The Parasitic Nightmare

I will start by saying that I honestly debated whether I was going to blog about this or not, however since this was a part of our lives (and as you will read, a rather taxing part of my life) I decided I needed to do it. It all started the morning of Casen's birthday party. It was about 9:15am and I was in the bathroom flat ironing my hair. Casen came in the bathroom all excited because he had gotten himself all ready to go to the party. As is the case every morning, his hair was a hot mess, so I told him I needed to fix his hair. I got it a little wet and started combing it, when I noticed something in his hair. After further examination, I realized he had lice. WHAT???? I figured since I had boys, our chances of ever having lice were slim to none. WRONG!!! And honestly, I should know better being a school nurse and having seen it in boys numerous times. Anyway, I called my mom in the bathroom and told her that after I got ready we needed to run to the store and get some some Nix and treat him before we went to the party. We checked Camden before leaving and he was in the clear - whew! Now mind you, we needed to leave the house at 10:30 to be at the party place in time to set up before the guests arrived. So I finished getting ready, mom and I ran to H-E-B, picked up the Nix and headed back home. I got Casen to come to the tub, which of course he was all confused because he was dressed and ready to go, so I told him we were going to put some stuff in his hair and make it super cool for the party. He was all in . . . . So after the ten minute treatment, and only finding two live lice and very few nits, we were off to the party, just in the nick of time. Not the mad rush I was hoping for that morning!

After the party that evening, I rechecked Casen's hair and found a few more nits which I removed. Of course, being the OCD person I am, I was a mad woman - vacuuming, bagging up his stuffed animals, washing bed sheets and clothes. I swear this is one of the worst things that could happen to an OCD person. I can now empathize with all the moms I have called to tell them their children have lice - it is a nightmare!!!

On Sunday, I again checked the boys heads and low and behold I spotted a live lice in Camden's hair. What??? I looked that dang head over twice on Saturday and his hair is so dang short - heck he had just gotten a hair cut earlier in the week. So, he got to head to the bathtub for the lovely treatment. I then was a cleaning mad woman in his room, washing sheets and putting his stuffed animals in the drier instead of bagging them because he would have not been able to sleep without all thirty of them surrounding him. : ) And now I am panicking about my own head . . .  I know how loving my boys are and we are always laying on the couch together, so I call up my friend, Tiffin, who is a school nurse as well and ask her if she can check my head. Of course, we both laugh about it, thinking I am in the clear, but I had a hair appointment scheduled for the next day and the last thing I wanted to do was show up at the hair salon with lice. So on Tuesday after work I head over to her house for my head check and low and behold, she finds nits - nothing live, just nits (7 to be exact). Are you freaking kidding me?????? So, I leave her house and head straight to the store and bought Cetaphil because I read on the internet that it was a great treatment that was not hard on your hair. According to the Cetaphil website, they have found that it will suffocate lice. So they recommend you wash your hair, drowned your hair with the Cetaphil and then comb through the hair using the lice comb. So I followed the instructions to a tee, however when I got to the combing out part, I spent nearly 30 minutes combing my hair and only had maybe 10% (if even that combed out). My hair was such a knotted mess there was no way I could sit there and continue to torcher myself. So I asked Shane to go to H-E-B, go in the entrance on the left, head to the fourth isle on the left, go down the isle half way down on the right near the top and grab me some Nix (how was that for precise instructions). I went back in the shower and worked to get the Cetaphil out and then when Shane returned home I treated myself and did the whole combing through every ounce of my hair, which is much more taxing with long hair compared to the boys short hair. Die all you creepy louse, DIE!!!!!  Of course, even though it is late at this point, I am again being a mad woman, washing our sheets and anything else I can get my hands on. Of course I cancelled my hair appointment because the Nix smell would have been a dead give away for anyone! The next night I asked Shane to nit pick my hair, but that was a complete lost cause because he said he didn't know what he was looking for and he was being too gentle - I needed him to dig that comb as close to my scalp as possible and I think he was scared to hurt me. So I did it myself the best I could.

So fast forward to a week later when it is time to do the second treatment for everyone. Now mind you, I have literally nit picked my children's heads every night to make sure they are in the clear. I am glad to say, my kids never once realized they had lice. They honestly just thought I was checking their scalp, or in Casen's case, making his hair look nice. I didn't want them to go crazy like I did!  The boys were awesome - nothing else was ever spotted, thank the Lord. However, I could not say the same for myself. I went back to Tiffin, who found about 5 more nits, but nothing live. Now if you read on the internet, it says do not treat just nits, only if you find something live, but I could not hear of that - so I treated yet again, but this time with something different, Rid-X.

 I went back yet another week later to have Tiffin check for a third time and this time she only found a few nits. This time I used Rid-X yet again. Now as a side note, I do realize that I did not need to treat, however crazy OCD lady here could not let it go. I swear this is a nightmare and it is driving me crazy!!!! I go back yet a week later for a fourth visit with Tiffin, the day we leave for vacation, because I can't bare to think that I have these crazy things, and she finds 3 nits - nothing live. Again, I use Rid-X. I do realize that the nits she are finding are ones she could have overlooked while checking before, but these things have made me so dang crazy and I feel like my head is itching all the time! (Just typing this is making my head itch).

So we return from vacation, and I honestly think I am in the clear - I have not felt a thing, no itching, no nothing. But, I need to make a hair appointment because my hair is a fried mess after all of this (mind you I was supposed to go to the salon a month ago but cancelled due to these horrible pests). I again head over to Tiffin's house today and she finds one lousy nit. I have decided I am not treating and am calling it all a wash!!!! I am OVER IT!!!! I have been dealing with this for a month - A MONTH!!! Now the little guy who brought this into our home (I am certain it was Casen) was in the clear after a week, however this poor momma, who treated and took care of everyone else, was left dealing with the aftermath for a month! CRAZY!!!!

I say all of this to say - as a school nurse, I have seen more than my share of lice. I only thought I could relate with these poor mommas who I have talked to numerous times on the phone who were dealing with lice. I can honestly say, they are the most annoying parasite and I do not wish this on anyone. Looking back, I do believe I over reacted by treating myself 4 times (two is generally the norm) - but I am going to blame that on my OCD. ; )