Ticks - Harmless or Dangerous -- You decide.

As I sit here in the waiting room of the hospital, I can only wonder, how did we get to this point? You see it was only 12 days ago that Mark was healthy and working in the yard. It is unfathomable that he may lose his life now as he sits in the ICU fighting for his life. It is preposterous to think that he got here from a tick bite, and yet that is exactly why a young, stocky, healthy man is now fighting for his life.

About a week and a half ago, Mark was working in the yard as he always did. He complained of a headache that would not go away. It seemed that no matter what he took, it would not resolve the headache. Later he developed a fever of 103. This disturbed his wife and she took him to the local ER. There it was determined from his symptoms along with a tooth abscess that he needed only antibiotics and pain meds to relieve his symptoms. They sent him home. Within 2 days he developed an itchy rash along with his fever and went to the local ER again. There it was determined that he was having an anaphylactic reaction to one of the antibiotics. They treated him with steroids and a breathing treatment and was sent home. By Monday, Mark had a high fever and was completely delerious, taking pills from his hand that were not there and did not know what year it was. He did not want to get in the ambulance due to his irrational state and the family had to be clever. They told him he needed to mow the grass and he dutifully got in the ambulance and went to a larger ER in a different hospital.

At this larger facility he fought diligently to get out of the bed and leave after being shot up with Valium to be relaxed. This man had unbelievable strengh and had to be held down by at least 6 people to get new medication to relax so they could intubate him. They began a regimen of wide spectrum antibiotics so they could do testing and find out what was causing this fever of 105 degrees. He was now sedated and had a port and picc line installed for further blood work. For 5 days they tested and now came some horrible news. Mark had not only pneumonia and a raging sepsis in his blood, but also Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (Erlychiosis). He was now in intensive care with round the clock care. They maintained Doxycycline in his IV (which is the treatment for Lyme and RMSF). A couple of days later, his kidneys failed and his wife, who never left his side was told he had a 50/50 chance of recovering. It was bad. His kidneys were maintained on dialysis and it seemed that he was getting a smidge better when wham, he had a heart attack. Since this hospital was not able to handle the heart problem, he was transferred to a larger hospital in a larger city.

Mark had a long ride by ambulance but he made it. He landed in intensive care at this hospital and again is receiving round the clock care along with 24/7 dialysis. His fever was under control but he now had to undergo a heart catheterization procedure. This was done and it was found out that his arteries were clear and you would think that was a good thing, but that only indicated his heart was inflamed by the infection. His wife (who is only 42) and not ready to be a widow kept vigilant by his side. Mark's family awaits information every day on his condition and still he continues to make only slight progress.

Life or death hinging on a simple tick bite. It really makes you wonder how life can be so fragile from a tick bite. The simple thing is that it takes 48 hours for an embedded tick to actually transfer the disease bacteria to and from the human host. If a tick is removed simply by applying alcohol and pulling off with tweezers within that time frame, there is little risk at all of contracting a tick born disease. The prevention is simple, and yet Mark has little feeling due to neuropathy, so he probably never felt the tick bite. Each of us must be vigilant with our health and take the necessary precautions. If bitten by a tick for over 48 hours, we must go immediately to the doctor and receive 10 days of doxycyline. That is the treatment to kill the bacteria that causes these tick born diseases. If left untreated, you could end up where Mark is now, on the edge of darkness.

It has been 5 weeks of intensive care now for Mark. The formerly healthy, hearty 43-year-old man who has been lost to us from this tick bite. Believe it or not he is due to come home on Monday. He is alive, but suffers now from brain damage on the left side of his brain from the encephalitis that he had in intensive care. His kidneys started working but he will have to have dialysis 3 days a week for a while to continue to remove toxins from his blood. He will need extensive physical therapy to re-learn to walk after lying in a bed for 5 weeks. Mark's wife is dedicated to helping her husband return to somewhat normal. The peritonitis that set in to his abdominal region can be treated by removing fluid buildup from his abdomen. He recognizes people, but has short term memory issues.

Recovery will be a long process and Mark's family is all behind him, however, what does he do now. There are still many ticks on his property that potentially carry the diseases he contracted. My advice is to put Frontline on him. (Just kidding) Really, other than DEET, what can be effective against these disease carrying critters that almost ended his life. So from here I quote the infamous Sonny and Cher, "...and the beat goes on".