I am Clark Young. And I am so excited to have a bug free yard this year! And excited not just for me but for you too! The annoyance factor for me outweighs the risk of disease but not that it isn't something I think about often. Because, you see, I actually had West Nile back about 16 years ago.
Here's that story:
I was bit by a mosquito while golfing up north. I had sandals on and it bit me right on the top of my left foot. I managed to squash it with the heel of my other foot. PAINFUL!!! I expected to find a great big Horsefly there because it felt like that big of a bite, but all that was there was this tiny little mosquito.
This was a Friday and later that night it was swollen a bit and red around where I had been bit and I didn't think much about it. I figured I had stomped a little too hard with my heal on it. But that night I had a fever and really wasn't aware of it. I was out and running around with friends and had no other symptoms, just really hot. And I was sweating like crazy. Very strange for me.
When I got home and went to bed, I pretty much slept with no covers on, still sweating. The next day I had a cousins wedding and I sweated through the whole thing and was starting to feel weak. I was probably dehydrated or something. I ended up going home early that night and again sweated through the night, with no other symptoms really to speak of.
Sunday was bad. I was sick. Felt hungover, with a headache and again very hot. Never threw up but zero appetite and felt like I was carrying a load of bricks on my back all day. Monday was not much better. I called and got an appointment to see my Dr. but the earliest I could be seen: Thursday.
Finally I had turned the corner, naturally this was Thursday morning. But I still went to the Dr. appointment and laid out my entire story, but I did not tell her about the mosquito bite at the time, had pretty much forgotten about it actually. There was a big what to do at that time about West Nile so she said that I had symptoms of it and to rule it out, let's do a test. She came back in the room about 10 minutes later and said, "Well, you have just become one of the statistics." She continued, "You have tested positive for West Nile." "Thanks, now I have to call the CDC and fill out about a dozen pages of forms." We had that kind of a relationship so she could and did give me a hard time, every time. She then asked if I had remembered being bitten by mosquitoes. I said "Yes" and explained about the bite and showed her my foot. It was still a bit red almost a week later.
So now after being bit by this rabid mosquito, I unfortunately, have no super powers. Dang it, could a just as easy been a spider for cripes sake. But at any rate, I took some antibiotics and thankfully I was young and healthy at the time and my bout was just a bit worse than the flu. Had some lingering symptoms that lasted through that following weekend, but I would say the entire episode maybe lasted me 10 days or so. I survived and have no linger effects that I am aware of from the disease. Again, thankfully.
But it did give me a hatred for the bug! Well, I may have already had that but it made it worse for sure!! So now, I am getting payback! Call me and I would sure love to take it out on your mosquitoes as well!
Thanks for reading! --Clark