. Start a journal of symptoms and flare-ups — Babesia is usually a 4 to 6 day cycle, Lyme usually a monthly cycle, not sure Bartonella. But, if you can deduce a pattern like you are totally exhausted one week a month, and once a week you have intense feverish sweats, an LLMD will automatically think Lyme and Babesia. The Bartonella symptoms are usually clear enough without having to figure out a flare-up pattern.
GOOD LUCK!!!
Well, WordPress claims I am replying to Andrea, but ya couldn’t prove it from anything else I see.
Anyway, I just wanna say how deeply I appreciate your sharing! I have become an expert on some of my own chronic health challenges and like you, know as much or more than many doctors do about the subject. It appears to be up to us layfolks to educate one another, and you sure provided an education about tick-bite results!!! There is SOOOOOO much more to most of these health matters than most people seem to realize, and that things are not to be taken casually. A little creature, a little bite, and hell down the road.
“Oh I think I’m OK now” isn’t going to cut the mustard.
Beloved Kathy, I hope you are listening!!! And any others who have to deal with these creatures!! Of COURSE we are not victims, of course there is just Awareness in many forms. And some forms are inimical to others, the way Earth is set up right now. Until we have complete “control” over our bodies — by the end of 2012, heh heh — we need to take physical actions about physical matters. Multiple realities.
How anyone ever survived living outdoors in millennia past, I will never know. What the heck did the Native Americans do about tick bites?? Did they just suffer and die?? Or did they have their tricks, their procedures, their methods?
Dear OM, of course I am listening very sincerely. Like I just told Andrea, we can get perhaps too complacent when we live in the middle of the woods and are bit so many times in a year. I am glad I went to the doctor this time and followed my instincts. Will return if any symptoms flare up. Thank you.
I sounded a mite stern, didn’t I??
Hugs!!!
I think the environment was much more in balance before white settlement, industry, etc. So, the ticks were probably not so epidemic. And yes, Native American medicine has always been very advanced — my LLMD has me on herbs like Cat’s Claw and Grapefruit Seed Extract, and we have long known that the purple coneflower used by many tribes is now packaged as Echinacea (which is actually in my Grapefruit Seed formula, along with Artemisia Annua aka Artemisinin which kills the protozoan blood parasite Babesia).
Colonialism and the unregulated environmental damage from industry have thrown the whole planet out of balance. If we only could return to indigenous lifeways, and somehow restore our mother Earth.
When we first moved here 30 years ago there were way fewer ticks. They have increased exponentially in the last twenty years. I agree with so much of what you said here, Andrea.
I am so very very sorry that you have gone through that hell, Andrea. I know Lyme disease is a terrible disease to contract. It must have been so very challenging and difficult to end up in a wheelchair with so many challenging symptoms. I will be very diligent to any symptoms that might arise. I have had the exact same red line arise from wasp and other bites, as well.
Here in the UP many of us get bit up to 20 times a summer. Their hatch usually dies off by mid-July, thank goodness. I haven’t seen any ticks on lupines per se, but they love to hang around in the tall grasses around lupines.
I have been tested for Lyme a couple times already after vicious bites, with no results showing up, fortunately. We people who live in the woods and get bit hundreds of times sometimes lose our caution. Your tale is a very good reminder that we must stay diligent and respect the ticks and the diseases they carry.
Thank you for your sharing. If I have ANY symptoms at all, I shall certainly get tested.
I am glad you are going to be attentive to your symptoms. I literally sighed with relief 🙂
Keep in mind that most of the testing can yield false negatives, so unless you get a positive Western blot, insist on a CD57 lymphocyte count (LabCorp originally developed this test, but it might be more widely available now) — if you have less than 60, you DEFINITELY have tick infections, and your symptomology will determine if it’s Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia, or all of the above.
I can cope with my suffering so long as I put it to good use — helping spare others from going through this. And, when I read your blog and saw what a wonderful, intuitive, spiritual, and compassionate person you are, it was my pleasure to take the time to share as many details as may be able to keep you well 🙂
I will come back and read and re-read your comments should the need arise. It is scary. Some of us have been bit so many times in the past, you never know. My last Lyme test was maybe four years ago. I am half tempted to just have the test if ANY symptoms at all arise. Thank you, Andrea, for caring about us and helping us all keep well. Hugs. May you stay well, too…
Beautiful, beautiful photos! Scary red line…I’m glad to hear you’re heading for the clinic. I’ll be chuckling all day over Barry’s comment…just like a husband! Your telling of the whole incident gave me my first good laugh of the day. Thank you!
Wasn’t it funny, Cindy? I laughed when he said that. I am glad to add a little laughter to your day, as well. I figure we can get all serious about these potentially disturbing incidents, or we can laugh a little. 🙂
Well crapola!
That’s definitely not a fun way to spend time — let alone on a holiday. I will be back to read the prognosis.
“Assuming said neck is still attached…”
Crapola, Laurie! I laughed out loud. I’ll be back to read the prognosis later, too. And guess what? I was having such a hoot writing this blog that I forgot the dang bite even hurt. I’m remembering now.
