Daisy has lice. I cannot believe it. My absoult worst nightmare on the planet is happening right now. I am dying. I am freaking out. I cannot believe it. I am sick to my stomach that we are now one of "those" families everyone will avoid for 30 years.I am so grossed out I could scream. The truth is we caught it super early (based on the horrifing online photos)
If you have the stomach to continue reading- here is the horrible story, events and facts...
Daisy told me a few days ago that her head was kind of itchy, i stopped dead in my tracks and said, "Hurry and get in the bathroom!!!"- I checked her out, but didn't see anything. I didn't worry because she said she only itched it once or twice and I hadn't seen her scratching at all.(Almost from conception, I have talked to the kids about lice (remember 2 years ago when Daisy was playing T-ball and the coach tried to put the helmet on her and she said, "No, I'll get head lice!" Well, that's how much I've talked about it with each of them.)
A few days ago I noticed a small rash at the bottom of her neck and told her we would put some creme on it before school. Later that evening she mentioned itching again, but only once at school. Determined to figure out what was going on, I took her in the bathroom and examined her head longer this time. i thought it was just the little rash she had- but I was now in "freak out mode" and had to get to the bottom of it.Her scalp looked totally clean, nothing was crawling- she looked fine, until I noticed a few tiny little white/clear specks about a inch from her scalp.
They were so small, but I ran to the computer and typed in every parents nightmare: What does head lice look like.
Oh.mi.gosh. I almost vomited right there over the key board. I read and read, and then I read about about the eggs. Sick to my stomach , I wondered if those little things could be the eggs- so I went back to the bathroom with a ziplock bag and extracted 4 strands from her head and closed the bag. I got her out of bed and raced to Walgreens at 9:40 PM to show the pharmasist. After they examined it they said, "I really don't think it is, it looks like dry scalp." They even looked at her head and the woman said that it would look like pepper on her head if she had it and she would be itching like mad. After a few more minutes of talking, we left and drove home.
I came home and told Trav but still felt really unsettled about it. I thought it was me just being extreme and over reacting, but something was really nagging at me. I was pretty much freaking out but tried to calm myself down. I told the Lord if it was nothing- then to calm me down and give me a peaceful feeling, if it was something- let me continue to majorly freak out. I put The Office in and finally fell asleep after midnight.
When I woke up at 4:45 the next morning, my brain was seriuosly crazy. I was panicked, and I couldn't calm down. That was my sign, thank you Lord. When Daisy woke up, I checked her again and found a few more little specks in her hair. I removed them and kept searching for a really long time, but didn't see anything alarming. Right after thinking that- I saw something move. I freaked out, but looked again. There on my precious daughter's head was a nasty tiny creature with super tiny legs- that were moving!!!. I grabbed a piece of scotch tape and put it on her head- the lice came off on it and then I taped it to a red post it note to take to the Doctor for examination.
After I found the 2nd one and got it out, I was almost in shock. HOW COULD THIS BE HAPPENING????
I searched longer, but saw nothing. Again, her scalp looked seriously clean. Even the silly Walgreens pharmist's looked and said, "no she doesn'tt have it."
I kind of went into shock mode and didn't know what to do next. I put her in the tub, checked all the other kids, looked online again as what to do, and just freaked out.
I ran to Walmart for the shampoo and had a little melt down with the pharmist there after she looked at the post it. I bought the stuff and grabbed new pillows for everyone and raced home. I called my Mom crying- who at first thought there was a death in the family or something. When I told her what was happening she said, "Oh my gosh, Em, I thought Travis lost his job or something- this is babyfood compared to that."
Thanks Mom. She let me have my freak out and told me what she did with us when we were little. She gave her sympathy and then we hung up. I called everyone who had been at Willow's party, friend's I had recently babysat for, neighbor kids who had been over, Trav's parents, the school & canceled several appointments for the week. I apoligized a million times for the discustingness of it all and they all reassured me, "Em, you couldn't have prevented this." I know, but dang it!!!!
Yeah it wasn't breast cancer, or a divorce, or a drug addiction like what was going on in the family- but THERE WERE NASTY BUGS CRAWLING IN MY HOUSE!!!
I treated all the kids, Daisy first, and after rinsing her hair- there were 8 to 10 bugs on the bottom of the bathtub. We combed her hair and one more came out. We were offically tramatized!
After rinsing the other kids, nothing was found. They looked good. After removing a few more eggs, i wrapped her head in a plastic bag and sat her down in one place of the house. i began removing everything from the house: clothes, bedding, pillow & started washing things immeditaly. i ran to the store for more shampoo, more Lysol wipes & even more disinfecting spray. When Trav came home, we vacuumed mattresses, sprayed matresses, moved all the furniture and cleaned & vacuumed around/under everything.
I sanitized every comb, toy, drawer, counter top, cabniet, closet floor, door knob, bag,computer keyboard, phone, remote- anything in sight! It was either wiped down or sprayed the living heck out of. We went to the laundry mat for a few hours and did 6 loads of blankets and comforters so we could sleep that night. We came home and put new sheets and pillows on the beds, washed hands, put dirty clothes in a bag, put a shower cap on Daisy (and then Tristin & Grace wanted one too, which I thought was a lovely idea, just incase.) The kids brushed teeth and then we prayed like you wouldn't believe.
I've never asked God to protect our home more than I did last night.
After the kids were asleep, I checked Trav, he checked me and then we treated each other. Nothing came out. I stayed in the bathroom for a long time scraping my scalp to see if anything was coming out- but when I looked down, I didn't see anything. I stayed over the tub, pulling on my hair forever- but nothing. Praise everything on the planet!! I put my hair in a bun, and then folded laundry for a hour- I actually slept really well last night, I was completely worn out.
Today, I am shampooing the couch & couch pillows, the carpet, the van and I'm on on load 17 of laundry so far.
We've changed clothes, washed hands, used towels only once- everything you can think of- I've done it. My hands are dry from bleach, but at least things are getting clean, right?? I am forever changed. i can never go back to "normal"Oh, wish me luck, and may your house & kids be sparred from this horrible nightmare.
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