1 post tagged “bugs”

Eldest daughter was playing outside on her combo slide/house and doing chalk work on the patio.

She comes over to me and tells me that there is a rock in her ear.

I ask how this came to pass.

She replies that she laid down in her slide/house and that it was a rocket ship and then there was a rock
in her ear.

I tell her not to lay down on rocks and then I go back to reading.

Naively, I thought she was referring to one of the many hopscotch rocks she keeps on the patio.

Two days later, I discover the engorged tick inside the top curl of her left ear.

I feel like a total ass at that point.

She described what was wrong to me, in pretty good terms for a 4 year old who has never seen a tick before, and I blow her off.

Nice one dad.

After much screaming and coaxing/pulling with tweezers, the little bastard breaks off with its mouthparts still in her ear.

I, again naively, hope that her body will push it out on its own,
not being intimately acquainted with tick-head cement/saliva.

So a couple days later, when the ear is nice and red, we go to the doctor, who has about as much luck as I do getting all the bits out.

Eldest is very mad about all the yanking on her ear going on at this point.

They refer us to the local childrens hospital and tell us they might have to admit her overnight if they need to use an IV anesthesia to remove the bits surgically.

Unholy shitballs, I feel like a royal ass at this point.

However, eldest is a trooper and suffers through the waiting process without any drugs and the actual procedure with only a topical cream.

Now there's just the antibiotic regimen for the next week, since the tick was attached long enough to spread cellulitis (no, not cottage cheese thighs).

Damnit.

Must get past the words to what she's actually describing in the future.  I am the one with rocks in my ears.