I'm seriously ready to pack up and move OUT of this house. My husband and I even discussed it this morning, so it's getting pretty serious.

Have any of you actually packed up and moved house to decrease your chances of reinfection?

We also discussed keeping the pets outside all of the time again. We keep flip-flopping back and forth, back and forth. I wish I could make a rock-solid decision one way or the other. This uncertainty and fear is really taking it's toll on my psychological health. I'm so darn scared all of the time!

Anyway, sorry for the sloppy web page, but I didn't have much time to put it together.

Pics from left to right:

1) My daughter's 1st ER Rash
2) My daughter's 2nd ER Rash (recurring)
3) Tarantula on my back patio this morning
4) Same Tarantula
5) Same Tarantula
6) Our backyard
http://home.comcast.net/~alixsk/Lyme_Disease.html

I hope this link works.

On Tarantulas, relax!

quote:

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Tarantulas are harmless to humans and can be trained as pets.

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Tarantula Info

Maybe they don't carry ticks, and you could replace the dog and cat.

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Sonoma County Lyme Support
[email protected]

On a strange, Northern CA note, there is now talk of posting signs on the roadway cautioning drivers to "slow down, tarantula crossing" I believe our local animal columnist, Gary Bogue, is behind this effort.

If you do decide to stay here, and live anywhere near Walnut Creek (home to last weeks big pipeline explosion) then may I suggest if you have come to the decision to find homes for any of the animals that live with you, to contact the organization "ARF". Animal Rescue Foundation is Tony LaRussa's (yes the baseball guy) pet project, and this place is amazing. It's obviously a no-kill shelter, but it's just like a luxury hotel.

It's beyond mentioning that it would be so heartbreaking to have to give away your animals, but I do not speak lightly when I would gently make the suggestion to do this myself. You say you are flip-flopping, well every flip-flop puts you at risk, or your family, for another tick bite.

I've only not had to do this because after my last german shepherd died, I made the decision NOT to have another dog for awhile, and then we moved here, to tickville, CA, and I realized shortly thereafter, that I would NEVER have an inside/outside animal, cat or dog, while we lived here.

The risk is too great. It's catastrophic, actually.

I skate with danger everyday, as it is, with having the outside only cats. I tell my boys constantly "hands only" petting. Do NOT let them rub up against your clothing, no lap sitting, etc. Because I feel you can pet the cats withh a hand, then immediately LOOK at your hand to see if you picked up any ticks.

I also do a tick check daily, while I'm feeding them.

It's really bizare way of having animals, but it's how I do it.

I also have to limit the time my boys spend playing at the neighbors houses, because unfortunately, they (the neighbors) DO NOT GET THIS. They all have inside/outside cats and dogs, and I cringe to wonder if my boys will be sitting on their furniture (where those same cats/dogs also sit) and a tick will come home on my boys clothing, or maybe already embedded!

It was a reality for my youngest son, actually, a year ago when he had a huge bullseye (our first, too) rash on his knee, and I immediately put him on doxy until the LLMD could prescribe ceftin. He was pos. for bart at this time too. There was no tick, but it was obviously a bulleye. He'd been off all abx for a year, so it was back on the merry-go-round. I was very sad and angry, and I blamed where we live for having to go thru this again. But, still we stay.

Never ends.
Julie

[This message has been edited by Just Julie (edited 16 November 2004).]

My husband and I know that we would move in a heartbeat if we had a presence of ticks (and tarantulas!) in our backyard! We've discussed this before. We look at it like this: people have been known to move for less important reasons than fear of ticks! Heck, some people just move to have a prettier house, or 1 extra bathroom, or because they just want new neighbors.....or the commute is bad...My point is...your mental health, justified or not (and I definately think tick fear is justified!!) is more important than anything! If you are going to worry about your pets and your immediate surroundings, then do what you need to do. I have no pets and will never get any ever. (but I'm not an animal lover so thats an easy one) But I feel for your agony over what to do with the pets you love. But if my husband and I ever have to move again, say to a new state for a new job, we know already that if we landed in a property already inhabited by ticks and other undesirable creatures, we would move.

