Once upon a time, a brother and sister lived in the Hudson River Valley of New York. The boy, Nick and the girl, Monica, loved to run among the fields and catch butterflies, frogs and other animals and then let them go.
Every winter, they would go to Florida and visit other areas of the United States along the way. Sometimes they would discover new animals. Once, in Florida, they came across a scary alligator and you should have seen how very fast they ran back to the house! They were both great runners from all the sports and running and climbing they did all year round.
Alligators were totally new to them. Nick and Monica thought of catching one someday when they were older, but they were wise enough to stay far enough away while they looked at them from the water by the house.
Nick and Monica had dreams of exploring new areas of the United States. After all, discovering animals and new countryside was exciting. They would think of their adventures while they were at school. Their teachers loved their reports and stories of their trips. Nick and Monica were both excellent writers.
One day, the Nick got sick. He started to have lots of aches and pains, but his family doctor didn't know what was wrong. He did some tests on Nick's blood for Lyme disease. They came back negative.
Nick started to feel very tired. He missed days of school. One day he woke up and felt a tingling in his left hand. His mother started to worry. "What will be next?" she thought. "He has missed two weeks of school already!"
On the fifteenth day, his teacher called and asked Nick's mother what was wrong. "Oh, he doesn't have any energy to go to school, and he keeps saying his muscles hurt, his back is sore and he won't eat anything." The teacher asked Nick's mother if he had a Lyme disease test. "Yes, and it came back negative," Mom replied.
Monica seemed to be doing fine, she didn't have any aches and pains at all. She was just sad. She missed playing with her brother very much. She ran and played in the fields by her house alone now. She also did nice things for Nick. One day, Monica made chicken soup out of a can and put it on the table by Nick's bedside. It just sat there. He didn't eat it.
The next day, she brought Nick a Nestle's Crunch bar, his favorite. He just stared at it. Nick looked away from Monica and asked her, "What is wrong with me?" Monica ran downstairs crying and asked her dad, (who knew everything) "Dad, what is wrong with Nick? He looks so sick. Please do something for him."
Nick and Monica's dad had a friend with whom he talked the next day. He found out that Lyme disease is not always found by family doctors. He came home with another doctor's name who had an office thirty miles away. The doctor had a lot of experience treating people with disease you can get from a tick bite. Nick's mom made an appointment. It would be in two weeks.
Monica felt sad for her brother and kept bringing him food to eat. She couldn't even get him to eat his favorite food like the lemon meringue pie her grandmother brought over the night before. She started to cry and ran off into the tree house in the back yard. She stayed up there until late that evening. She started to draw butterflies that she remembered catching a few months ago with her brother. She drew a few of them on a page when she heard her dad call her name. "Monica, are you up there?"
Dad climbed up the red, wooden stairs to the tree house. He had a smile on his face. He looked like Nick when he smiled. Monica wiped the tears from her right cheek. Dad gave her a big hug. A thunderstorm was coming. It was getting darker outside than Monica had ever imagined. Dad turned on the light inside the tree house and held her tightly. When Monica woke up, she was
nestled in her dad's strong arms. She felt safe.
The two weeks had gone by and Nick, his mother and father had an appointment with the Lyme disease doctor. Monica kept thinking about it while at school. She felt better knowing that her brother was getting help. She felt good about the short story she wrote that day in school in school. Maybe it was because she felt safe after her dad held her for hours the night before.
Monica ran home from school that day. Nick was sitting on the couch talking to Dad. "Monica, come in here. We are in here, hurry." Monica took off her shoes and ran toward her family.
Dad spoke softly but with a sad glow in his eyes. "The doctor thinks Nick has Lyme disease. He has many of the symptoms and he told us that he will get better. I want you to just love him and keep bringing him your soup. He needs to eat because he got bit by a tick that makes him lose his appetite for any food. Then Dad explained a disease called Babesiosis.
"I know you have been worried about him." Dad started to chuckle. "I have seen all the food you have been trying to get Nick to eat."
Nick chuckled too. He always knew that his family loved him. He felt warm inside and began to feel a joy, knowing he would get better.
Nick took the antibiotics and herbs that the Lyme doctor gave him and noticed within two months he had more energy. During that time, Monica gave him chicken soup every day.
One day, Nick came downstairs and told Monica, "I don't think I want chicken soup anymore. Can you bring me some steak?"
Monica asked her dad to barbeque Nick a steak. "Why of course, I would be glad too. It looks like your buddy is going to be ok."
Monica began to think of the butterflies again that she and Nick caught. She began to draw butterflies every day. She learned how to make the butterflies look real and put them all around her brother's room. He really liked that.
As time went on, Nick began to go back to school for half the day. His mother and his friends helped him to catch up. His teacher was extra nice. Nick found out later on that his teacher knew about Lyme disease because her son had also been sick. That is why she knew what to do.
One day, Nick's teacher had him write a report on how to avoid getting Lyme disease. He did lots of research and read the report to his class. In the report, he gave details of how to use care when going outside.
Wearing proper clothing and noticing the signs of Lyme disease are essential. During the summer, he reported that Lyme disease was easier to get. During the warm months, ticks can attach to anyone who is not dressed properly or using repellent. He also talked about using sprays on clothes to prevent ticks from attaching to clothing. He did research and found out that
guinea hens actually eat ticks along with the grass they cling to. He talked about how sick he was and how Babesiosis and Lyme disease are treatable if you get help right away.
Today, Monica and Nick have an indoor butterfly collection. They let the butterflies go outside and watch them fly away. Summertime is spent swimming and being extra careful to keep ticks away. "I don't ever want to go through that again," Nick said. "Me either," Monica shouted!