May 16, 2006

Bug off

The day after Big I’s third birthday, we discovered something horrible.  Apparently, Big I had taken home a  souvenir from our little walk through nature on the previous day.  She woke up in the morning looking sickly and pale.  She was complaining that her shoulder hurt.  I lifted up her pajama top and gasped.  There was a tick embedded in her shoulder.  I picked her up and ran her up the stairs to my husband, grabbing the phone on the way so I could call my Mom who happens to be a nurse. 

After talking with my Mom and with the nurse from the pediatrician’s office, my husband had a go with the tweezers at her poor little shoulder.  She screamed in pain and that tick held onto her so tightly.  It made me sick.  I wished it would be me instead.  There was nothing I could do except hold her and tell her it would be over soon.  If only I had known how long the ordeal was going to be. 

My husband finally pulled the tick out of her, but its head remained behind.  The pediatrician told me to cover it with neosporin and a band aid.  They said the head would work its way out as Big I’s body rejected it and pushed it out. 

They were wrong.

Three days later, the shoulder was not looking any better and I could still see the tick’s head, firmly embedded in her shoulder.  I took her to the doctor.  I saw a new pediatrician at the office who said it was no big deal.  She said I should keep doing what I was doing.  So I did, for another two days.

Two days later, Big I woke up with redness and swelling in her arm.  I took her back to the pediatrician.  This time, we saw a different doctor, who said that Big I had a staph infection in her arm and that he was going to try to get the head out.  He had to lance and drain the wound.  She screamed; I held her and felt like screaming myself.  He didn’t get the head out.  They gave me a prescription for some strong antibiotics.  After all of that trauma, he handed me a sheet for blood work.  Blood WORK on a 3 year old!  I really wanted to scream. 

We took her for the blood work and she was so brave.  She was fine until the needle punctured the skin, and then she screamed.  The blood work came back normal.  About two weeks later, she was scratching her arm and the tick head came out.  Nasty. She still has a scar. 

Until this week, Big I has been terrified of every bug.  Ants on the sidewalk?  Let’s play inside instead.  Bee buzzing around some flowers?  Scream and head for cover!  Fly got in the house?  Must kill fly now or else child will have a nervous breakdown.  It has gotten to the point that my husband and I have been worried about the possibility of a bug-related obsessive compulsive disorder.  Or, maybe she’s suffering from PTTD (post-traumatic tick disorder)?

And then Aunt E came out of the blue with a bug catcher.  Over the weekend, my sister decided that Big I must get over her fear of bugs.  So, they spent the afternoon searching for bugs in the yard.  Together, they caught two worms, a salamander, and a spider.  She proudly carried around her little bug cage and showed everyone her latest catches.  After about an hour or so, she’d tell everyone to "Say goodbye to the ‘lizard’" and we would.  She would then release her new friends back to the wild. 

So, you can understand my amazement with what happened yesterday.  Big I declared that there was a scary black spider approaching her toys.  I was busy feeding Lil C and told her it would have to wait a minute or two.  Instead of waiting and whining, which would have been the norm pre-bug catcher, she grabbed a tissue, one tissue, (not 14 like I would have,) and approached the black spider with confidence. She knelt down, opened that tissue and squished it good.  She then brought it to me to show me her conquest.  I have to say, I was pretty impressed. 

I think we’re over the bug fear.

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Posted by on May 16, 2006 in Growing Pains | 20 Comments

Comments

20 Comments on Bug off

  1. Jeff on Wed, 17th May 2006 1:39 am

    2. My oldest daughter is also very afraid of anything ‘buggy’ that moves. We once had a wasp that snuck in our house on a blanket. It bit my wife and disappeared for the evening. Not a girl slept easily that night. the next morning it suddenly flew past my oldest daughter who screamed. After I smooshed it on the ceiling with a broom handle, the girls each had to step on it to make sure it was dead.
    One trick to remove a tick that has dug in, is to light a match and put it next to the tick (don’t burn your child!). The tick will let go by itself and you don’t have to worry about pulling off the head.

  2. Deryck on Wed, 17th May 2006 4:14 am

    3. Urggghh…gross lol!
    I’m glad she’s got over her short lived fear of bugs (though the spider squishing was a bit mean!)
    I know what you mean about the blood work though. Pickles has had a lot of sticks in her – they never get better tho’! But at least she doesn’t blame me for holding her! The hard stare is always for the doctor!!

  3. [Mat] on Wed, 17th May 2006 8:40 am

    4. List of things to conquer
    Learn how to cry to get what I want – done
    Diapers – done
    eating with fork – done
    drinking from glass and spilling everywhere – too easy
    Drinking and not spilling – not so easy
    walking – done
    Shouting – Ha, got that one down years ago, silly.
    Bugs – Done
    karate – working on it
    Teeth – working on it
    Mom – working on it
    Bicycle – still to come
    work – still to come
    So many things, so little time 🙂

  4. Wayward Goddess on Wed, 17th May 2006 9:27 am

    5. Oh man, I HATE ticks. Having one’s head embedded in my child would have freaked me out.

  5. jody2ms on Wed, 17th May 2006 9:30 am

    6. Jeff is so right. Use a match if you ever have that happen again. The tick pulls itself out without a problem.
    Glad she is a master bug chic now!

