May

25

Update on Lauren

May 25, 2006 |

Well when Lauren woke up yesterday I looked at her arm where the tick had been attached the night before and I freaked. There was central clearing and a red ring outside of that. Erythema migrans is the bull’s-eye rash associated with Lyme Disease and that’s exactly what her arm was starting to look like on a very small scale.

I called the doctor and made an appointment for her to be checked. They tried to make me wait until the middle of the afternoon but I was having none of that. I pushed for an earlier time and got one - you gotta ask - and proceeded to get the girls dressed and head over. Luckily I only had one little girl for daycare yesterday morning so it was an easy venture to the doctors office.

They took us in right away and the doctor did not make us wait very long, thankfully. She looked at the bite and listened to me and told me she was not concerned. That it looked normal for a tick bite whether they are infected with Lyme Disease or not. She then asked me my feelings about it - which I appreciated. I told her I had a positive ELISA and Western Blot test for Lyme Disease 3 years ago, that I had been bitten by the infected tick right in my back yard and that the one in her arm had broken off.

Then I explained to her that I felt strongly about Lauren being treated with antibiotics as I was not willing to wait around and see if the rash got any bigger. I told her I felt the risk factors were too many and too high and I was not taking a chance with my daughter. I did not want her going through what I have for the last 3 years. I did not want her joints aching and swollen every morning when she woke up. I did not want her to be woken up by excruciating burning pain in her arms and legs in the middle of the night. I did not want her to have muscle spasms over and over all day long. I did not want her to have the headaches and neck aches, the fatigue, the confusion and lack of mental acuity. I wanted her to have antibiotics and I wanted them now.

The doctor agreed. She stated that she of course felt it was over treating the problem but also agreed that since so little was known about Lyme Disease that it was acceptable to err on the side of caution. The one drawback? Doxycycline is the drug of choice for Lyme and children can’t take it. So she’s on Amoxicilian instead. Hopefully there wasn’t anything there to begin with anyway and I’m just being a hysterical mother.

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Comments

8 Comments so far

  1. Mary on May 25, 2006 6:48 am

    wow
    Don’t ever question the need to protect your kids. If you don’t, who will?

    Chris from The Big Yellow House had the same thing happen.
    She had to get pretty testy with the nurses and such.

    Lyme Disease is no small matter!

  2. Mary on May 25, 2006 6:50 am

    http://search.blogger.com/?as_q=lyme+disease&ie=UTF-8&ui=blg&bl_url=thebigyellowhouse.blogspot.com&x=37&y=9

    Look at the posts Chris did on it. Her son tested positive for LD after the nurses scoffed at her being paranoid about it.

  3. Steph on May 25, 2006 8:33 am

    ((hugs)) you do what you need to do to protect your kidlet. so much happens that it out of our control, but a few rounds of antibiotics, needless or not, will not hurt anything.

    i’m so sorry that you’ve had to deal with the issues that you’ve just described!

    hang in there, mamma bear! ;)

  4. kel on May 25, 2006 10:19 am

    good for you! I would of done the same thing. I’m surprised that the Dr didn’t automatically put her on antibiotics anyway.

    I understand their need to hold off lest the bacteria get “resistant” but there are just some things you don’t play around with.

  5. mrs. diamond on May 25, 2006 10:47 am

    I think considering the history and the fact that there are obviously lyme carrying ticks in your area…..you definitely did the right thing

  6. Aimz on May 25, 2006 4:00 pm

    No, you’re not being a hysterical mother, I would’ve done the same thing.

  7. Andrea on May 26, 2006 12:26 am

    Hi Julie! I’m finally home from vacation and trying to catch up. I really should come around here more often… lots going on!

    You have every right to be hysterical regarding Lauren’s bite! After all, you DO know what it’s like to deal with Lyme Disease. My neighbor had it a few years ago and is still dealing with pain from it!

    I loved your post about the pouring rain and coming to the guys’ rescue. I know you get frustrated sometimes, but Jeff can be a really nice guy when he wants to be - and that was definately one of those times!

  8. Michele on May 26, 2006 7:59 am

    Sounds like you did the right thing. I hope you ARE just being a hysterical mother and Lauren is just fine.

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