Friday we went to the park. Snakes were caught, some big, some small. None venomous….this time. Whew. Little did I know this would be the least of my concerns. Friday night I made note of a bug bite on Teegan’s leg that was swollen. It wasn’t bothering him so I didn’t feel too concerned. He tends to be overly allergic to mosquitoes so I assumed it was just his usual mosquito reaction.

Saturday, the bite had doubled in size. Into the ER we went, with thoughts of black widows or worse, brown recluses, on my mind. No, it was just a bite, they assured me. I think this was supposed to be reassuring but all I could think of was that if his body reacted this way to a simple bug bite, how might it react to venom? I do know that all bug reactions aren’t made the same. Right below the mystery bite was a red ant bite. Some people have serious reactions to those and, go figure, Teegan’s was fairly typical. We were sent on our way with oral steroids but told it would resolve on its own either way so we held off on the steroids.

Saturday night I watched as it grew bigger and bigger and bigger and basically took over his leg between ankle and knee. I have to admit I was totally freaked out. Finally a dose of oral Bendaryl (which we have now been instructed to give whenEVER he is bit by any bug) stopped the growth and it has been slowly shrinking since then. Today it’s about the size of a half dollar or a little bigger - about 3 times smaller than it was at its largest.

I have given some serious thought to allergy testing and allergy shots. Teegan has been bit by red ants and stung by bees and wasps without effect. It only seems to be the mosquitoes that are the problem and it seems like it’s getting worse. Google tells me he probably has Skeeter Syndrome but it can really only be diagnosed with allergy tests. Unfortunately Teegan is phobic to needles like I am phobic to dentists. I think he even scared the hell out of the ER when we came in just because he was so totally panic-stricken at the thought of needing to give blood or get a shot that he couldn’t settle. It was awful. So for now, we’ll stick with the Benadryl or Zyrtec this summer along with B1 which I have heard makes one less yummy to mosquitoes. We’ll see.

Sunday Dalton was out at The Hill* with his friends when I called him home. Its a long bike ride home. He sped down the hill, coasting along, when at the bottom he realized the chain on his bike had come off and he wiped out. Can I just say right now that this is why I rest so much easier when BOTH my big kids are out together? And also why BOTH my kids will have cell phones on them at all times when they are away from home. All that said, he fixed his bike and came home just fine. He didn’t need to call me, he didn’t need Teegan. But it freaked me out anyway.

Today its raining. Pouring. The old man is snoring. I really REALLY needed this rain break. All the excitement of the Great Outdoors comes with lots of risks and some days I handle those risks better than others. Today I just want to wrap my boys up and keep them safe forever. Of course I know I can’t and I won’t but I still want to.  I know a lot of people are worried about child predators but to me, the bigger child predators are venomous snakes, spiders whose bite can necrotize human flesh and cars that can hit my kids and leave them for dead at the side of the road.

* the hill is a sidewalk on a very steep hill that the kids meet on to ride down, for fun. Doesn’t every neighborhood have a hill?

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