Tick-history 2017

In 2016, I was bitten by ticks a few times, and on the advice of a close relative, sought medical help.  The first visit was to a walk-in facility on Hoosick Street where the PA said it was too early and too late to do any testing, so nothing was done. My second visit, a few months later, was to Ellis Emergent Care where they did a blood test, which came back negative.
   This year, 2017, I've been bitten by or had crawling on me so many ticks it became habitual to just pick them out, or off, apply alcohol to the assaulted area, and pretty much forget about it.  But on April 10, I found a tick so embedded that I couldn't extract the entire tick.  I was more concerned than usual because it was the day we had a new water softener installed and I missed a shower that day, and thought the tick may have had plenty of time to become so burrowed.  I went to Emurgent Care in Mechanicville and the PA, Laura,  prescribed antibiotics, Doxycycline for 7 days, not for the tick bite, but for the inflamed area where I had tried unsuccessfully to gouge the remaining pieces out. She did not order any Lyme tests.  (She did not attempt to remove the embedded part, saying the toxins are in the tick's body, not the head, and it would come out when the scab fell off, which did happen.  I had wanted it removed though, which is why I'd tried so hard to get it out.)
    The second week in June, I noticed one of the bites was sore, itchy, and was developing what looked suspiciously like the notorious bullseye rash, (Pictured below) so when I had a few hours free, on June 16, I went to Mechanicville Emurgent Care where the PA, a different one this time, looked at and measured the suspect area, and wrote a 7-day prescription for Doxycycline. And she said the redness around the bite mark was not from the bite, but was because I'd scratched it.  I said I had not scratched it, but she didn't appear to believe me.
     Not prescribed long enough, my trusted advisor told me, and indeed I was feeling symptoms I could say were suspicious---sleepiness, itching scalp, more intense than usual neuropathy in my feet, dry eyes, sneezing fits, and a nose that would not and still does not stop running.  So on another day with a few free hours,June 27,  I found my way to Ellis Emergent Care.
       There I saw a PA who seemed a little tired of the whole tick bite nonsense, said, although I certainly had not asked, that he could not write a prescription based on my symptoms, but that he would order  a Titer Lyme test. I had told him I was concerned that any infection, such as Lyme, could affect my TKR, that my orthopedist had said to take antibiotics to prevent infection.  The PA said while that may be true for dental work, it would not be true for Lyme disease.  I'm sure he's wrong, but said nothing.  We can't wipe out all the ignorance in the world, and especially not in the medical community.
    Two days later, Ellis called, said the blood test was positive for Lyme Disease, and ordered a 21-day prescription for Doxycline.  Deprecatingly enough, the PA had written  Wood Tick Bite (also know as Dog Tick) on my discharge sheet and the care sheet I received was all about wood ticks.  I may not be a medical expert, but I certainly know the difference between a Wood Tick and the varieties of Deer Tick,
      I don't know which tick is the culprit.  I tend to blame the tiny, poppyseed sized tick, because that itched the most.  The second PA I saw said the venom can cause generalized itching, such as on my scalp.  I almost hope this is true as then it may go away during the course of the medication.  Now if I can just keep awake...