Nasty Things

I hate ticks. Always have, always will. However, I've had to deal with them a bit more lately since they tend to love Booker's blood. In 4 1/2 years, Booker has had roughly 15 ticks. That's a lot... they love him. Last Wednesday night I pulled EIGHT ticks out of the poor kid. I'm still baffled on where he got them and how I hadn't seen them before. They were full of blood. I checked to make sure I got each of their tiny heads out, and did. Then two days ago (about 6 days after I pulled them) he started to get a circular rash around two of the bites. Dr. Google suggested Lyme Disease. Luckily, we have the all wonderful Dr. Yu for a pediatrician, and his wife happens to be one of the directors of Infectious Disease at Children's Mercy. He said it's not Lyme Disease, Kansas ticks don't carry it. I would have called boo-shay on him simply because I just find that really hard to believe, but who would know better? He said there are several Lyme-like diseases in KS and other diseases from ticks, but he really doubted that Booker had any of them because of the fact that he was still "Booker." No fever, no pain, no signs of illness at all, and apparently he would have been noticeably ill if he had something. So, the diagnosis? He believes that Booker had a reaction to the saliva the wonderful ticks leave in our bodies. YUCK! Either way, we left with an antibiotic, which is mommy's piece of mind, so hopefully all is good.