I love Spring in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. ‘Tis really the season for beautiful color and the clean clear beauty of nature’s reawakening. Even the deer begin boasting their new babies. And I feel happy and productive and eager to think about planting more flowers. But thinking is not doing and since I am still a slow motion walker waiting for a hip replacement I have not injected myself into the wild.
Spring is is also a time of imminent threat from the wild. Whether you go outside to feel your toes in the grass or not.
Three days ago I felt an itchy place on my back just below the left shoulder. A hot shower helped and I thought nothing of it.
Two days ago, the itch was back so I took a look with the help of a hand mirror and saw a red place with a slightly dark center. I asked Bill to take a look with a magnifying glass and he did. He said, there was nothing there…. maybe a little raised mole. So I put some anti-itch gel on it and went to a peaceful slumber.
Yesterday the itch was back in full force and when I looked at it with the hand mirror there was a pronounced dark center, much larger. Bill took a look too and said “it” (the dark center) was kind of hanging loose so he removed it. In my opinion it was a well fed deer tick! And I was immediately off to the doctor.
Results:
- It was probably a tick. An adult deer tick is the size of a poppy seed. There are no charts or photos I know of that show a well fed deer tick as opposed to a hungry one.
- The doctor said if you check yourself all over each day and you happen to take off a tick, no medication is necessary.
- Because I came in early, I only had to have two antibiotics immediately… no more.
- Evidently, if you have a tick bite and remove it within 34 hours, you will not need meds.
I am still confused over all of this.
Seems to me, you should report a tick bite no matter what. My niece contracted Lyme and suffered with it for many years.
Anyway, in addition to gimpy walking I now have the remains of a bite on my back. The culprit escaped a plastic bag I swear I sealed. He was a major escape artist.
The doctor’s answer for this latter issue was to put a cotton ball soaked in nail polish remover in the bag with the tick. He will then suffocate and die but his body will stay in tact for identification! More than I want to know.
I dislike ticks and other bugs, but do I hate them enough to become a wanton murderer?
‘Tis the season all right.
Spring has sprung in all its glory.
But there is a downside to living in paradise.
Virginia Views 