Disgusting! This is what I found on the back of Kalli's neck on Thursday night. She brought it home from Monterey. Here's the story, but prepare yourself, it is a long one...
I was on my way to teach an aerobic class at the gym and in the car Kalli says, "Mommy, I have a bump on the back of my neck." Of course, I blew it off saying it was the bones in her head and we all have them. Once we reached the gym, Kalli brought up this 'bump' again and lifted her hair to show me. I glanced over and saw a reddish color blob on the back of her neck. I rushed over and sure enough, it was a tick! Now, this was all happening about 5 minutes before I had to start my class. I told Kalli that it was a bug, we had to take it off and DO NOT touch it. Kalli starts crying hysterically as I drop her off at the gym day care. It really bothered me that I had to teach a class knowing a tick was attached to the back of Kalli's neck, but Nate was surfing, so I guess I had no choice. I went into the class getting my stuff ready and asked some of the people I knew if they knew how to remove a tick, since I have never dealt with them before. We got into a discussion about it and they told me to take care of my daughter and not worry about teaching the class. They said it is important to get rid of the tick immediately, since they can cause Lyme Disease. I felt torn but knew I had to leave. I tried to call a friend that lived very close to the gym, but no answer, so I went to Rite Aid and looked for a tick removal tool. I couldn't find any so I got a lighter instead (since I was told you can burn the tick with butt of it and they will back out). Now remember, Kalli is hysterically crying and telling me she doesn't want me to touch it the WHOLE time I am trying to figure this all out on my own. I tried calling my friend again, no response, so I got into the back of my car and got a closer look at the situation, thinking I could just get rid of it right there. After about 10 minutes of lightly burning the tick with nothing happening except Kalli getting more and more worked up, my friend called back. I explained what was going on and told her I would meet her at her house. Her husband was there and we 'worked' on this tick trying to figure out the best way to get it out, while trying to keep Kalli 'calm' . Eventually, after killing the tick from a fork I got a little too hot, I took the tweezers and pulled that sucker out. Some of Kalli's skin came off with the tick, but I was still worried that I didn't get the head out. (I heard that it is VERY important that the head comes out; it can cause problems if it doesn't). We looked on the internet to see what the head looks like and if we got it for sure. Finally, we came to the conclusion that the head was still atached to the body and the 'surgery' was a success. I was relieved and now 2 hours later, my heart rate began to slow down. Kalli stopped crying and we headed home to take a nice bath and check any other crevices that these creature like to hide out in. Nate finally called back and I told him all the drama that he had missed while he was in his surfer's paradise. Nate said he has had many ticks and so has his family, it really isn't a big deal and the chances of getting Lyme Disease are slim. (It would have been nice to know this 2 hours ago!) So here we are tick free, but if you want to see what one looks like come on over, we have it in a ziploc bag. Whew! I am exhausted just writing this...
The red dot is where the tick was attached
Our happy kid, tick free
