Well the beginnings of my troubles actually started the Sunday before this past Sunday. (the 28th of June) I felt something itchy on my left hip. Then I felt a bump! I immediately knew what that bump was…….a tick!!!! EWE!!! A TICK! MICKEY HELP ME, I’VE GOT A TICK ON ME! EWE!!!! He’s shouting now, “chill out” (who uses those words anymore anyway?) So he pulls the tick off of my hip. Bad news the head is still in me. So we decide to get a needle and dig it out! He thinks he got it though. So OK, everything will be alright. The days pass and I forget about it. That is until last Friday. I was over at my mom and dads and was telling them about my tick bite episode. I unbuttoned my pants and pulled them down to show them! It’s like my dad has always been my “real doctor” They gasped when they saw it. I turned and looked in the mirror and I gasped then too! It was this HUGE red ring~~~the kind they tell you to watch out for. Then my dad says, “ Oh yeah, it’s a lot lighter in the middle too! That’s the bulls eye! I think that’s what they say lyme disease looks like!!!” Nooooooo no no no no not me. Oh I’m sure it’s just a little infected from trying to dig him out. All the time knowing that it looked EXACTLY like the pictures I had seen of lyme disease. Just sounds gross, doesn’t it?
Well I woke up the next morning. The fourth of July, I might add and discussed it with Mickey. He really wanted me to go to the Urgent Care Clinic that’s associated with our hospital. I knew, but hated to admit it, that I had to go. The Dr. walked in, I told her about the tick and proceeded to pull my pants down again! Her eyes grew huge--------Boy that made me feel better. Then she got out a ruler and started filling out paper work! Oh crap….I’ve got it. She said I have it-she knows that without the blood work. But she’s still going to have my bloodwork done that day,again in two weeks and again in another two weeks! I guess there are alot of false negatives with the first and second tests. And the CDC wants to count each case in every county. But in the mean time she loaded me up with antibiotics. She said it is very treatable if caught early. I asked is 7 or 8 days early? Yes, she assured me.
If you can stand to look I’m adding a picture of my bite so you can see what to look for on your own bodies! I haven’t been hiking in the woods or anything. The only thing I have been doing is using a hose a couple of times to water the flowers in the back yard. I’ll betcha one of those ticks hopped up on Jimmie Dean (He’s been treated with Frontline-so it repels them) so they jump up on JD, he doesn’t taste too good. Well little jimmie spoons with me when we sleep…mr. tick just hopped on over to me with the meaty thighs for his meal. EWE!!! EWE GROSS!!! How long was that nasty thing on me? OK back to the picture.
Don’t look unless you want to see what my ugly tick bite looks like!!!
REALLY!!
OK here it is if you really want to see.
Is that gross or what?
I’ve been on antibiotics for four days now and a little of the redness is going away. But I’m still having headaches and fatigue, as in I am sleeping all afternoon! I’ll see my regular doctor in one more week. Maybe –hopefully everything will be OK then.
Oh you think you’re through with my weekend story? Sadly to say you’re not. Please keep up with me now. We still haven’t talked about Sunday. Sunday night in specifics! I was scheduled to go over to St. Johns Hospital to the sleep lab for my sleep study! This being the day that the TICK BOURNE DISEASE IS SETTING IN AND I HAVE THE MOST TERRIBLE HEADACHE I HAVE EVER HAD…wHY don’t I just go sign myself up in that hospital and let then clamp 100 wires onto my head. a dozen or so on my arms and legs. oh lets don’t forget the chest , the two big black army looking belts. now catch this…these belts are attatched TIGHTLY ONE AROUND THE TOP OF MY BOOBS! AND ONE REMEMBER, TIGHTLY…AROUND THE BOTTOM OF MY BOOBS!!! gETTIN THE PICTURE YET SISTA?
Then I see him coming at me with a red sharpie—straight for my face!!! He wrote all over my forehead. That wasn’t so bad. But then he started sticking things all over my FACE! even a tiny little mustache like thing in between my nose and mouth so they can HEAR how I’m respirating in the night. Oh yeah, they sit up all night and have cameras on you and they sit at desks and watch your every move!!! Great. Mickey says I hold in all my “gas” all day and wait until I go to sleep to Let It Out! My God, it sounds like I’m writing a comedy tV show here. No, this is just my weekend. So I’m sharing something with you know, and if any of you know me personally, you can black mail me with this picture. The guy took my pic with all these wires coming off of my head and on my face. I photoshopped out the boobs in the belt thing! NOT a pretty sight!!! oh…….. my ……… God………..
OK, Ready? Don’t be startled!!
I did get to pull a few loops of my ShabbySheep rug. But I was going to do it on monk’s cloth. It just wasn’t feeling right. I wasn’t enjoying myself so I pulled it out and went to SF and bought a yard of linen. Came home and redrew my pattern and have managed to get a few loops in. And for all of you primitive girls………….don’t look at this picture either!!! lol lol LOL LOL i crack myself up!?!?! Any way it’s mostly PINK so you might just want to look away. There will be one more picture and everyone can look at it if I can keep you all reading that long! It’s little Jimmie Dean standing on a little table. Awwww…..
You know I just realized I’ve already taken my sleep pills!!!! That’s why I sound so absolutly silly right now! It’s 12:40! I should so already be asleep. Now I know how you feel if you don’t go directly to bed! Wow. Nity Nite,
Peace,
sheri
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13 comments:
Sheri ~ you are a vision of lovliness with all those wires hanging out of you!! And that bite mark!!!!! Holy crow!! I sure hope you're feeling better today ~ that sounds like the weekend from hell!!! or should I say 'heck'?? Take care ~ Alice
Bless your heart....atleast you caught it early and got treatment started....yuck! For all the years I have lived in SW Missouri, and all the ticks I have had....now they scare me to death!
