Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A Louse-y Couple of Days....

Well the title says it all!! I'll go and out my family. My boys had/have lice. I never thought this day would arrive. I kept thinking that we were somehow going to stay clear of the dreaded lice,but we have been stricken.


Saturday afternoon, while colouring with Gavin, Josey and Scott, Gavin began to itch his head like a mofo. Instinctively I thought it was wise to check his head. I've checked itchy heads before and they have always been nothing more than a bad itch, but this was not the case. I looked and did a quick flick on the head and saw a live one! Immediately I yelled, "He has lice...he has lice!!" and was out the door in about 2 seconds flat. My hubby ran to the door as I was going into the van and said, "Where are you going?"


"Where am I going????!!"I said in a panic...."I have to go to Walmart!! Treatment for Lice!!!"

"Okay."he said and went back into the house.


I drove to Walmart, like Cruella Deville on Speed. I was there in no time flat. (I don't condone reckless speeding or driving...except in certain situations!!just joking!!)


At Walmart I headed straight to the pharmacy and wandered the aisles for a couple of minutes, before I clued in that the medicated shampoos and such were behind the counter.(I honestly did think, "crappy I got to fess up...we're infested!"while approaching the counter.)


The pharmacist gave me the appropriate shampoos and I raced down to the checkout lanes to pay for the purchases. I am certain(although I have been known to be wrong!) that while waiting I heard hushed whispers and finger pointings at me...The Woman With the Lice Shampoo!!(I am joking. I did create my own scenario of my door being given the scarlett letter, but that is my own active imagination...and too much time in a checkout lane!!)


By the time I got home Scott had confirmed that Josey did infact have a couple of live ones. Shay was at a sleepover and I had to phone the mom and go and pick him up. He too was infested.


We gave the boys the shampoo treatments but we didn't see immediate success..


For the past 3 days I have combed and combed and combed and combed........and picked, and picked and picked and picked...and washed linens, bedding, toques, jackets, every article of clothing...vacuumed mattresses, walls...thrown stuffed animals into the deep freeze.

This royally sucks!!


It is only today that there is progress. I don't want to speak too soon. Shay and Josey had the least infestation. No more live ones on them and the nit patrol is a-ok. They are good to go.


Gavin is a different story. Today I was at my wits end as I began my daily nitpicking and he still had a few live ones. I felt like crying, and then realized in the big frame of life this is nothing. I am lucky to have healthy boys. If the only thing one of them is bringing home is unwelcomed lice..well, I guess I can't sweat the small stuff!!


So desperate times do call for desperate measures. I coated Gavin's hair with vaseline and stuck a plastic bag over his head for 8 hours today. Apparently the vaseline will suffocate the lice. Unfortunately, I didn't think about the removal of vaseline until I had already applied it to his head. So I have a greasy little four year old. Tomorrow I will have to do another pat down with cornstarch(poor kid is looking like something outta this world!!)and wash his hair another 4 times! The good news(so far!!!)is that this may have actually worked! It was way easier combing out the nits,because of the grease! So what if he looks greasy....all I want is nit free hair!!! BTW, vaseline does wonders for a complexion. I have a slight glow to my face this evening from some runaway remnants of vaseline, and it gives me some shine!
~~~~

In other news, I am so glad I don't get too many unexpected visitors to my house. If anyone would have visited me today they would have seen me with a plastic bag on my head and wearing

one of these lovely devices known as a positioner. It is a glorified plastic mouthguard(actually a type of retainer)that will "tweak"(How much more tweaking do I need???)my bite into the proper alignment. This would be fine and dandy if I could speak, eat, or look half assed decent,but I can't speak(it has 3 air holes so I can kind of hiss, or hum words!!)...the lack of eating isn't hurting me,but I look like I'm challenged. My poor hubby. For the next 3 days I need to wear this 24/7 while at home,and then I can do 4 hours in the day and all night. During the day you are supposed to bite down for 20 seconds, and then relax your jaw, continuously. Last night was the first night I attempted to sleep in it. I woke up a couple of times and I had the thing hanging half way out of my mouth. Can't imagine what that will do for my bite!!! Another time I woke myself up from my hissing. I sounded like Darth Vader! I'll use the force all right!!! It's a double royal pain in the ass!!!
So that has been my days in a nutshell, or rather nit shell.
Life could be worse. All I know is that tomorrow is a new day. A new day of nitpicking, delousifying and de-emulsifying my son.
Cheers!
Jenny

7 comments:

Rox said...

Vaseline?! Aye Caramba!

I have to admit Jen that this post made me laugh from start to finish. From scratching like a mofo to Darth Vader-esque breathing, you had me rolling!

I hope your next few days are less challenging!

Jen Wilson said...

Oh my, I've had my battles with lice! I had it a couple times as a kid, but I didn't have to deal with it then, my mom did!

Kaylie got it once when we lived in Saskatchewan. It was horrible! I did both our heads (I didn't know if I caught it or not) with the shampoo three times - every three days to get rid of it - on top of the vacuuming, washing of EVERYTHING, and things going in the freezer.

If she was a boy, I would have just shaved her head. Literally. I heard though, that lice like clean hair better than greasy hair, so now we try to only wash her hair once a week and her hair is ALWAYS up. (Of course she bathes more often, just doesn't wash her hair.)

It's not fun, I hope you got rid of it, for your sake!!

Annie said...

I guess these are the joys of kids in school!!

Shirley said...

Hi Jenny:
Not to be mean, but I laughed like crazy too at your antics! I know exactly how you felt having gone through similar circumstances quite a few times (ask Charlene). Laugh or no laugh - hope everything is fine soon. God Bless you and your family.

Shirley

Anonymous said...

We just got over lice here just before Christmas, I found lice on Cassandra on the day of my CD release party(Sept 21)battled the little buggers for almost 2 months. Luckily this time I did not get them myself but I know what you mean. Did you try washing his hair with Dish soap? I used cooking oil on Cassandra's hair and the dish soap or hand soap worked wonders in getting the grease out!

Tanya said...

Sorry to hear about your lousy problems :)

Atleast you can see the funny side in it all. Hope you get em all!!

Janelle said...

oh sweetie - i've been there.
i remember when i was a kid & i had Lice...it was horrible.
luckily - the kids don't realize how horrible it is as much as the Mommy does...
here's to a LICE free home for you very soon!! HUGS!

 
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