  6. Mrs. Chicky on Wed, 17th May 2006 9:36 am

    7. Yay Big I! If I had gone through what she had I don’t know if I would have been able to approach that spider. I’m so impressed.
    I’ve removed many a tick (from dogs) and those little bugger stick like velcro. I’m really surprised that your doctor wasn’t more concerned.
    Thanks for stopping by my site and leaving a comment. Now that I know that you’re here I’ll be back!

  7. junebee on Wed, 17th May 2006 9:58 am

    8. I think that is the one thing I couldn’t take – ticks. On another blog I read, the mother posted some sentiments her sons wrote for her on Mother’s Day. Here is one of them:
    “I believe that my mom deserves the Time for Kids mother award because she does so many things for me……she pulled a tick from around my neck and it was painless.”
    I overcame my fear of bugs by default. Often, I was the only one around to kill the bug, or other women appointed me to the job (what, do I look like the Terminex man?)
    My favorite form of revenge on a bug is to place it in the toilet, use the toilet and then flush it.
    We’ve got bug a-plenty in Florida so I am sure I will have to deal with the Branch, Blossom and bugs in the near future. Ugh.

  8. Christopher39 on Wed, 17th May 2006 10:34 am

    9. I wish there was a handbook for parents that told us how to deal with these types issues with our kids. I think the way you handled this was extraordinary-you nipped Big I’s phobia in the bud. Make sure she never watches the movie Starship Troopers!
    Maybe you could send Aunt E over to my house and she could find a way to destroy my phobia of bats! Good parenting BBMama.

  9. Maniacal on Wed, 17th May 2006 10:34 am

    10. Well, I’m glad the blood work came back ok. And She’s a better person that me, cause I would have SCREAMED for MIKE to come and kill the spider NOW!!! Cause unlike Big I, I am NOT over MY Bug fear, and probably never will be.

  10. honestyrain on Wed, 17th May 2006 1:45 pm

    11. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! how dreadful. dumb ticks! but how brave at the end there with the spider and ONE tissue! wow! i would have had thirty tissues and a man holding them for me to do the actual bug squishing!

  11. Lynn on Wed, 17th May 2006 2:48 pm

    12. I can’t believe how dumb those doctors were! Yes, you have to get the head out, or all of that horrible stuff has to happen. Poor Big I!
    Tell her to come over and kill this roach. He makes me cry like a baby.

  12. Suebob on Wed, 17th May 2006 4:56 pm

    13. We always soaked a cotton ball in alcohol and put it on the tick, which would then back out.
    I’m sorry your sweet girl had to go through all this mess.

  13. j on Wed, 17th May 2006 9:37 pm

    14. ACK! Summer inside, I guess. I mean for us. Because now I’m afraid of bugs. 😉
    Good for her, though. She rocks.

  14. sesame on Wed, 17th May 2006 10:07 pm

    15. Oh dear! This is nasty! I can just feel your heartache…I didn’t realised that ticks can get one infected so badly. I guess it’s her young age as well.
    Big I is such a brave girl to have gone thru that ordeal and still able to get over the fear of bugs.

  15. Jeff on Wed, 17th May 2006 10:23 pm

    16. Just thought I would pass this along…
    I told my wife (family practice dr.) about this post and she suggested *not* using the burning match method as I mentioned above. Apparently it can make the tick regurgitate and this will increase the chance for infection.

  16. blackbeltmama on Wed, 17th May 2006 11:28 pm

    17. Jeff, thank you.
    Man, ticks are nasty little buggers. I heard the same regurgitation thing happens if you put vaseline on them. I guess the only way is to pull them out and hope for the best.
    I told Big I about everyone’s comments asking if she could come kill some bugs for them. She grinned from ear to ear. She’s quite proud of herself.

  17. Izzy on Thu, 18th May 2006 12:09 am

    18. OMG! That’s awful. As if a tick wasn’t bad enough but then she gets an infection, too. But at least she’s lost her fear of bugs! That’s a big thing. Mine freaks and it’s so tiresome. We live in FL. Bugs are everywhere!

  18. Kristi on Thu, 18th May 2006 4:36 am

    19. That sounds so odd that they would allow it to stay embedded for so long. That was very scary, I’m sure. I would have been out of my mind with worry. I’m glad it is all over and that she isn’t terrified anymore.

  19. Pattie on Thu, 18th May 2006 7:06 am

    20. Good for her overcoming that fear! What a tough little cookie!

  20. psumommy on Thu, 18th May 2006 6:39 pm

    21. Wow…I’m very impressed that she’s already ok with killing a spider after what she went through!
    I grew up around ticks…I think they’re incredibly gross, but honestly- I cannot believe the doctor didn’t tell you to put nail polish on its bum, wait for it to detatch (because they can only breathe through their bums when they’re attached) and then squish the bugger. He really tried to rip the thing off? No wonder your poor girl had to go through what she did. Stupid doctor. (The match thing works, too, but nail polish is safer on squirmy kids.)