Disgusting bloodsuckers (and I don't mean Lawyers)
Wednesday I was hit by THE URGE. I slipped my backpack into the trunk of my car as I left for school in the morning (it had been in my appartment for a inventory and restock) and by the time my school day was over at 2:30 I was definatly headed for the hills.
I drove upto the ranger station at Auburn and found that the campground I had planned to use was closed due to being rather underwater. I considered my options and chose to head for a hike for a few hours and the head home around dark.
The trail I picked was the american canyon trail ( I had read about a waterfall at the bottom of the trail and hoped I could do the round trip with the remaining light I had). At the trail head I stuffed the basics (large water bottle, light stick, flash light, local topo and 20 feet of paracord) into the pockets of my jacket and started off.
It is a nice trail clearly designed with CDF access in mind, but it could be much more clearly labled ( the trail is actually well labled but the topo for the park doesn't have all the trails on it so at a junction I made a wrong choice and never got to the waterfall, If I had the written trail guide with me I would have been better off than having the map.) The trail wound down the hill to the creek witch I crossed and wound back up the other side. It was a nice day out considering it is January and I shed my jacket fairly quickly. About the time I decided I ought to start back toward the car it had coolled down enough that I took of my long sleeved shirt witch was rather perspired in and put the jacket back on.with dusk settling in I got back to my car and put the shirt back on before settling in for the drive home.
On a slightly differant topic, I had never driven stick on a steep and windy road before. Hiway 49 between Cool and Auburn is the quintacential steep and winy road. I was a fun drive, my little car handle corners nicely but it is not much of a climber.
I few miles before I get to home I scatch at my arm and notice something. I pull into a parking lot and roll up my sleeve. I have a tick imbedded in my right arm. Now I have been a scout and a scout master and in theory I know a thing or two about tics but my first instinct is still to freak out just a little bit. I decide to head and see my dad, I have never actually dealt with on of these arachnids and I know he has.
To get to my parents from where I was I had to drive by the church and as I did it hit me, I should let the scouts take it out they are all supposed to know how to do this, I should let them try. Yeah Right. Neither the scouts nor the leaders were willing to try. Now at least the have seen one though, actually Dallas did come with me to see if covering it with soap or bsa advised credit card trick would work. Neither did. I continued on toward home with my faith in the future slightly diminished.
My father didn't have much better luck at first. He started with the "used a match and make it uncomfortable so it will extract itself" technique. Utter failure. Next we revisited the credit card trick. Then we decided it was time to buy that Sawyer Extractor we had been looking at for months. A sawyer extractor is a suction device that can save your life in the event of a poisonous snake or spider bite. I myth it can pull out a tic. I reality it does not. At this point my loving and concerned mother is suggesting I seek medical attention. Mean while I am diggin through the first aid kit to get the Forecepts (it is a good first aid kit) I would much rather have a family member rip out a tic and small chunk of arm for free than wait in a lobby for an hour plus then pay a doctor to rip out said tic and chunk of arm.
critical interjection - I believe in doctors and ERs they save lives but I knew they where just gonna pull the tic out and that I would have to 1. wait forever and 2. pay no small amount of money. The thing a doctor could and may have done in this case that I could not was prescribe an antibiotic to insure that I did not contract Lyme Discease. I know the symptoms for Lyme discease if any showed up I could make an apointment to see a doctor. If you are bitten by a tic and have any doubt as to how long it has been on you or are uncomfortable with the prospect of having only half a tic embedded in you, then by all means go see a doctor.
With the forecepts and a decent tug dad removed the tic. To our surprise it was still alive, we quickly resolved that.
I have a nastly little hole in my arm that spent two days being red and irrittated. I did further research the next morning and it confirmed that removing a tic with a good set of tweezers was the best technique and afterwards using a sawyer extractor or evan just an alchol wipe on the bite. I also found that a tic could not realiticly transmit Lymme Discease unless it is on you a minimum of six hours and has become engorged.