The wood ticks are really bad this year. I have only been outside to take a quick walk down the driveway to the mailbox or short visit to the lake on a cleared path and I come in with wood ticks every time. I have had 3 deer ticks crawling on me … and I have never had one before, even after spending hours outside. No bites, yet … I think you should take care of yours today … even the common woodticks carry diseases.
I love purple … I have never seen a purple fish fly, nice pictures.
Isn’t it awful, bearyweather, that we can’t wait until spring to enjoy the woods, and then this invasion of ticks starts?? I know what you mean about having lots of the crawling ones on us. I had three yesterday just after the lupine photography session. All of those were removed in time, thank goodness. I love purple, too, and my mouth gaped open to see how that fish fly photo turned out.
Bearyweather,
You said no bites yet. First off, I posted a lengthy note a few sections up all about my battle with various tick infections, so you can get all the detailed info there.
But I wanted to point out to you that it is now realized that the majority of Lyme disease sufferers do Not recall a tick bite and never had or never noticed the classic bull’s eye rash. I’m one of these statistics. We are usually the lucky ones bitten by a deer tick “nymph” — so tiny, like a poppyseed, that if you have any freckles or beauty marks on your body, you’d never notice it. I am kind of freckly and even have a few little dot-like marks on my legs and back and arms, in addition to my freckly cheeks, so there’s no way I would notice, especially if it was on my back or something. And, the nymphs are so small, you’d probably not notice a lump while it engorges with its blood meal. Ickkkkk.
I recently heard that if you go outside, coming indoors and showering right away can rinse a tick off before it has crawled to its ideal attachment spot. AND, deer tick nymphs are known to bite the scalp. How the “L” are we going to See a tiny black dot on our scalp, pray tell?!!!!
It’s a battle, it’s us vs. them, and this season they are winning. Please please please take care of yourself and start writing down any odd changes in your body, aching joints, or fatigue, or an odd pain, a twitching muscle. Tracking it will really help with diagnosis. And keep in mind — negative tests results are often False negatives if you have been sick a long time and your immune system is totally depleted. Keep self-advocating, don’t be bullied by the doctors like I was.
I hope you stay well!!
Ohh, that looks like a nasty bite, Kathy. I will hold thumbs that your clever doctor will sort it out in no time at all… and that you won’t need to take loads of medication for it either. Ticks are *horrid* things, really… like mosquitoes… I don’t know what their purpose is, other than to cause us annoyance and to spread sickness. I do hope you’ll feel better again soon!
The purple dragonfly is quite enchanting! Well-captured! They tend to fly so fast, that it’s really tricky to photograph them.
And love all those purple flowers – beauuuuutiful.
Now off you go to the nice Uncle Doctor, and get well! And don’t let him chop off your neck! 😀
Do you call doctors “Uncle Doctor” in South Africa, Reggie? That sounds sweet and less threatening. I usually hesitate going to the doctor at all because I like to avoid antibiotics, but sometimes it seems the safer course. Another question for you. Do mosquitoes breed malaria down there in S. Africa, or is that in different places in Africa? Our mosquitoes are annoying, but don’t usually spread disease. And our deer flies HURT when they bite. And no see ‘ums…well we won’t even talk about them today…
I call the doctor “Uncle Doctor” because that’s what my mom and granny called him when I was little, and they spoke about him in German, i.e. “we need to go to the Onkel Dokter” :-). So I don’t think it’s a peculiarly South African thing. I haven’t heard anyone else use the expression either, so perhaps it’s just my family?!
Like you, I avoid going to the doctor unless I absolutely have to. I dislike taking antibiotics – if they could only make them *not* in large plastic capsules that make one choke and heave, but in small, dissolvable lozenges, I would be much happier. I don’t know why they don’t, it’s probably some pharmaceutical conspiracy. 😉
As to the mosquitoes – yes, in the north-eastern part of SA, mozzies can/do carry malaria (luckily, the Western Cape is quite safe); with climate change, unfortunately, it seems that malaria is spreading. The disease is also endemic in Northern Botswana and Northern Namibia, so – during specific seasons (hot and humid) – it’s recommended that travelers take malaria prophylaxis (not nice meds…) when they visit those areas. Here’s a rough map (http://www.toursa.com/malaria_map.htm).
Um… Kathy?… what are those mysteriously named “No see ‘ums”? It sounds quite sinister…
Thank you for this informative answer, Reggie! I appreciate it–and so do the other comment readers, I am sure. A no see um…let me think…is a Native American name for an almost-invisible insect that packs a powerful bite. Here is what Wikapedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratopogonidae
I only know they’re pesky and they hurt! But they’re fairly harmless, except for the welt they leave.
Love the lupines, hate the tick. Our dog has been vaccinated for Lyme Disease (and gets a booster each year), but we humans have no such safety measures, unfortunately. My husband, while gardenting WITHOUT HIS SHIRT ON (can you hear the nag in my voice?) got bitten, ignored the sting and red marks until one large red circle drew him a bull’s eye. With my shove, he finally went to the d.r. He had Lyme, and boy, already he was in trouble with joint aches and severe fatique. Those little tickies are meanies.