Sheri...did you sleep with all that stuff all over you????
Jimmy D is cute as a bug!
Love and light to you,
Mindy...
Oooh Sheri....it doesn't sound like a fun weekend at all. :o/ I hope you're feeling better and the antibiotics are working! Yowzers!!! and LOL..love your 'electronic accessories' pic. :o) Hope your week goes better!
What a weekend you had! Sure hope the antibiotics kick in fast and you everything clears up with no problems. Thanks for showing the picture. A great reminder of what to look for. Love the picture of your sleep study lol. Hope the rest of the week is spent doing something you enjoy and you get the rest you need!
Sheri,
I've had one tick so far this summer...probably got it on the nature trai when I was walking the dogs...they love going "off" the trail. Left a red mark for about a week, but nothing like what you had....YIKES!
Bet you're glad to have the sleep study over with....I don't know if I could sleep with all that stuff on me....who am I kidding....I could sleep in the middle of Sunshine and Glenstone at rush hour :)
Glad they caught the bite early enough to knock it out with the antibiotics!
Well, Sheri, you have had quite a time of it. Hope they have everything under control in the tick dept. You know I read in Missouri Conservation those little suckers can track you. Can't remember how far, but they don't just happen upon us.
I never got a one while us gals camped, but they all did. I swear to you tick don't like humans who have been radiated.
katie
Oh, Sheri, I was going to email you and ask you this question but WTH, I'll just do it here. How do you function on your pain meds? You had mentioned you were taking 4mg. methadone twice a day. I was prescribed 5 mg. twice a day and was a sleeping zombie. Couldn't stay awake for anything!! So how do you manage??
When we were transferred from Southwest Harbor, Maine back to Topeka, we spent several days in Bucksport, saying goodbye and spending time with Gerry's family. I got a bite exactly like that on the front of my leg, with the exact bulls-eye rash. We stopped in CT to see some friends and the wife was a paramedic. She thought this bite might have been a spider bite, although I mentioned a tick several times. I mean, we had just spent two years living in a lighthouse, surrounded with woods, deer, moose, raccoons, foxes, etc. And our entire tour in Maine was filled with hiking in Acadia National Park, walking the carriage paths, biking the trails and spending money in Bar Harbor.
I've wondered many, many times if my joint and muscle pain might be related to Lyme disease. I've been tested at least 4 times and always come up negative. But just recently, I've read that there's a more sensitive test for Lyme disease that picks up the Lyme when other tests come up negative. I'm going to ask my rheumatologist about this the next time I go in to see him.
As for your sleep study??? Wow!! So....what were the results?? I've been in to talk to the doctor about a sleep study but have yet to agree to one. For one thing, I can't sleep flat (we have adjustable beds). Some sleep labs have recliners for people like me but I have to admit that the thought of trying to sleep while being watched like that creeps me out. Did you finally manage to sleep??
Oh my Sheri - What an ordeal you've been through lately. Glad you've survived and hope you'll be back to 'normal' in no time at all.
Sheri, I'm starting to follow your blog. You are a brave lady with all you have been through in the last few weeks. That bite looked very painful. Glad you will be getting the treatment in time to prevent the horrible pain associated with Lyme disease.
It has got to be gettin better this week!
Sheri ~
Pug hugs coming your way. I think you need them.
If it wasn't for bad luck, you'd have NO LUCK at all!
Hope you are feeling better :)
Lauren
Thank you all for the well wishes and kind comments. And JoJo, the test is ERISA for Lyme. It can't be done on me for at least one month after the bite, but it will tell if I was infected now or any time in the past. I tried to get my last Dr. to test me for Lyme too, since our fibromyalgia symptoms are almost exactly the same. He just looked at me like I was crazy and ignored my request. (That's one of the reasons I switched Dr's.) The doctor I have now appreciates how much research I do on my own for FM. He is a family medical Dr. No way he can just sit and read about our illness all day! I'm the one who told him about the new drug Savella, that I'm on. And as far as the meds. Every thing I take seems to affect me just the opposite. If I should get sleepy, I get hyper. And vice versa. Actually with the Methadone though, I can't tell I've taken anything! Go Figure.
I'm feeling much better, thank you all. Hooking a little tonight.
xo to all of you,
Sheri
God love your little heart!!!! Sheri - I swear, I sit and read your posts and I laugh and smile and make little comments. You have got to be the cutest thing in this century!!!! (Next to JD, of course). Honey, bring your sore butt to FL and let's get some sun on it! :-) You poor thing - I am sending gentle hugs to you!!!!
I've had that dang sleep study and I walked out at 4 a.m. Tore the wires off and said "enough is enough". Yes, I have life threatening sleep apnea.......and the test was 15 years ago? No C-Pap for me.
Hang in there girlfriend - we love you and we all send you BIG hugs!
xoxoxoxoxo Ter'e
Oh, Sheri, I am so sorry about all your trials! I have to tell you though, like Ter'e said, I have to laugh at the way you tell what's going on. I hope you are feeling better now and continue to do well. I had a sleep study 2 years ago and it took longer to put all those wires and crap on you than it did for the sleep study! They put me on a very narrow "table"--so narrow I hung off the sides, yeah, that's it-narrow table, that's the ticket! There is no way you can sleep. They said if you move, those suction thinges will come off. Anywho, take care, my sweet. Jeanne (RED)
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