Two years ago right after we moved into our current home (where we plan to stay for many years) all 4 of us finally got diagnosed. Then, a neighbor told us that they were glad the previous owners finally moved away. Why? Because they were all avid hunters, brought deer home, strung them up in the trees in the backyard, butchered them in the garage, it was a real meat processing plant right there in the garage!! We had wondered what all those deep brown/red stains were on the garage floor - duh, deer blood!

So this news about the former owners was *seriously* weighing on my already fragile mental health!! I had already been having terrible anxiety about tick reinfection and then we moved into THIS house!!! ARRGH! I could only imagine how many many ticks had jumped ship off the deer and were reproducing in the grass and pine trees right where we put our playset!! We almost moved right then and there, but we couldn't do it so soon for financial reasons. I hadn't even seen any ticks yet but the possibility was there thanks to the hunters before us.

Your first few posts reminded me of myself back then....I frantically cleaned and fumigated and inspected for ticks, did tick checks so often on the kids that they ran from me and was nutso and paranoid because we had unknowingly just moved into tick-central.

I remember during the open house that just about every closet had hunting gear hanging in it and they had an indoor hunting dog and 3 cats too. The good news was that I never actually saw a tick indoors and no one in 2 years has ever had a tick bite or had an attachment. But...my husband and I decided that if we found we were being overrun by ticks in our own property, we would move. Period.

The other good news is that the tick anxiety did eventually lessen for me, especially now that we are well under way with treatments and loving our LLMDs. Any crisis is always rough at the beginning, the place where you are now. And definately even worse when our little ones are involved. It WILL get easier on the ol' mental health. Trust me. I'm as big a worrier and protector as they come!!!

So, if you have to make changes, big or small, make em. You don't need to justify it even. Not even with yourself LOL!

Ticks still make me fearful so we made the decision to no longer camp with the extended family. We visit NYC, Pittsburgh, and other big cities on our vacations now. We swim indoors now that it's colder, instead of taking hikes in the state parks. My kids love all this change but our family thinks we're nuts and paranoid. Who cares. It's your little family and your peace of mind you need to attend to.

Don't worry, you'll make the right decisions. I understand how you feel and you're not alone. I spent a long time feeling very "out of control" meaning I can't control something that I can barely see! Of course I still worry, too, when the kids visit their friends' houses out in the country ... but at least I feel our house and our yard is "clean", at least for the time being.

I'm not telling you what to do, just showing you that your anxiety is common among us and that I would move in a heartbeat if I ever found myself living in a tick area. I hope you have some flexibility if you move and I wish you the best in your decisions about your pets.

Charlie

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Originally posted by cave76:
If you move, move to a high rise in the middle of Manhattan and don't let your kids or pets go to a park. That's probably pretty tick free.
[/B]

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Actually, that doesn't even work. I live in Manhattan, and I just recently picked up a Lyme-positive tick.

This is called irony. I have two dogs. I lived in Albany, NY for ten years. I spend a lot of time in the Adirondacks, including one three-month stint in a tent. I lived in Ithaca, NY for two years.

I move to Manhattan...and then I get Lyme. To be fair, I don't know beyond a doubt that I picked up the tick here, but it does make you laugh. In a twisted sort of way.

I want to weigh in on the pets question too, although I hope this doesn't come across as preachy.

Dogs are pack animals. When we bring domesticated dogs into our homes, our families become their packs. Although they understand that they're at the bottom of the hierarchy, interaction with the rest of the pack is extremely important to their well-being. Once a dog is banished from the home - even if its physical needs are met - they suffer terrible confusion, anxiety, loneliness and depression. This is where a lot of bad behaviour begins. If you decide that having your dogs in your home is not a good option for your family (which is a perfectly understandable decision), it is much more fair to the dogs to find them new homes where they can have all of their needs met.

And I have to say I agree with Jolie's opinion about dogs being pack animals, and when they're put out of the pack (banished to the yard) you will definitely see heartbreaking behavior. Most people who are not dog people, or animal lovers, will NOT associate this behavior with the loss that these dogs who are banished go thru.

But, I believe it to be true-you simply must put your dogs well-being above your own, and find them new homes where they can be outside, AND INSIDE. Otherwise, why have one, if all you're going to do is throw food and water at them in the yard?