Ticked Off

I debated on sharing this story. It may fall under the category of TMI (too much information), but this blog is a document of my life and, well, this is my life . . . so here goes. Let me just forewarn you now, the story you are about to read is gross. Penni may not be phased, but I feel the need to strongly urge Tina to STOP READING NOW. Just close the browser window and walk away!

I woke up this morning on my back with Karlo's arm hugging my belly. My first waking feeling was pain. Pain in the middle of my stomach. I immediately moved his arm off of me, but the pain was still there. I couldn't tell if the pain was on the surface (skin) or inside me (like an actual stomach ache). All I knew was that it hurt and something wasn't right. I squirmed around in bed and nothing helped. I started to push my fingers around my bellybutton and the pain got much worse. What on Earth happened to me in the middle of the night?

When I got up and got my eyeballs open I tried to inspect around my bellybutton and inside of it. That is not very easy to do, but I was able to barely see something black in there. Was my bellybutton just full of lint or was it something else? I suddenly got scared, started to feel nauseous, and immediately started yelling for Karlo to come and help me. I had a bad feeling what might be in there.

Tina, if you didn't listen to my first warning, I'm warning you again. Leave now!

So Karlo gets a flashlight and his reading glasses and I laid down on the bed in tears. Sure enough, it was a tick, completely attached to the inside of my bellybutton. (I warned you!) OMG it hurt so bad as Karlo tried to tweeze and/or cut it out. Well the pain persisted and it actually hurt to walk. I got to work and waited for the pain to go away, but it didn't. I decided to do the right thing and seek medical attention.

The doc said that it was indeed a deer tick (the kind that carry Lyme Disease) and it's usually about a 50/50 chance that a bite like that transmits the disease. He didn't understand why I'm still experiencing so much pain. I guess I'm just having a topical reaction to the bite. Fun stuff. I got some ointment for the skin and some antibiotics for the bacteria, but it's crappy timing. I couldn't get the best antibiotic because you can't be in the sun while taking it and that was not going to work on my way to a cruise. And then there's the part where the pills may bring on some flu-like symptoms over the next 3 days. Great. But I guess it's still better than getting Lyme Disease.

I was ready to move out of the woods, never hike again, or invest in some human FrontLine, but I found a product at EMS that I'll be buying cases of.

Sorry to gross out, but I had to document it. And PS - Happy Birthday Penni!