Hope antiobiotics (wonderful little miracles) get rid of your red so you can again be out inhaling the aroma of those beautiful purple lupines.
Oh your poor husband. Oh your poor husband. May I repeat this six more times? Does he still have lyme disease? Or did it go away after a while? We are all afraid of this bull’s eye, aren’t we? I think antibiotics are wonderful little miracles and I have my prescription handy if needed, happy, happy!
Lyme went away with the wonderful meds. But he STILL tries to get away with trimming the bushes shirtless!!! :+0
Kathy – the red line is the clue for me as well. Will be anxious to hear all is well and you stopped any infection from spreading. Somehow it makes it seem much worse when on your chest, doesn’t it? Your photos are so lovely and I wish I could gaze out at those fields for a day. Please let us know how this turns out! (and thank you for your thoughtful email the other day…will write soon).
Hopefully all is well, Susan. Somewhere in this garden of comments, I left a full explanation. Yes, the line headed toward the heart on the chest was a little disconcerting. It felt further away when it was on the arm. I wish you could gaze on the lupine fields too. They are so beautiful. I hope they are just as beautiful in your memory of the northwoods.
Okay, I’m scratching at my neck. laughing, and feeling concerned all at once. Thinking that I really like seeing all of you “attached” so that no beheading will be necessary. Hoping that you may be well on your way to a clinic by now and that prompt attention will stave off infection, etc. Ahhhh, yes, Spring in the U.P. Be well soon, Kathy Tiki Tavi. Love you!
Dear Susan Dee-across the bay, Yes, yes, I was clinic-bound when you wrote this. am glad you grinned and laughed and yet, oh sweetie, felt concerned. It was a mostly-lovely visit to the hospital (see explanation elsewhere among the field of lupine comments) and Kathy Tiki Tavi is very well and pondering an early evening walk. NOT in the tall grasses, mind you. Will be thinking of you fondly on Thursday!
Ding ding ding!!! The U.P.? Upper Peninsula?? MICHIGAN???
All the more concern for Lyme disease!!! It used to be the only mid-western state with Lyme (–me, I am a dare devil, I actually literally no joke vacation every summer in Lyme, CT, the namesake of the disease…). AND, the law school I attended when I started getting really really sick, was but of course, in Michigan.
I knew nothing about all this tick geography until years after I was sick. But, when you said the U.P., I said to myself “ohhhh noooooo!”
Really wishing you all the best!!!!
Don’t be afraid to see a different doctor if the first one(s) is being dismissive!
Oh, yes. For sure I would have that looked at by a doc. I often wonder the same thing — about why these events seem to occur on holiday weekends or days when my regular doc does not have office hours. I hope all goes well and you heal quickly.
All your purple is beautiful. The lupines are amazing. I’ve never seen a field of lupines before.
WHY is that, Robin? Why can’t we have our little medical emergencies when our family physician is available, darn it? I wish that you can see a field of lupines some day. And smell them! They are breath-taking with their spring sweetness.
oooo. I HATE ticks (the way a lot of people hate spiders or mice). The Lupines are lovely. I expect you are at urgent care as I type. Hoping that they don’t keep you all day. The only way to get through these crazy events is with humor. Having spent my last evening off in the er with my ex-father-in-law I appreciate the idea of giving up the holiday, but you do what you gots ta do. Don’t lose your head.
The shameful ticks, Lisa! I was very lucky in urgent care. Only waited ten minutes until being seen, and was outa there in 45. Honoring you, that you spent your last evening off in the ER with your ex-father-in-law. You are a very very very good ex-daughter-in-law.
Icky ticks – *hugs* get better soon. 🙂
Awwww, Dawn, thank you. If it would just quit its little-bit-of-hurting, I would surely feel 100% good. **hugs back**
Hmm. Having to spend a holiday waiting at a clinic is no fun! But glad you’re jumping on it. Funny how a little tick can seem to wield so much power over us humans if we get into their zone! Your photos are really amazing. Love purple also. Intrigued that you husband’s paper is doing a story about your garden! That would never happen in the city here.
Man, those tickies are powerful, Patty! We have to have respect for that Animal Kingdom, we do. I am glad you liked the photos. I have been taking lots of photos that I like lately. Have another slew that didn’t fit into the purple category that shall await next week’s posting. My husband is the editor of the local weekly paper, so he can write about whatever strikes his fancy. That’s what happens when you’re the editor of a small weekly paper. 🙂
Ohhhhhh this is something I do not like about the woods…the ticks! When I was in high school…eons ago…I was walking through a prairie near my home. It was a glorious summer day and the flowers in the field were blooming. The bees were having a party it seemed and ladybugs were in attendance. Dragonflies were dancing around with butterflies. But what decided to come home with me?? About a million wood ticks! (ok so maybe not a million but close enough!) My Mom and sister and help pick them off me and catch the ones trying desperately to escape. We practically had enough for a wood tick bonfire! Ever since then, I get the heeby jeebies just hearing about wood ticks. And yes…I am glad you decided to see the doc…the red circle and the red line are red flags! Thankfully the ticks I had on me that day did not cause any further distress! My son Ben came down with Lymes last summer…never even saw the tiny deer tick that got him. Thankfully the bulls eye showed up in a visible place (arm) and got so angry looking that he could not ignore it. The doc ran tests and when the lymes was diagnosed, put him on the proper medicine right away. He should have no long term effects. It was caught soon enough, thank goodness!
