A daily series, Connect! Unite! Act! seeks to create face-to-face networks in each congressional district. Groups regularly socialize but also get out the vote, support candidates and engage in other local political actions that help our progressive movement grow and exert influence on the powers-that-be. Visit us at Daily Kos every morning at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time to see how you can get involved. The comment thread is fun and light-hearted, but we're serious about moving the progressive political agenda forward.
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Ever been bitten by a black-legged tick?
So I've been doing all outside work in the mornings. I have to be done by noon because it gets way too hot. During the past couple weeks I've been chopping some oak rounds that I'd let dry for the past year. Oak has to dry out for at least a year to be burnable in a wood stove. Then I was stacking the wood in our wood shed. I was wearing tank tops, shorts and flip flops, my summer uniform for 25 years.
Around here there are lots of deer. This year there are more than ever hovering around our property because the drought has dried out all their food in the wild so they are using our gardens for their salad bar. Starting last year deer began eating things they'd avoided for 25 years around here, obviously expanding what they'll try to eat. There are numbers of young deer and mom deer plus a couple dude deer with nice racks.
Well, I had a little something develop on my upper right arm. At first I thought maybe it was a splinter because there was a drop of blood. I couldn't find a splinter while digging around. I did dig something out of the spot but it wasn't recognizable. It wasn't a solid opaque color or hard like a splinter. It was kinda translucent with some brown speckles. It looked a bit gelatinous too. I used a magnifying glass to get as good a look as I could, but it wasn't something I could recognize. It definitely looked "organic," but what was it? Was it a stinger from something? It wasn't a spider bite because there was only one puncture spot, not two, and spiders don't leave anything behind.
During the next several days a rash developed around the site. It wasn't turgid. There was no pustule or pus. It wasn't itchy or painful. It wasn't even really warm like you'd expect from a typical infection from a puncture wound. It wasn't raised. What on earth was this thing. It kept spreading in a circular pattern from the center. I've never had anything like this before. This was new for me.
I'm pretty cognizant of Lyme disease around here. Where we live is a hotbed for it. Unfortunately I know too many people personally who have chronic Lyme disease. Though the CDC denies there is such a thing, I'm telling you there is. And it's devastating. I know people who are racked with joint and body pains from it. Worse yet, I know people whose central nervous systems and brains are very adversely affected by it. People with chronic Lyme disease can truly have their lives ruined.
After about 4 days living with this spreading rash I thought I may have been bitten by a Deer Tick. Black-legged ticks carry Lyme. Lyme isn't just the spirochete bacteria you hear about. It's most often a combination of 3, 4 or even 5 different bacteria. I'm not going into any real detail here, but you can research it yourself if you'd like. Here's the link to wikipedia's article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/...
Since I was cradling wood in my arms that I took to the wood shed, I believe a tick on the wood bit me at some point that I then later unknowingly "scraped off" with other pieces of wood I carried. I also think what I removed from that spot was the mouth piece of the tick still embedded in my arm, specifically the hypostome. Here's what the mouth parts of ticks look like:
Below is a picture of what my arm looked like with that rash spreading:
Below is a picture of what the beginning of Lyme looks like after a bite on the upper arm. It looks pretty similar to what I have:
There is no friggin' way in hell I'm going to let Lyme disease get me if I can help it. I've had enough of my body getting trashed over the past three years. I'd already put antibiotic cream on it with band aids for two days in a row. That did absolutely nothing so this wasn't some local spot infection gotten from a splinter. Whatever it was, it was spreading like ink does when you blot it with a cloth.
The rash of Lyme disease can last up to a month. Then it disappears. If you take docxcycline during the time of the initial rash, you just wipe it out. If you don't and some months or years go by, you could be in for some very bad chronic problems and the disease is extremely difficult to get rid of. Some believe you never actually can get rid of it once it's become chronic. Normally people are put on antibiotics for years.
Well I decided to be proactive. I thought I'd go to the local doc-n-a-box. I have an ObamaCare Silver 70 policy (or is it SCOTUScare now?). Smileycreek told me she has a very low opinion of the local doc-n-a-box and told me I should go through the Anthem BlueCross online Skype doctor thing. I did just that because, let's face it, she's always right. My copay is $45 per doctor visit no matter where I go. It's $45 to do the online thing. But the nice part about it is I can get immediate online help.
