Will's Tick

Last Saturday I removed a tick from Will's head after the Father/Son campout. Will's cousin Chase is the one who pointed it out. Very calmy he stated, "Allison, I don't want you to freak out or anything but I need to tell you something. Will, you need to come to." I was thinking, "Oh, great..they broke something". But no, my nephew knows me too well to warn me not to freak out. There on the back of Will's head was a huge tick!

I have actually never seen a tick and certainly have never removed one. I tried to obey Chase's admonition to not freak out. We walked back to the bathroom as my mind was trying to figure out what to do. I knew it had something to do with lighting a match, or was it burning a needle, and what was I supposed to do with the match or the needle, and where were the matches..the boys had taken them camping and hadn't unpacked yet, and did we have a lighter, and oh why hadn't I paid more attention to first aid? Tweezers? Okay, stay calm. I took a look at the tick and thankfully it hadn't burrowed in all the way so I was able to remove it with tweezers. Will had been bit by it though. I put the tick in the sink to take a better look and Chase promptly turned on the water and washed it away before I had a good look at it. Darn! He was being extremely helpful so I couldn't get mad but it haunted me.

Then on Wenesday, right before the American Idol finale, Will started complaining of a headache. I thought he was just trying to get out of doing dishes with me and didn't take him seriously. We all watched as David Cook won American Idol and it was then I noticed that Will was laying down and not moving. (Not very much like Him during AI) Joe was the one who realized that he was running a fever. Immediately I thought of the tick bite. And then I went to the computer to research. Thankfully, the side of the river they were on has never passed on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever although I was super afraid of it. The pictures online of the symptoms are horrific! I was totally freaking myself out and exited the site. Had I not removed the entire tick? I never got a good look at it although it seemed intact.

The best I can figure is that I must have squeezed the abdomen too hard with the tweezers which released a poison which then made Will sick. He stayed home 2 days running fevers and feeling nausea. Poor kid! I felt so bad for thinking he was faking on that first night of his symptoms. I cried and cried and then prayed myself to sleep just hoping that it wouldn't be serious. Today, he looks great and hasn't had a fever. Perhaps I am paranoid and maybe he just had the flu but mother's intuition tells me it had something to do with that pesky tick! Eww! Next time I'll know what to do: Light a match and blow it out. Put the tip of the match on the tick's butt. This will force the tick to back out making sure that no part of its body is left inside the skin. Once the tick is out, save it in a jar. Take it to Rocky Mountain Lab to have examined. Boy I hate learning things the hard way!
love, allie