I’ll be checking back here later to see your prognosis…that is if you haven’t lost your head!
Oh and I LOVE the lupine pictures!!! Absolutely delightful!!
Brenda, Barry and I sat on the deck this afternoon before grilling vegetables for dinner and I read him every single comment. (Hoarse voice now.) So sorry to hear about your son Ben. But glad that proper meds result in no long term effects. Thank goodness, thank goodness! P.S. Your writing here sounded magical…
Thanks for your comment about Ben…we are all very thankful! And gosh…thanks for what you said about what I wrote….I thought it was rather rambling. 🙂
Oh yes, you mentioned this to me. One need not be in NORTHERN woods – down here in Missouri – “We … woods-dwellers pick off attached ticks quite regularly. We receive bites by ferocious wood tick teeth … a few times a season.” We use tape to secure them from doing any further harm; and then, into the trash they go.
I do tend to be the type to delay seeking a doctor, even for our kids. We go 2 hrs north to see doctor’s in St Louis, so it is understandable that we only go when we feel pressed to. However, you know your biology, I do not. If it were me, of course, I’d wait and avoid the boredom and time-consuming task of emergency rooms, on holidays no less (oh my !!!). I learned with my in-laws, they won’t do much but refer you to YOUR doctor, the following day – so leaving one with the distinct feeling of having wasted the effort. It sounds as though you have a “clinic” option – I assume one of those walk-in places – and yes, that does change the need to decide “whether” a bit.
It still must be YOUR decision but you asked . . . . or was that a tease ?
You are so right, Deb. Of course one need not be in the northern woods. Those crafty ticks are EVERYWHERE. I wonder if they’re in Europe or Africa or Australia? I like your idea of using tape. May have to do that next time. I did go to the doctor and he was very efficient (saw him in 10 minutes, outa there in 45) and he was one of those modern thoughtful doctors who wrote a prescription for antibiotics but told me I didn’t need to fill it unless it worsened in the next couple of days. It was actually a lovely visit. I am glad I went. I also found it fascinating to read and listen to what others had to say, so, no, it wasn’t a tease. Thank you.
They’re definitely in Europe, Kathy. Marty contracted Lyme’s in Czech Republic. 😦
Chiming in that you did have a very good doctor, just the kind I like to have myself. Glad the tick bite appears to be healing okay. Never hurts to get expert opinions and a few non-expert ones, like you received here, as well !! Did you get those hugs from Barry that OM prescribed for you ? None of my business really . . . . but there is that interesting connection you and I have to such aspects of marital life. LOL I refuse to elaborate further.
PSS – I forgot to mention that RIGHT AFTER I read your blog, I felt a little itch on my left ear and yep, you guessed it. I pulled a tick off the upper edge. I think that’s one of the “safer” places if one is going to get a bite.
Deb, I forgot to ask for hugs, lol! Now listen to Mother OM’s advice and don’t ignore tick health etiquette, like yours truly. 🙂
Had to dig a tick out of Sarah last week. She was amazingly compliant, and I’m not using the word “amazing” lightly, for practiced surgeons or even practiced tick removers we are not. Now a veteran of the Boundary Waters tells me that if it’s a deer tick, you won’t see it at all. You’ll just see the results. He himself has had Lyme disease. I love the north woods, but ticks freak me out. Full body armor???
I’ve heard that same report about deer ticks, Pamela. They are apparently pin-sized. I do not like it that we sometimes “feel afraid” to go out in nature because of these pesky creatures. I can’t tell you how many times I have avoided the woods at this time of year because I do not want to pick off 25 crawling ticks, no exaggeration at times. Maybe full body armor is an answer, but, gosh darn, not an appealing one.
That looks quite itchy, my purple queen! Awww.. did you try any mild ointment? 😦
I usually get the rashes on my skin due to the bugs.. but it subsides on its own. Take care dearie. I’m happy to read from you after quite some days. See you.
My purple queen, lol, Sonali! You cracked me up. I did try mild ointment, yes, indeed, but probably too late. I should have put it on immediately. It is doing much better today, thank you.
Kathy, first let me say, I hope your neck is still attached and your red line is disappearing. Now, my questions is … what the heck does a red line mean?
I just felt the neck and head, Lori. Yep, they’re still there! The red line means that the infection is racing toward the heart. OK, I will tame down that last sentence. It means the the infection is spreading, perhaps even ambling, toward the heart and may stop after an inch or so. At least that’s what I’ve been told. Forgot to ask the doctor.
