Tick Bite

I've been busy with landscaping projects over the past couple of weeks whenever I am feeling well enough.  This is good news because it has been helping me build up my strength again after months of COVID and long-COVID.

Whenever I am done sweating from the morning of work in the yard, I then check myself for ticks before stepping into the shower.  Last night, unfortunately, I never made it to the shower because I was exhausted, I had to make dinner, I was still sweating, etc.  I just never got to the shower.  I had changed out of my sweaty clothes when I came in at lunchtime but I never did make it to the shower yesterday so I skipped a more thorough tick check too.

This morning, I headed back outside to plant flowers into our window boxes.  We had purchased a bunch of flowers a few nights ago but I hadn't had time to plant them until this morning.  This was an easy job and only required about an hour of work.  After planting, I cleaned up the mess I made, put the gardening tools away, and then watered everything before coming inside to make lunch.  

I didn't sweat much this morning since I wasn't doing hard work and planting flowers into windows boxes isn't all that physical either so I was in no hurry to shower.  I came indoors, made lunch and then took a nap without showering, yet again.  When Sheila was done working for the day, we planned to head out to do our weekly grocery shopping so I figured I would shower before we left the house to go to Shaw's.

As I was taking off my clothes in the bathroom before stepping into the shower, I immediately noticed something dark on the right side of my abdomen in the area under the waistband of my shorts.  I instantly saw what it was... a fairly big tick and he had latched onto my flesh very well.  

If I told you that I wasn't grossed out for the next half hour, I'd be lying.  I tried carefully pulling him off me with my fingers but I couldn't get a good enough grip on him without squeezing him to death.  I didn't want that to happen.  I wanted to pull him off as cleanly as possible.  

I decided to try grasping him with a tissue.  Again, I grabbed him by his body (he was a fully grown adult tick measuring 6mm long) on his sides, the gently pulled upward...  his head still had a tight grasp on my flesh...  I pulled more...  the skin and flesh were being pulled upward too as we played a little tug-of-war...  eventually, I pulled with enough steady force that he ripped off my flesh.  

I kept the tick wrapped in the tissue and then went about cleaning up the area where he had burrowed into my flesh.  First, I used an antibacterial soap and gently cleaned for a minute.  I was still pretty grossed out by the whole thought of this as well as by the possibility being quite sick for the next few months...  being sicker than I have been already for the past five months with COVID...  so I picked up a small scrub brush and then scrubbed the area with more anti-bacterial soap.   Then I cleaned the area thoroughly with 91% alcohol.  This is where a little bit of OCD was probably a good thing.

While I had the alcohol out, I poured some in a small bowl and placed the tick in the alcohol to kill him.  That little guy lived in the alcohol for about a half hour!  

About this time, Sheila came in and I showed her what I found and where I found it.  Even she said, "Wow...  he's big!"  

The tick was not bloated/engorged with my blood though so that was good news.  No blood spilled from him when I pulled him off me either so that was good news.  It appears as though his head is intact so that was good news.  Unfortunately, he could have been attached to me for upwards of 28-30 hours since I skipped a shower last night and that isn't so good.  

I'm wishing I had gotten to my shower yesterday because then I would have either caught this tick sooner or I would be certain that he latched onto me this morning.  All I know at this point is that he could have latched onto me upwards of 28-30 hours and that is not all that great.  Under 24 hours is good (well, it's better anyway), over 24 hours is bad.

I'll be calling the doctor first thing tomorrow morning (Friday).  If I can't get in to see my doctor or one of the other doctors, then I'll have to go to Urgent Care instead.  

Other than some pain at the site of the bite (it is still pretty raw), I'm feeling pretty good so far so that is good.  Still, I need to talk with a doctor to see what we should do.  

Just in case I can't see my doctor but we can instead do a TeleVisit with a nurse, I took some photos of the tick as well as the bite.  I can send these photos to them, if necessary...

After a bit of research tonight, my best guess is that this is an adult female American Dog Tick.  She measures 6mm in length.  The good news is these ticks do not carry Lyme Disease.  The bad news is that they do transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  So, I definitely need to see a doctor as soon as possible.

UPDATE:  8:45am, Friday, May 24th - I had called my doctor this morning.  There was only one available appointment left for today so she slipped me into that spot and then asked why I'm coming in to see a doctor.  When I told her that I had a tick latched onto me last night for upwards of 30 hours, she suddenly pushed me to a nurse for immediate triage.  

On the positive side, I might not need to head to the doctor's office today.  It sounds like they might be starting me on an antibiotic immediately.  She was going to confer with my doctor and then call me back.  

So, now I wait for a phone call.

UPDATE:  I heard back from my doctor.  She cancelled my appointment and, instead, sent in a prescription for an antibiotic.  I'll need to pick that up after lunch.  Hopefully the antibiotic will stave off any diseases such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  If I remember correctly, the American Dog Tick does not carry Lyme Disease so it is just the RMSF and one or two other diseases.  RMSF has a fatality rate of up to 25% so starting on antibiotics immediately is highly advised.  

Hopefully, nothing will develop.