That's the best description of the feeling I get when I am forced to deal with the (nearly) inevitable: HEAD LICE.
Yes, it has descended on Mini Me's classroom. Yes, it found its way into her beautiful hair. Yes, I am about to yank my OWN hair out trying to rid our house of these nasty little pests.
Nearly two weeks ago, she came home from school and told me that her friend had head lice. She said that the nurse had checked all of the girls in class, and that no one else had it. She never seemed particularly itchy/scratchy, so I figured it was an isolated incident. Fast forward to this past Sunday....
We were just waking up, and I noticed that Mini Me was scratching her head constantly. I dreaded what I was about to find. I started around the top of her head and behind her ears. Nothing. *Sigh of relief* Then, the head lice brought the pain. I lifted what I thought would be the last little bit of hair, just behind the crown of her head. And there, among the beautiful golden blond curls, were the most horrifying creatures I have ever seen.
I immediately sent her to the bathtub, and woke the hubby to keep an eye on her. I jetted off to Walmart to purchase the necessary lice-ridding remedies. We went step-by-step through the process. Wash with regular shampoo. Towel dry. Saturate hair with lice zapper. Wait ten minutes. Lather and rinse. Spend the next two hours of our lives dividing hair into 4 sections, combing meticulously through from top to bottom, front to back, in no larger than 1" sections.
We stripped the beds, stripped the pillow cases, washed every washable piece of fabric that may have come into contact with her head, sprayed every non-washable surface with lice spray, sealed all of her stuffed animals and other non-washables into black trash bags...it was literally a marathon day.
Monday, she and hubby stayed home (Columbus Day, no school) and I went to work. I checked her Monday night...nothing. Sweet! We're in the clear, right?
Wrong.
Tuesday, the school nurse called to say that she re-checked the class after hearing about Mini Me's run-in. She said that she may have found one among the curls, but wasn't sure. She told me to keep an eye out and check it periodically. Tuesday night, as Mini Me was getting ready for bed, I took a quick peek. Much to my dismay, there were MORE lice. These were much smaller...evidently the first "batch" had been there a while!
So, for the next hour and fifteen minutes (second time around...I was becoming a pro by then!), we shampooed, saturated, lathered, rinsed, separated, and combed hair, then I stripped, sealed, and sprayed everything. Again. She finally went to bed at about 10:30, and I was feeling like the Worst. Mom. Ever.
This brings me to tonight. Let's just say that the third time actually took far longer, because I did not miss a strand of hair on that head. Twice. If those little monsters made it past me this time, then they have freakin' invisibility and invincibility super powers.
I feel completely exhausted. This is NOT a fun process. I don't know what else to do! At Walgreens tonight, when I went to buy my third can of "lice-feeding spray," I noticed a product called Lice Ice. It's a NON-shampooing, NON-lathering, NON-rinsing, NON-seperating technique that consists of one easy step: gel. You saturate the hair with this gel and leave it on for 8 hours (overnight). It forms a hard casing around any live bugs and eggs, leaving them incapable of living and/or hatching. Then you shampoo as usual. It says you only have to comb if the carcasses (yum) get stuck in your hair.
IF there is a round four of this fiasco (oh Dear Lord, PLEASE don't let there be a round four), I will be calling the school, calling the pediatrician, and enlisting the help of Lice Ice.
Please pray for me!!! I'm losing my mind.
