Lyme Disease Prevention with Skin So Soft Bug Guard
While summer may be just about over, those of us who live among the deer and tall grass know that we still need to be vigilant about Lyme Disease. I happen to live in the Pocono Mountains where deer abound.
Pictured about is my very active, hilarious and animated 6-year old son, Brody. He loves to play and get dirty (often.) A few months ago when returning from a weekend visit with his dad (who also lives in the woods), he complained that there was something stuck in his ear. When we arrived home, I looked in the inner corner of his ear to find a slightly bloated tick. My husband was able to pull the entire tick out with tweezers, and since it didn't appear to be a deer tick (I looked it up online), we didn't give it another thought.
About a month later, Brody was in the ER because the back half of his head began to swell and ooze on the exact side where he had been bitten. The ER told me he had cellulitis, prescribed an antibiotic and steroid and sent us on our way. The swelling went away about a week later and we thought nothing more about it since the antibiotic appeared to have treated the issue.
Just short of two weeks from that ER visit, Brody woke up with the same side of his face looking a bit swollen under his eye. I asked him if his head hurt again, but he blamed his brother Duncan for hitting him in the face, and since that was a completely reasonable answer, I scolded Duncan for hitting him. Later that morning when I dropped him off to his dad, his face seemed redder. I mentioned it to his father and told him what Brody told me. By that evening when I went to pick up my oldest from camp and bring him to his dad, Brody's whole side of his face was swollen and very red. He also felt like he had a fever. I then noticed a bullseye on his arm and asked his father to call the doctor immediately the next morning to schedule an appointment for him to be seen. My ex-husband quickly grabbed his laptop to look up images of Lyme Disease and we knew that this was very likely what was going on with Brody.
By the next morning when I met Brody and his dad at the doctor's office, his face looked worse, and he had not just one bullseye, but a total of 5 between his arms and legs (this indicates it's been in your system for more than 30 days.) I was nervous since Brody is my youngest and such a tiny guy. The pediatrician confirmed just based on the presenting symptoms that he had Lyme Disease and prescribed a 3-week dosing of antibiotics.
Thankfully Brody appears to have responded well and he is back to his normal self. My ex-husband had brought up using Avon's Skin So Soft on him (and his brothers) to help protect them from further tick bites. Thankfully Avon had great timing, as they offered their new Skin So Soft Bug Guard for review just after Brody's diagnosis.
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