Smileycreek's laptop has a camera...good. It's easy to get things started. I'd filled out the comment box as to why I was contacting them. Their site walks you through the steps to make sure your computer can fully connect with theirs. After getting things setup on our end which took less than two minutes, I was connected to a wonderful doctor in no time.
She asked me questions after noting where I lived was a Lyme disease hotbed which she could tell from my address. She was very thorough and was simultaneously looking up stuff on her end. I liked that. She was getting information while we were talking vs. just listening to me.
She had me show her the rash on my arm and we talked about all the details that led up to it. She told me it would take 3-4 weeks after the bite for it to show up in my serum. In other words, testing for Lyme would be useless until about a month after getting bit.
We discussed options. I told her I'd like to start taking doxycycline now rather than wait the month it would take for a a positive Lyme test. She said that after talking about what happened and seeing the rash she felt it would "be very appropriate." An electronic prescription was sent to my favorite pharmacy. When I picked it up I showed the pharmacist my arm. He said, "oh man!" and thought it looked like Lyme to him and needed to be dealt with immediately.
The treatment is taking two 100 mg doxycycline capsules per day for three weeks. After taking just two capsules the first day, the rash has faded by 50%. It sure seems like the perfect match of antibiotics for whatever this is. I'm pretty certain it's Lyme, but since I won't be doing a test for it, I'll never know for sure.
Do you know how to identify potential Lyme disease?
Latest Updates on Regional Meet-Up News Can Be Found Below the Orange Group Hug.
Let's Build Communities!
Our team is here to provide support and guidance to new and existing volunteer leaders of each regional and state group, helping them with recruiting, organizing and executing social and action events.
We invite you to join in this effort to build our community. There are many ways to pitch in.
If there isn't a group to join near you, please start one.
Instructions on HOW TO FORM A NEW DAILY KOS GROUP
List of All Existing Meatspace Groups
Where the Kogs Are: Index/Directory of the 130+ Localized Daily Kos Groups
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
Houston Area Kossacks had a great meetup
by Chrislove ♥ for Houston Area Kossacks
L-R: scott5js, JJR1971, Blood & cosette, Mary, and Chrislove
You can join Houston Area Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to Chrislove.
by susans ♥ for Los Angeles Kos
You can join Los Angeles Kos by sending a Kosmail to susans.
by John Crapper ♥ for Seattle & Puget Sound Kos
Wherein a set day and time is announced for the NEW WASHINGTON STATE Open Thread to be posted each week on Sunday at 3:30 PM Pacific! Great work, John Crapper, on putting a team together to post.
Please visit
John Crapper's diary for more photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join
Seattle & Puget Sound Kos by sending a Kosmail to
John Crapper.
by joanbrooker ♥ for New York City
New York City Kos welcomed with open arms visitors peregrine kate from Detroit and asterkitty from Philadelphia. Great fun was had by all!
Please visit joanbrooker's diary for more photos including food pr0n! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join New York City by sending a Kosmail to kathyny.
Here's two group photos:
Event Organizers! Please contact wink from Netrootsradio.com by KosMail to schedule airtime with them to live broadcast the date of your Event. Wink & Justice will then promote it on The After Show radio program!
Wednesday, July 15th
Phoenix & Baja Arizona Kossacks Meet-up with Many Out-of-Town Visitors!
TIME: 5:00 PM
LOCATION: NO-HOST Dinner Majerle’s Sports Grill, Downtown Phoenix
24 North 2nd Street • Phoenix, near the Convention Center
ORGANIZER: Send Mother Mags a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Mother Mags
2. Azazello
3. Mrs. Azazello
4. rasbobbo
5. navajo
6. vicki
7. Beth Becker
8. Mark Mohundro
9. brillig
10 mik
11. DebtorsPrison
12. jlms qkw
13. Arenosa
14. Pam Miles
15. ramara
16. ItsaMathJoke
17. Perfect Stormer
18. SanDiegoDem
19. DaNang65
20. slowblues
21. mrs slowblues
22. Kid 1
23. Malacandra
24. shayera
25. edgery
26. edgery's grandson
27. Sun Tzu
28. MsSpentyouth
29. BruinKid
30. mah621
31. State Sen. Andrea Dalessandro
32. artmartin
33. afrodamus
34. Lulu
35. elk18
Seating MAXED out at 35 |
Maybees: |
DAILY KOS COLORADO ROAD TRIP!
