At 5am Natasha had a headache. By 10am, she couldn’t walk.
She Had An Ugly Wound On The Side Of Her Head And No One Knew What It Was
At first, she just had a headache, but it didn’t take long for Natasha’s symptoms to spiral into something terrifying. And to make matters more frightening, doctors had no idea what was wrong.
It started at 5am, when Natasha woke her mum, Natalie Renee, complaining of a headache. Her condition deteriorated quickly. Later that morning the girl had a fever of 40 degrees and had lost the ability to walk.
Natalie, who has been a nurse based in the US for 13 years, had never seen anything like it. She checked over her daughter’s body and found a lump at her hairline, the size of a 20 cent piece.
“I checked her head because she kept complaining,” Natalie posted on Facebook. “I found a quarter size lump on the right side of her head that by 4pm had become the ugliest looking wound I have ever seen.”
It’s just a spider bite … or so they thought
The pair visited a doctor and were told that it was a spider bite. They went home, but in a few more hours, the spot had turned white with a red border.
“The fever was unstoppable,” Natalie wrote. “She screamed in pain nonstop because she was unable to move her head/neck or even walk.
“She was dizzy, confused and her knees were swollen and painful.”
“I never saw anything like this in 13 years of nursing”
Natalie drove her daughter to a local children’s hospital. “[I was] a mess, scared to death because I never saw anything like this in 13 years of nursing.”
Doctors in hospital reassured her that they would figure out the problem, but everyone who examined Natasha was baffled by her symptoms.
“Every team from neurologists, infectious disease, dermatology, and who knows what else saw her,” Natalie wrote. “Everyone scratched their heads just like me.”
A photo of the wound was passed around.
“I think between the pics and telling the same story over and over and about 30 physical exams we both were frustrated.”
All the while Natasha was getting worse.
A diagnosis at last
Doctors determined that while the wound wasn’t the usual presentation of a tick bite, Natasha had Lyme disease.
“She got her first dose of cefuroxime last night and thank god this morning is the first time in days I saw her walk by herself, eat, drink and is talking my ear off again about everything,” she wrote.
“I am so thankful we came to the right place.”
Lyme disease
“Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection caused by a bacteria in the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato group,” according to NSW Health.
Symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, sore muscles and joints and a skin rash.
NSW Health cautions that there is little evidence that the disease occurs in Australia, but there’s a risk of catching it overseas.
If children have symptom’s like Natasha’s, Natalie recommends checking the child’s skin, even if you don’t see a tick.
“[The type of Lyme disease Natasha had] attacked her nervous system,” Natalie wrote. “I just ask to please take precautions to prevent ticks with your children and yourself. I never saw a tick on Natasha, so even if you don’t see one, check their skin for bites …”
Ongoing treatment
In the six days since Natalie posted her story, she’s learned how little medical professionals know about Lyme disease. The family also has insurance worries.
“We may not have coverage for continued treatment,” she wrote, “and might have to travel hours to get a Lyme literate MD to treat her.”
In a post from earlier today, Natalie wrote, “Prayers please for my girl. We are headed back to children’s [hospital].”
