Always Wear a Hat

I was stretching in the family room when I felt something strange on my head. I pulled it off my scalp and stared swearing. It was a tick.
For the past few weeks I've been reading about how bad the ticks will be this year. A lot of the stories talked about why, but I don't really care why there are going to be a lot of ticks. I just want to know that it's going to be bad.
As soon as I read the articles, I reminded the girls to start checking Holly for ticks. We made sure Holly had the strongest flea and tick medicine appropriate for her size. We thought we were covered. It turns out our concern was misplaced. We should have been more worried about ticks on our bodies.
After I flushed the tick down the toilet, I checked my head again. There was a bump where the tick was, but I also had the entire tick, so I wasn't sure it actually bit my head. Still, I woke up this morning and called my doctor. Her office said to come in for an exam.
The doctor said she saw the bump, but couldn't tell if the tick broke my scalp skin. We talked about next steps and decided that I would take a preventative antibiotic. My sister-in-law Mary had Lyme disease. I knew it was as scary as advertised. If a simple antibiotic treatment was the best way to prevent Lyme disease, I was willing to take it.
Before I left the office, my doctor told me to remember to always wear a hat when I'm out among trees. She said ticks often fall off trees onto people and dogs.
Yikes!
From now on I will keep my hat in the car so I never forget to wear it when I'm out. This time I was lucky. I found the tick and there do not seem to be long-term effects. I'm not going to take a change that I won't be so lucky next time.