Sunday, July 26th
Denver Kos Meet-up with Meteor Blades and navajo
TIME: 1:00 PM
LOCATION: Mercury Cafe is powered by the Wind and the Sun. We serve Local, Organic Food, and Community is our purpose.
2199 California Street • Denver
ORGANIZER: Send ColoTim or Leftcandid a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. ColoTim
2. Leftcandid
3. Meteor Blades
4. navajo
5. acpa
6. Ginny in CO
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Maybees: |
Monday, July 27th
Colorado Springs Kos Meet-up with Meteor Blades and navajo
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: MacKenzie's Chop House
128 S Tejon St • Colorado Springs
ORGANIZER: Send thanatokephaloides a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. thanatokephaloides
2. Meteor Blades
3. navajo
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Maybees: |
Wednesday, July 29th
Four Corners Kos Meet-up with Meteor Blades and navajo
TIME: 5:00 PM
LOCATION: Private Residence
[Address will be given to RSVPers] • Durango
ORGANIZER: Send Thinking Fella a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Thinking Fella
2. Meteor Blades
3. navajo
4. nzanne
5.
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Maybees: |
Announcing Asheville, North Carolina as the location
for our next Regional Event! 9.26.15
Asheville, N.C. is the destination for September 26, 2015! DKos Asheville, the In-Real-Life group under the leadership of randallt, has been setting the example for other IRL groups across the nation regarding registering people to vote, getting out the vote, having a state open thread and setting up strategy conferences for their region. Because of this impressive leadership we've asked randallt to be the State Leader for all of North Carolina. We've got important work to do on the ground there and randallt has shown he's the person to make that happen.
All states are welcome to attend this event and if you do you can expect to meet Markos Moulitsas in person, as well as some of the Daily Kos staff. More details regarding this regional event will be shared in the future so please stay tuned to Connect! Unite! Act!
For now, SAVE THE DATE and spread the word!
navajo maintains the above event list. Kosmail her if you have any diaries
about your event or if you have changes or additions.
EVERYONE is welcome, tell us what you're working on,
share your show and tell, vent, whatever you want.
This is an open thread. Nothing is off topic.
Fri Sep 11, 2015 at 3:42 AM PT (Anonymous Coward): I was just looking at your Connect! Unite! Act! Denver, Colorado Springs & Durango Meet-Up Info — Got Lyme? site and see that your site has the potential to get a lot of visitors. I just want to tell you, In case you don't already know... There is a website network which already has more than 16 million users, and most of the users are interested in websites like yours. By getting your site on this network you have a chance to get your site more visitors than you can imagine. It is free to sign up and you can find out more about it here: http://www.arvut.org/... - Now, let me ask you... Do you need your site to be successful to maintain your way of life? Do you need targeted traffic who are interested in the services and products you offer? Are looking for exposure, to increase sales, and to quickly develop awareness for your site? If your answer is YES, you can achieve these things only if you get your site on the network I am describing. This traffic network advertises you to thousands, while also giving you a chance to test the service before paying anything at all. All the popular sites are using this service to boost their traffic and ad revenue! Why aren’t you? And what is better than traffic? It’s recurring traffic! That's how running a successful website works... Here's to your success! Read more here: http://www.arvut.org/...
Lindsey http://www.arvut.org/...
Tue Oct 20, 2015 at 9:20 PM PT (Anonymous Coward): I was just looking at your Connect! Unite! Act! Denver, Colorado Springs & Durango Meet-Up Info — Got Lyme? website and see that your site has the potential to get a lot of visitors. I just want to tell you, In case you don't already know... There is a website network which already has more than 16 million users, and most of the users are interested in topics like yours. By getting your website on this network you have a chance to get your site more visitors than you can imagine. It is free to sign up and you can read more about it here: http://www.arvut.org/... - Now, let me ask you... Do you need your website to be successful to maintain your way of life? Do you need targeted traffic who are interested in the services and products you offer? Are looking for exposure, to increase sales, and to quickly develop awareness for your site? If your answer is YES, you can achieve these things only if you get your site on the service I am describing. This traffic network advertises you to thousands, while also giving you a chance to test the service before paying anything at all. All the popular sites are using this service to boost their readership and ad revenue! Why aren’t you? And what is better than traffic? It’s recurring traffic! That's how running a successful website works... Here's to your success! Read more here: http://tgi.link/...