completely OT....leech infection!

scootergirl

Okay.....now this thread is completely off any topic I have seen here before...but I am just in shock over an infection that my 9 year old son got w/in hours of swimming at an area lake.

My kids went swimming for about 4 hours yesterday and my middle boy, James, found a leech in his belly button on the ride home. He didn't think anything of it and pulled it off. Within hours an infection had set in. He woke up to a huge, raised, growing red ring around his belly button area this morning. When we went to the doctor he told us this was the fastest, most severe infection caused by a leech he has ever seen!

So...for my good friends, I share w/you these pictures! YUCK! YUCK!YUCK!

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?selected=49759

Edited by - scootergirl on 18 June 2002 15:59:13

Angharad

Ewww poor thing

Hope it clears up soon for him.

scootergirl

Angharad......How did I know another fellow "mom" would be the first to post a reply? LOL.....must be our maternal insticts!

Grout

Eek. Now I remember why I never swim in lakes.

Dutchie

Poor baby! What did the doctor give you to treat it Scooter?

Dutchie

opps!

Edited by - Dutchie on 18 June 2002 16:14:11

scootergirl

Dutchie, the doctor gave him a rx. of Cephalexin (antibiotics). He kept telling how I was very smart to bring James in IMMEDIATELY once we noticed the infection. He said, if we didn't, it could have been extremely bad and painful.

James is nervous to go swimming now......poor kid. Nuttin' like starting summer vacation off w/a bang!

betweenworlds

Oh dear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEK :( poor little fella. Hope the infection clears up quickly. Didn't know such a thing happened with leeches. Creepy old things anyway! Have pulled a fair share off m'self. YUCH

BW

Sabine

Sorry your little guy had to start summer off like that. I'm from SoCal, so when we moved up to the Northwest, I was dying to go to the beach. I took my then three year old guy to a beach on lake washington. When we got home I noticed little bumps all over him. The doc said it was "swimmers itch", some kind of algae bloom in the water. I just wait till I can go in the ocean now...lakes are too unpredictable. Of course every time I go to my house in Maui, there's been a shark attack on the news.

Hope you little guy is better soon!

Sabine

scootergirl

betweenworlds wrote:

Didn't know such a thing happened with leeches.

NEITHER DID I! That is why it just floored me! Growing up in Minnesota and swimming in tons of lakes, I got use to chiggers and leeches but never have I ever seen an infection by a leech.

Last summer, James (he must be a leech-magnet), stepped into a nest of leeches and had about two dozen crawling on his ankles. That was enough to send his mother over the edge.....

*thinking twice about swimming in lakes too, now*

completely OT....leech infection!

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