TICK-tock

This morning I played the waiting game while brushing off the heebie-jeebies.

At 5:30 Jessica asked me to look at something that was bothering her head during the night.  After moving all that hair out of the way I found that she had a TICK!  {Shudder}  Seriously?  We've lived here for over 7 years now and never seen a single tick.  In just the past week the dog has had one, McKenna found one in her hair, and now Jessica had one.  Where are they coming from?  Anyway, I was hesitant to take this out of her head.  Let me explain why.

MedicineNet.com

Kevin had heard that you are supposed to light a match and touch it to the tick and they'll back out of the skin. So when I found the tick on the dog that's what we did.  Guess what happened?  Jasper's hair got singed, and the tick died-burned to death before it backed it's ugly little head out.  I wasn't doing that with Jessica so I got online to see what to do.  Before I ever found how to safely remove the tick I read about Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Tularemia, and even bio-terrorism as well as a whole bunch of things NOT to do when attempting to remove it.  Yeah, I probably should have done a narrower search in the beginning.  By 5:45 I was freaked.  I told her we'd go to the doctor when the office opened at 8am and let him do it.  I didn't add "so I don't inadvertently kill you."  I don't know how but she went back to sleep.  Not me, I kept checking the clock, brushing off imaginary ticks, checking the clock, checking my head, checking the clock checking my skin, checking the clock, checking my bed, checking the clock...you get the picture.  I could imagine it sucking her blood and it kind of TICKed me off.  

Finally, we went to the doctor.  It was one of the better experiences I've had.  We went straight to the urgent care that's in the same clinic as our pediatrician.  They checked and sure enough the kids doctor was available right then.  We only waited about 3 minutes.  I kind of felt bad for the other 10-15 people in the waiting room, but not enough to give our spot to them.  After all, a living creature stuck in your head, sucking your blood seems more urgent than a sneeze, right?  No one looked like they were too bad off so I quit feeling bad quickly.  I thought it would be wise to watch the doc take this thing out of her head so I can do it in the future.  It is looking like this might be the year of the ticks.  He grabbed the body, near the head with a pair of tweezers and gently pulled.  The tick's legs started flailing, I tried to suppress the shivers and did pretty good, but one got out and he agreed it's a little unnerving.  Well, it didn't matter how long he held on to that tick, it was stubborn, it wouldn't come out on it's own.  The doctor ended up pulling harder and the tick kept a hold of Jessica's skin, which ended up peeling off.  I held a cup.  The doctor put in the tick, still holding Jessica's skin and I put the lid on it.  The doctor picked up the cup and accidentally threw it at Jessica, lol.  I think he got a little heebie-jeebie'ish himself.  Of course, he just pretended to be a little clumsy.

Dermnet.com

Whew, all over right?  Nope.  I just came home and thought I'd check Jasper again.  Three!  Three ticks I have to get off of him.  He won't sit still so looks like I'll be waiting for someone to get home and help me.  More of the waiting game.  TICK-tock, TICK-tock.  This really BUGS me.  Excuse me while I go scratch.