Aaack! Scary. Very calm of you. I’m a neurotic when it comes to my health. Always jumping to the worst case scenario. I hope you are medicated now and doing well. Keep us posted. We need our fix of the UP. 🙂
Dear friends, I shall reply to all your comments later, but wanted to let you know as soon as possible that the neck & head are still attached. 🙂
The doctor at the clinic was actually very kind. He examined the bug bite with proper diligence and said he could write a prescription for an antibiotic. He said it may or may not need an antibiotic–it could actually heal on its own. I said, “What would you do, if it was your tick bite?” He said he would wait for a day or two and determine if it was getting any worse before taking the antibiotic.
I (who am not fond of antibiotics except when needed) gushed, “You are a GOOD doctor.”
So he wrote me a prescription for Doxycycline 100 mg which I will disregard if the bite does not get any worse. If it seems to get worse, a fever develops, or other symptoms I shall scurry to the pharmacy and begin my regime like a good patient.
The worst part of this whole episode was that I began shaking in the waiting room and my blood pressure shot up to 184 over something. So much for being a long-time meditator.
Thanks for all your kind comments and concerns! Love, Kathy
Thank you for the update Kathy….keep an eye on the bug bite area. I think the doc gave you good advice…we seem to be so quick to run to antibiotics for every little thing these days. I am glad however, that he wrote the prescription as a precaution. Yes indeed, he was a good doctor. 🙂
So happy to hear your head and neck are still attached!! lol
Hi Brenda–an update from today. I think the tick bite is improving. It still hurts, but the red line is fading and the bite site is lightening up a bit. I took OM’s advice (down below here in the comments) and drank a healthy dose of thyme tea (mixed with a mushroom from yellow birch, no kidding). Not drinking coffee. Meditated by sending energy to different parts of the body in an all-out attempt for healing. Thanks for asking on the other blog. I probably won’t respond to everybody individually over there.
Much better safe than sorry. Thank you for all the beautiful lupines. The end of lupines usually mark the start of the black flies. What challenges mother nature give us.
Oh no, John, let’s not think of those darn black flies! And my friend, Joanne, went out to Pt. Abbaye last week and was almost eaten alive by those attack flies, whatever they may be, that bite so horribly.
” He said he would wait for a day or two and determine if it was getting any worse before taking the antibiotic.”
Kathy – He sounds like a good doctor, indeed 🙂
He was a WONDERFUL doctor, Laurie. How many doctors ever say something like this? I want him for my doctor forever. However, unfortunately, he was a traveling clinic doctor, darn it.
Kathy, Rick had a tick bite two weeks ago and is still feeling squeemish about it. I’m so glad it is being given a chance to heal on it’s own. And that you’ll most likely be able to ignore your prescription!! Take care of your lovely self and thank you for sharing your lovely, lovely lupins 🙂
(we took Doxycycline as an anti-malaria medication……)
Gosh, Colleen, I think I am lost among all these comments! I am having trouble figuring out who I’ve responded to and who might be hiding. You are right. I think I am going to avoid taking the antibiotic. Glad you enjoyed the lupines. You would love walking along beside them, smelling their sweetness.
Yes, I would love that, walking through those lupines. And I just wanted to come back and apologize for my comment on ignoring your prescription. I truly would never want anyone to ignore anything they needed to do for their health and well being. This was a spontaneous, unedited thought that should never have been expressed. Talking about watching one’s thoughts and words, I’m such a work in progress with this. Love you.
I’m sorry that I smiled when reading your comment. I swear it’s IMPOSSIBLE to say anything without retracting half of what we say. Everything is so case-specific. You can say something to someone, and say the opposite to the next person–because every situation is different. That’s one reason I felt there was nothing left to say the other week. Because everything one might say was so conditional and therefore not conclusively true. If we edit everything we say, we’ll lose that joyous spontaneity. If we DON’T edit ourselves, we’re bound to be so wrong. It’s hard to walk that fine line of knowing. I’m a work in progress with you. Love you too, Colleen!
Wow. Lots and lots of comments. Glad every thing is ok, and hope the antibiotics won’t be necessary. We have the wood ticks here in NS as well, and I’ve found one on me, but it hadn’t found its juicy part yet. I keep checking Sadie too. Sometimes, a person can be really sensitive to bug bites of any kind. I know my blackfly bites either swell up, of look absolutely dreadful. Take care of yourself. This too shall pass. Our lupines are just starting to bloom. Love your pictures.
I swell up like crazy even with a mosquito bite sometimes, Bonnie. Oh–and blackfly bites!–horrific. So far it looks like the bite is perhaps improving today. Hope so! Thank you for enjoying the purple pics.
Kathy..glad you’re going to be OK….looks and sounds painful though. I remember the lupine up there, along the roads. We have some here, didn’t know they had a scent…will have to go check that out!