Well now we know (and knowing is half the battle)
I drove upto the ranger station at Auburn and found that the campground I had planned to use was closed due to being rather underwater. I considered my options and chose to head for a hike for a few hours and the head home around dark.
The trail I picked was the american canyon trail ( I had read about a waterfall at the bottom of the trail and hoped I could do the round trip with the remaining light I had). At the trail head I stuffed the basics (large water bottle, light stick, flash light, local topo and 20 feet of paracord) into the pockets of my jacket and started off.
It is a nice trail clearly designed with CDF access in mind, but it could be much more clearly labled ( the trail is actually well labled but the topo for the park doesn't have all the trails on it so at a junction I made a wrong choice and never got to the waterfall, If I had the written trail guide with me I would have been better off than having the map.) The trail wound down the hill to the creek witch I crossed and wound back up the other side. It was a nice day out considering it is January and I shed my jacket fairly quickly. About the time I decided I ought to start back toward the car it had coolled down enough that I took of my long sleeved shirt witch was rather perspired in and put the jacket back on.with dusk settling in I got back to my car and put the shirt back on before settling in for the drive home.
On a slightly differant topic, I had never driven stick on a steep and windy road before. Hiway 49 between Cool and Auburn is the quintacential steep and winy road. I was a fun drive, my little car handle corners nicely but it is not much of a climber.
I few miles before I get to home I scatch at my arm and notice something. I pull into a parking lot and roll up my sleeve. I have a tick imbedded in my right arm. Now I have been a scout and a scout master and in theory I know a thing or two about tics but my first instinct is still to freak out just a little bit. I decide to head and see my dad, I have never actually dealt with on of these arachnids and I know he has.
To get to my parents from where I was I had to drive by the church and as I did it hit me, I should let the scouts take it out they are all supposed to know how to do this, I should let them try. Yeah Right. Neither the scouts nor the leaders were willing to try. Now at least the have seen one though, actually Dallas did come with me to see if covering it with soap or bsa advised credit card trick would work. Neither did. I continued on toward home with my faith in the future slightly diminished.
My father didn't have much better luck at first. He started with the "used a match and make it uncomfortable so it will extract itself" technique. Utter failure. Next we revisited the credit card trick. Then we decided it was time to buy that Sawyer Extractor we had been looking at for months. A sawyer extractor is a suction device that can save your life in the event of a poisonous snake or spider bite. I myth it can pull out a tic. I reality it does not. At this point my loving and concerned mother is suggesting I seek medical attention. Mean while I am diggin through the first aid kit to get the Forecepts (it is a good first aid kit) I would much rather have a family member rip out a tic and small chunk of arm for free than wait in a lobby for an hour plus then pay a doctor to rip out said tic and chunk of arm.
critical interjection - I believe in doctors and ERs they save lives but I knew they where just gonna pull the tic out and that I would have to 1. wait forever and 2. pay no small amount of money. The thing a doctor could and may have done in this case that I could not was prescribe an antibiotic to insure that I did not contract Lyme Discease. I know the symptoms for Lyme discease if any showed up I could make an apointment to see a doctor. If you are bitten by a tic and have any doubt as to how long it has been on you or are uncomfortable with the prospect of having only half a tic embedded in you, then by all means go see a doctor.
With the forecepts and a decent tug dad removed the tic. To our surprise it was still alive, we quickly resolved that.
I have a nastly little hole in my arm that spent two days being red and irrittated. I did further research the next morning and it confirmed that removing a tic with a good set of tweezers was the best technique and afterwards using a sawyer extractor or evan just an alchol wipe on the bite. I also found that a tic could not realiticly transmit Lymme Discease unless it is on you a minimum of six hours and has become engorged.
Well now we know (and knowing is half the battle)
posted by a.lost.boy | 2:52 AM
2 Comments:
FYI I was talking a minute ago with a doctor friend of mine and he told me that fewer than 100 people have ever been diagnosed with Lymme discease in Cali.
Next time cover the tick with a dab of vaseline. This renders the tick unable to breath and it will die if it does not get out of your arm.
Post a Comment
<< Home