December 23rd... LICE DAY!

 ***Trigger Warning -  Lice***

It might seem silly to put a trigger warning on this post, but I put it because I am triggered as I blog about it.  I can't stop scratching my scalp and I am finding that I am holding my breath!  So... we have a lice story.  About a week before Christmas I noticed that T was scratching her head, but it is so dry in our house that I attributed the scratching to dry air and dry scalp.  I did try to look for lice, but did so in a false way.  I tried to smear the lice comb on a black paper.  I later remembered that a wet wipe is a better option. 

My early attempt to look for lice brought no results.

December 23rd was the first day of the kids Christmas break and a busy day here as we prepped for Christmas Eve.  I was in the drama this year so I had a tech rehearsal for that, the kids had appointments, I was prepping food for our big Christmas Eve meal, cleaning the house, washing clothes for our big road trip etc etc.  

Te was really scratching her head at breakfast and I decided to investigate again.  The spots on her scalp were not easily moving, so I decided to do a home lice treatment just in case.  I was not prepared for what I found.

Yes, I do always keep a bottle of this on hand. 

After spraying this I got out our good comb (the ones that come in the kit are not the best quality.  Better ones can be purchased at Ulta) and went to work.  It wasn't long before I was seeing MOVEMENT on the wet wipes when I wiped the lice comb.

Real deal lice found on little Christmas Eve!

Oh friends, as I combed through her hair over and over again I tried so hard to not faint.  I remained strong, but I was so overwhelmed.  I was also thinking about my hair and the strong chance that I also had lice.  Before Covid we took all the precautions, but with her home last year we began sharing brushes, doing lots of head to head cuddling, and even sharing a hair towel!  (OK, my scalp is really itching now!!)  I knew there was no way that I could do my own hair treatment well.  I also knew that my visually impaired husband was not the person for the job and I wouldn't want to ask anyone else to be that person either.  

I remembered my friends talking about lice clinics and I quickly did a google search.  Miraculously there was a clinic about an hour away that had an opening for all of us to be checked and treated that night! Whew!  This was a relief to know that they would do their best to get the lice off of us.  They actually guarantee that you will be lice free after being treated and you can go back and get rechecked.  

After I worked through T's hair it was time to tackle the house.  All bedding, stuffed animals, carpet, furniture etc needed to be cleaned in some way.  It was so much work!!!  Sadly, I lent the hand held vac to people at church after Christmas decorating and the filter was thrown away with the needles so I couldn't use it.  I called Charissa crying and we brainstormed and I called a neighbor and they dropped off their hand held vac and we were in business!  

The kids spent the day watching screens from the middle of the family room floor.  I spent the day washing bedding and drying pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, etc.  I was also attempting to wash our clothes before Christmas travels.  So much laundry!

There were piles like this all over the house!

Brandon had the genius idea to quarantine some of our pillows and throw blankets in the car.  We have about 20 throw blankets out all the time.  That would have taken many loads to wash. Since we were traveling for about 10 days we knew it would be plenty of time to kill all of the lice if we just left the blankets in the car.  This saved MANY MANY hours of dryer use.  

As I was eating lunch and looking at Instagram stories I saw this post and laughed out loud!  She was speaking right to me!

I so related!!!!

The afternoon was filled with more cleaning, washing, and drying.  Tehila had to have her second (but not last) shower of the day as there could not be any previous lice treatment in her hair. Finally it was time to go to the lice clinic.  It was such a relief to be there.  Thankfully,  there were more screens for the kids so they were not bored.

I can't recommend them enough!

Brandon and M were the first to go and they were both discovered to be lice free!  Yay!  I went next hoping to have similar news.  Sadly, I did have lice.  I also hadn't done any home treatment and have long hair, so my treatment took a long time.  First they put a hot light over every part of your head.  This is sort of like putting your head in a dryer.  This alone is supposed to kill the lice and eggs. Next they put in the first treatment and use the comb to go through every bit of hair.  One louse and many many eggs were found on my head.  I am imaging the louse was the one that went from T's head to mine.  Based on what they found on me, she said I had lice for about 3 to 4 weeks.  Yuck!!!!  Once the combing is done another oil treatment is put in your hair that needs to sit at least an hour.  You then have to wash a couple of times with Dawn soap to get all the oil out. (Don't forget we are now under 24 hours until the Christmas Eve service.)

The look of shame haha.

T went last and the woman was shocked to only find one dead louse and two eggs on her head.  I felt pretty good about my home lice treatment that I got almost every single one out.  It was still worth it to have them do her hair, but I was glad we had gotten most of it out.  Based on the eggs she could tell that T had lice for about 5-6 weeks.  It is wild how long a person can have it before the itch or before you can visually see anything.

On the way home we stopped at Meijer (the same one we stopped at after T's covid Dx, apparently it is part of my trauma routine).  Brandon and M (to be the extra set of eyes) went in to look for two new brushes, lint rollers (which is how you clean mattresses), and Zevia soda so I could stay up late and keep the dryer going.

So thankful to be lice free!

Once home we had to rinse out the oil with Dawn soap and then eat and do a lot more laundry. It was a really rough day!  I accomplished more in that day that I feel like I do in some weeks.  Shockingly, all the dinner prep for Christmas Eve happened before bed.  The dryer was just beginning its last run of the day when I went to bed at 1:00am.  It stopped sometime around 2am and I woke up at 5am to get another load going!  

Thankfully, the treatments and the cleaning worked and we were lice free at the after Christmas rechecks!  This was experience I would be fine with never repeating!!!