Hope you are all better really soon! I never got a tick bite when I lived there, I don’t think I even knew about them. Maybe I was just lucky! DID become intimate with horseflies and black flies though… 😦
Dawn, I never smell the lupine scent unless there are hundreds of them. Strange, huh? Also, about the ticks…they didn’t really arrive full-force in the UP until several years ago. Maybe 10 years ago? 20? Anyway, they started coming and now we’re overwhelmed by the little biters. Even stranger, the horseflies, mosquitoes and black flies have lessened since we’ve been here. Strange twists of nature.
The last time I went walking through the woods, I was covered in ticks! I feel your pain.
Love all the purple – its my favorite color! 🙂
Oh my friend, I SO relate! I hate the feeling of coming inside covered with dozens of ticks and having to disrobe completely and jump in the shower and never knowing if one renegade is creepy crawling where you can’t see it. I feel your pain, too.
Jeez, I FINALLY get a blank textbox, LOL!!! Anything with a red line from it requires immediate medical attention, yes. Be VERY alert to any increase in its length or width. Or as I think others have said, any fever, fatigue, chills, etc.
Did you disinfect the spot when you took the tick off? Sweetie, to me that is ABC of health paranoia!!!!
Also, I keep homemade colloidal silver on hand, and would not only have applied it immediately but nipped a few teaspoonsful over the next few hours.
Meanwhile, in your current situation, how about grabbing the thyme bottle off the spice shelf and making a nice cup of tea with a tablespoonful or so? Several times. Thyme is the kind of herbal antibiotics. And a few goldenseal capsules down the gullet would be good too.
And if you want to get even fancier, a poultice of both those plus a bit of lemon, lavender, rosemary.
And this amateur doctor prescribes some extra hugs from Barry, tonight, which will help with the blood pressure, LOL!!
Sending you cooling and loving hugs,
And admiring your photos, and your humor, as others have done!!
I gather the UP fires are not near you????
Mama OM
Dear Mama OM, gosh darn, I read through your check list and thought, “No, No, No, I didn’t do this, that, or this.” I suddenly began to feel very inadequate to my own health requirements! It’s just that there are ALWAYS ticks on you and they are ALWAYS biting. So you just sort of start forgetting that it’s unusual and that you need to be diligent.
So, OK, this morning I made a delicious thyme/mushroom tea and sipped slowly followed by a deep chakra relaxation meditation and, oh boy, started feeling better already.
I am reminded by the need to be more proactive and not just ignore the bites until they’ve reached emergency stage.
Thanks to you and a few others, I can out of weekly blogging to update you on the fires. Thank you for your concern. Love, Daughter Kathy
Daughter Kathy, your health paranoia SERIOUSLY (heh heh) leaves a lot to be desired. Do not let the frequency of ticks and bites blind you to the need for being ever-alert. Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they are not out to get you! LMSAO!!!
(If you succeed as another portion of Awareness, in communing with the Spirit of Ticks to stay off of you, let me know and I will bring a caravan of worshippers to your door. Well, seriously, I entertain that as entirely possible, just somewhat challenging right now, perhaps.)
Perhaps the Thyme IS getting to you. No one who has never tried strong thyme tea can really imagine the taste, eh???? :))))))))
OM, did you see that Deb was just bit by a tick? Seriously, you better latch on to her! Make sure she’s alert and doesn’t ignore it, like yours truly! I shall let you know if the Spirit of Ticks speak to me. So far, they are silent, the devils. As for that Thyme tea, oh my goodness! I shall go to my grave remembering that Thyme. LOL!
Yes I saw that. I have given up on inducing (ahem, encouraging) health paranoia in her which is why I am leaning on you. No, seriously, I know she read my recommendations and I trust her to know what is best for her. And you too.l I am just having fun around all this. I have not given up on her at all. No, wait, what I mean is……
BTW re Lyme disease, I have read, and believe, there are natural cures available, and I would bet colloidal silver is among those which work.
Lordy, I hope you can still enjoy thyme in less concentrated doses, LOL! I still can!! :))
Seriously, I am totally re-encouraged to think about proactive health measures due to your words. I shall ponder colloidal silver. And drink another cup of thyme tea, soon. Your words did not fall upon empty ears.
What more could a know-it-all wish for! I am content. 🙂
Let’s ponder CS by email. It’s far better to make your own than buy.
Sounds good, OM. Let me know how to do that!
Phooey, a typo I can’t fix. Thyme is the KING of herbal antibiotics, not the “kind” of !!!!
Perhaps your typing fingers meant to type “Queen” and instead typed “King” and then unconsciously tried to change it and settled on “kind” instead. lol! Perhaps the Thyme is getting to me. 🙂
You are a brave girl for just picking off the tick and not making a fuss at the time, but I’m glad you had it checked out.
I never make a fuss about ticks, Sybil, but I just might start. How dare they treat me so poorly when I am so kind to them! **grin** Next time I’ll be stomping my feet and having a wild fit, maybe. 🙂
Off topic completely, (now I’ve read that you’ve been to the clinic and have a prescription for antibiotics!) I have a MAJOR beef with WordPress…how is it that I receive notification of your latest blog post release not five minutes ago, I rush here immediately, only to find that 56 people have previously beaten me through the door? Geez, WordPress!
