Lymes My Deer

Lymes disease and deer ticks. At least for MA, they are almost an epidemic. OK. I might be exaggerating slightly. But I do know they medical experts only started tracking the number of cases a few years ago, but every year that number increases. (Right along with the EEE virus, but that is a post fo another day) This another phenomenon that I know, we just didn't have while I was growing up as a kid. I know, part of it was due to the medical community not accurately diagnosing Lyme's. But the sheer number of ticks was not what it is today. I find ticks on the kids more in one summer, than I had all growing up in total. That is one of the reason I give the boys crewcuts during the summer. It is far easier checking them over for ticks. This is a nightly ritual in the spring, summer, and fall. It used to be I would get checked if I was in the deep woods for a hike. Of course, I never saw a deer in my yard while I was growing up. Now I see them all the time. I am sure the housing boom forced them out of their neck of the woods. That is a whole other story. But I know more about Lyme's now than I ever did. Caz got bitten, two summers ago, but an infected tick. When the doctor first said that I almost had a heart attack. But then he explained that you can be a carrier, without actually having Lyme's. And the early you catch it the better. Thanks to Demi, it was caught very early. She noticed a few rings of red on Caz's skin when he got on the bus to go to school. It wasn't raised and he didn't feel bad, so he went to school. But when he got home, he had a slight fever and more rings when he got home. So Demi went with her instincts and called the doctor. A few weeks of antibiotics cleared it right up. Demi has amazing mother instincts.