That’s how often we’ve been to the pediatrician this week – twice; once Monday and once this afternoon. I believe it is a Chili family record.
Beanie and Punkin’ Pie spent some time in the woods last weekend. They camped out with my buddy NakedMessenger in her vast back yard while Mr. Chili and I were off enjoying a weekend alone to celebrate our anniversary. At some point between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, Beanie was bitten by something behind her ear. She was bitten a lot of other places, too, but none of those bites proved to be as dramatic – or troublesome – as the one just behind her right ear.
I suspect it was a spider that got her, and a pretty potent one, at that. The site was red and irregular when we picked her up and, when she went to bed at home on Sunday night, she complained that it hurt. When she woke on Monday morning, we could tell something was pretty well wrong with her – the site had swollen and looked irritated, and Bean had a 102° fever and was nauseated.
Oh, Goodie! Off to the doctor!
We saw a nurse practitioner who did the usual quick check-up and asked all the usual questions. She dismissed the bite and instead zeroed in on strep, for which Beanie was checked and prescribed ibuprofen to bring the fever down. The APRN wrote a scrip for some high-octane antibiotic ointment and sent us on our way.
The bite continued to be a concern for me, though, and on Tuesday night, while I was cleaning the area in preparation for the 2nd daily slathering of antibiotic goo, I noticed that it had turned kind of icky. The technical term for that is necrotic – the skin over and immediately surrounding the bite had died and needed to come off. I accomplished this with the friction from a damp washcloth (and a very brave Beanie), slathered on more ointment, and left it at that. The baby’s fever had gone right back to normal and she seemed mostly herself, so I wasn’t going to worry too much more about it.
This morning, though, I was back on yellow alert.
Not only is the site of the bite really yucky-looking, but the swelling and redness had crept out from behind her ear and was making its way down her neck. Add to that the fact that it had a bit of a bullseye pattern to it – red, then white, then red again – and we all in New England are in high Lyme’s Disease season. Even though I KNOW that the bite couldn’t possibly be a tick bite – I’m SURE it was a spider – the bullseye pattern flipped an alarm switch. Back to the doctor we go!
This time, I insisted on seeing Dr. Joanne. I ADORE this woman. I’m not sure it’s possible for me to have found a better pediatrician. She’s calm. She’s rational. She appreciates the fact that (for the most part) I’M calm and rational, so she knows that when I bring my babies in for something other than an annual check-up, I mean business.
She was stumped by the bite – it’s impossible to tell what kind of critter noshed on my daughter and really, what difference would it make anyway because the tests for antibodies would take longer than the treatment required to clear it up – but she agreed that it bears close observation. We got a more thorough check-up this time; Bean was looked at all over for any other signs of patterned bites, a temperature was taken, nodes were felt. The lab records were pulled telling us that Beanie doesn’t have strep. Dr. Joanne prescribed a 14 day course of antibiotics that will work on a kid allergic to penicillin (though I’m keeping a GOOD close eye on her for the next few hours, just to be sure), and we scheduled another appointment for next Thursday to do a follow-up.
In the big picture, I’m not terribly concerned. Beanie SEEMS okay. She’s not lethargic or altered, she isn’t nauseated or feverish and she has an appetite (such as it is; this kid has never been a particularly ravenous eater, anyway). Still, this thing is a mite worrying, and I’m going to keep pretty close watch on it until it goes away. In the meantime, I’m going to get as much healthy food into the child as I can, and encourage her to sleep well at night to support her own immune system, which I’m sure is working overtime to try to combat whatever nasty bug juice got squirted into her precious little head.
Bleargh! Hope she feels better soon.
Poor little Beanie! I have a friend who got bit by a spider (at least they assumed that’s what it was) and it took a little while but the poison worked its way out of her system and she was fine. But at first she had a fever and the site looked pretty gnarly.
Poor kid. Give her and P.P. a hug for me. And maybe a popsicle. You can have one too.
PS How are you SURE it’s not a tick bite?
Thanks, Kizz. She actually feels pretty good, but the spot behind her ear looks like hell.
Jules, that’s EXACTLY the right word. The site IS gnarly – though not nearly as the horror-movie-worthy pictures I found on google images. YIKES! If my baby looked like THAT, I’d be on full-on red alert; as it is, I’m back down to a nice, blue guarded.
Hugs passed around in your honor, JRH. We’re skipping the popsicles in favor of ice cream sundaes, though; I didn’t think you’d mind.
I can’t be sure, sure, SURE it’s not a tick bite, but it’s not behaving like any tick bite I’VE ever seen. There was no creature in it, and I’ve never had a tick bite go necrotic like that before. Bowyer, Dr. Joanne and I all concur on the spiderish qualities of this little ugly.
Whether it was a tick or spider, the antibiotic course will knock out the possibility of lyme disease. Plus, it will clear out whatever infection is causing the skin around the bite to die. It really does sound like a spider bite.
Oooh, poor Beanie. Sounds like she’s a trooper though. I’m glad she’s on the antibiotics and is feeling better. I wonder what kind of bite it is though.
Yikes. Spider bites are scary — necrotic is bad. Glad you’re watching and glad she seems fine, and glad you got to the doctor you trust.
YIKES.
Sorry to hear your baby has gnarly yuck.
Poor thing.
My first thought was that it sounded like a brown recluse bite.
I hope it clears up soon.
I hope Beanie feels better soon and the bite heals up quickly. Spider bites are the worst. I don’t generally kill bugs but spiders are another matter. I’m not afraid of them if they stay in their webs, it’s the hunting spiders that I’m allergic to.
Get healthy Beanie!
poor kid! Sounds like a spider- I had a spider bite a few years ago that developed a ring and saw the doc, and he said sometimes spider bites will produce rings around the bite site, but it’s technically a competently different ring than a tick ring. He explained why at the time nut I don’t remember now -it was pretty simple and obvious to him though.
Hope it gets better soon!
That sounds horrible, and I admire your relative calm. I don’t get uptight about my kids, and we never go to the doctor unless it’s really bad. But spider bites are SCARY. Hope it is all well SOON!