Now back to lupines, and ticks. As beautiful as they are, perhaps you should not venture too close to the lupines, if they are on friendly terms with ticks. I’m not sure about deer or wood ticks, we have grass and paralysis ticks here, the latter being rather deadly if not attended by the doctor. I’m pleased to hear that your neck is still intact! (Barry is such a character. How is he, by the way?)
Laughing, Joanne. I am sorry your notification was delayed and so many have rushed over here to see if my head/neck still exists. But you know, it doesn’t matter to me where a person comments, I loves you all the same. (Gosh, I sound like I’m talking to Kiah!) EVERYTHING is friendly to ticks around here. You can’t step outside without a tick attaching itself, it seems. Barry’s knee is doing lovely, Joanne, thank you for asking. Other parts of his body are causing aches and pains, though. His wrist hurts badly because of using it to get up off chairs, and his neck hurts because of his uneven gait… My friend, Ruth, also just had the surgery and is having similar symptoms, so I guess it’s normal.
Glad to hear all is well after the tick-adventure – I get that “white coat” phobia that causes the blood pressure to shoot up while in the waiting room too. Ticks give me the willies! The lupines are amazing – I’d love to be drunk with their aroma too! (P.S. I have one happy little pink lupine in my yard – do you suppose it has a fraction of the scent?)
My mom told me my dad and brothers get White Coat phobia. I would have sworn I wouldn’t get it! But, sigh, what else could it have been? Let me know if you smell a lupine scent, Karma, with one lone flower. I can only smell them when there are hundreds.
Kathy, I am happy to hear that you are safe and sound, with head and neck still intact. 🙂 I never knew anything about ticks until I met Marty, and now ticks and I are sworn enemies! FOREVER! My dearest was bitten by a tick whilst in Czech Republic about a decade ago, and even though the Czechs were right on top of things and gave him a 3-week course of antibiotics, Marty’s case unfortunately falls into that dreaded 10% of Lyme’s scenarios that linger on as chronic, lifelong infections. 😦 😦 😦 (3 sad faces for dramatic effect.) I sincerely hope that you (and everybody you know) are never afflicted with Lyme’s. It’s a terrible condition that I wish I’d never heard of, let alone watched a loved one suffer from.
Dear Ms. Dana, I am so sad about Marty’s lyme disease that I want to cry. Tell him I am SO sorry that he has this! Why oh why should anyone suffer chronic lifelong infections? I will add those three sad faces, too. 😦 😦 😦 I don’t understand why we humans suffer from such things. Or why we must watch our loved ones suffer. Come to think of it, I don’t understand much, although the mind is always coming up with reasons. Hug Marty from a bunch of us, will you? Tell him the grandmothers bequeath him strength.
I’m so glad it went well at the clinic…hoping that the bite didn’t get any worse over night and you can avoid the antibiotics.
I avoid the doctor (and all medications, even tylenol) unless absolutely necessary.
Michaela, I have missed you! So happy to see you. I think that I am avoiding the antibiotics. Don’t want to say this 100% yet, but it looks like that. I would avoid the doctors forever, if possible. And then something happens when you think, oh, maybe I shouldn’t…
I did not wander through lovely lupines (I have never even seen one) but do know about tick bites…have had six ticks this spring right from my small, itty, bitty, yard. They itched; I scratched but never had a red line, thank goodness.
Since I am last to the tick party, thought I would just write my own blog here; glad you still have a neck, head and humor.
Belated hugs! Carry on!
Oh, Linda, you Lucky Purple Duck, that no evil red line formed and raced wickedly toward your heart! Please feel free to write more of a blog here. I like reading comment-blogs, they sweeten the day. OK, they usually make me laugh. Come to think of it, I like to laugh a lot. Belated hugs accepted. They would even be accepted tomorrow or later in the week. 🙂
The purple fly is beautiful, as are are those lupines! I am amazed at your calmness with the tick. They give me serious creepy-crawlies, and I fairly “freak out” until I get one removed. *That* would cause my blood pressure to shoot up! So glad your doctor gave you the choice on possibly unneeded antibiotics, and of course VERY glad that you get to keep your neck 🙂
Oh Heather, I am glad you like the purple fly. I loved it. I have always been super-calm around wood ticks, but may be revising this policy soon. Most people freak out and I’m like la-di-da, but gosh darn it, that attitude is getting nowhere! Freak out may be required next time. Glad to have a prescription AND the option not to use it. Happy, happy.
Ouch!! So sorry you were viciously attacked!! 😦 I do hope you are on the road to recovery by now!! Thank you for the lovely purple flower images!! 😉
Dearest Holly, I do think the Road of Recovery hath opened before me! I am glad you liked the purple flower images. It is sweet when they blossom and share themselves with us. I like to show the blogging world because so many people do not have intimate daily contact with their purple glories.
