Bitten Again TWICE already this season .... Lyme is back?

Well, I have already pulled two ticks off of me this season. On March 17, 2012, I pulled a tick off the top of my right ankle. It hadn't been on me for long so I had hoped it hadn't had a chance to re-infect me. However, I awoke at 12:30 a.m. on April 23, 2012 to find a tiny tick already stuck and engorged on my belly! It was only inches from my original bite that prompted this web blog and caused my journey with Lyme Disease.

Unfortunately, today (one week after the second bite) I have what is strangely reminiscent of one of my very first "strange" symptoms when I first became ill with Lyme two years ago. While out at the barn today, I broke a carrot stick in half to give to my horse. As soon as the carrot broke, I got a sharp pain in my left thumb and it immediately bruised .... a broken blood vessel just exactly like I got at the beginning of my Lyme infection almost exactly two years ago! I am very upset at the thought that I may be battling this disease yet again. If indeed I am, then I am going to make sure and document every single thing as it happens! To start, I will be posting pictures of this bruise on my thumb, below.

Just to prove how bad the tick population is this year in Tennessee .... also today while I was at the barn with my horses, even after having sprayed myself with a tick repellent containing DEET, I pulled a tick off of my neck! Yes, PULLED it off ... it had already started trying to attach! PLEASE BEWARE OF TICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!