Glad you’re OK! Growing up in Wisconsin, I used to find wood ticks on me all the time (ugh!) But I haven’t had one for a long time. The mountains of NC, where I live now, are almost magically free of pesky bugs (though that seems to be changing recently with warmer summers…)
You’re making me want to move to North Carolina…except you guys get hurricanes, right? Seems like wherever you live, there’s some challenge from nature. When we first moved here, there weren’t even half the ticks that exist now. Thank you.
We don’t usually have hurricanes in the mountains. We do have crazy snow, at times, and they call school constantly in the winter. It’s not your typical “southern” climate — very interesting, unpredictable and different weather! I blame climate change for the increase in bugs. It worries me. : (
Just popping into library after delivering supper to E, at work study. Just think…our turn with our friend the tick is now done! (i also do not have breast cancer AND some potential answers, funny the things that get one to the places one needs to be!) I’ll just wait to find out your tick ending. My tick song, poem might be lost OR maybe in one of my blogs. I hope all is well, or at least mending.
Hi Elisa, happy to see you! Thank goodness life gave you some cancer-free news. Let me know if you find your tick poem. Would love to read it. P.S. do you have a new computer yet?
Ok, I shall. No, no new computer, yet. I’m trying to pop into library. I am feeling lost without my writing(s) and my music, photography, and intellectual input through the thousands(I think) of bookmarks that I think I took for granted! Thank you for asking. that SUCKS to have more sucking ticks! I know mine had me afraid to go out and I have not since danced nakie at the tree place. I miss it!
Oh my. This is dreadful. I had to pull a tick off of Arthur. Actually I held Arthur while Mark pulled off the tick. I guess I’m not cut out to be a northerner. But those lupines are incredible.
I hope all is well.
We have to be sturdy folks, those of us who live in tick territory, that’s for sure, Christine. Guess what my crazy husband just did? He has hired a young man to help us cut up our wood and clean our chimney, but HE WENT UP ON THE ROOF with him. He refused to listen to a ground-loving word I said. Well, he made it back down the ladder fine, but I am still shaking my head that he would do this less than two months after knee replacement surgery. I am sure your husband would have been more reasonable.
Not being one of the more sturdy folk, I would have yelled louder and put up a much stronger objection. To which he may, or may not have listened. We had our moments, believe me. All’s well that ends well.
Dear friends still reading comments: Tick Update. The original tick bite is looking pretty darn good now. It is itching like crazy, but the red line is gone and now it looks like an ordinary spider bite or something. The itching feels like it’s a healing-itch instead of a painful infected itch. Hurray!
But the story is not completely over, she sighed. Yesterday afternoon I happened to look down at my right leg and who did I see all attached and squirming and biting away ferociously? Yes, indeed. ANOTHER wood tick. This time I was a good Girl Scout and applied antibiotic cream diligently and drank healing teas. It is itching awfully but hopefully, oh hopefully, oh please hopefully, will not get infected.
Thanks for all you concern! Love, Kathy
Thinking about you this morning and glad to read about your healing itch. It sounds like a good sign. And Happy Sunday to you and Barry 🙂
Happy Sunday to you, Ms. Colleen! Even the tick bite on my leg (if you read about it up above with the comments) is doing better. Life feels good today…although exciting in other ways…see tomorrow’s blog!
Would love to see a field of lupines some day! I was captivated and dazzled by the purple dragonfly until I read that it was a fish fly, but it’s still very pretty!
We have a healthy respect for ticks and Lyme disease around here. Tim’s aunt and my brother-in-law both have chronic Lyme disease. But the scariest incident happened to our son and daughter-in-law. They were both bitten by ticks while letter-boxing in the woods. Our son got the tell-tale bull’s eye rash, visited a doctor and was prescribed antibiotics for six weeks and recovered. Our daughter-in-law, however, was unaware that she had been bitten. She had no symptoms until about nine months later when she became very ill and was put in the cardiac intensive care until at the hospital. After zillions of tests it was determined that she had Lyme carditis, the infection had caused no symptoms until it reached her heart. She’s okay now but it was a frightening week.
I’m glad you decided to go to the doctor, Kathy, and that you seem to be on the mend. That red line looks so menacing! Better safe than sorry. It’s good to have both western and alternative, natural medical options in our lives – free to avail ourselves of the best of both worlds. You’re going to be an authority on the care of tick bite wounds if you keep getting bitten by the little varmints! *Hugs* and healing blessings to you!
Barbara, I was amazed that a fish fly could glow like that. I understand a healthy respect for Lyme disease. It can be so sad. That sounds SO scary for your daugther-in-law. You never know. We can get bit a hundred times and on the 99th the tick infects us. Sigh. And we don’t really know. I love that we have both western and natural medicines at our disposal. Thank goodness. I know cases where both antibiotics have been abused AND when they were so needed. It’s a fine line we walk. Blessings to you as well.
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Happy May 1, Beltane Kathy!! I like the purple. I really dislike tics. LOOK at all of the green and the flowering here!!!