Eradicating Lice From Your Head

Chez Connor and Helen has just wrapped up what I hope will be the shortest and mildest case of lice ever. Wish me luck, because nothing less than my sanity is at stake here. And I'm wishing you luck, too. Consider this my public service announcement of gratitude.

On Monday, I received a note from Connor's classroom rep indicating that lice had been found on some children in the class. Connor was outside making a snowman, so I quickly emailed my mom friends so they could talk me off a ledge. They did. Thank you. Although I had hoped one of them would email "you have been given the ability to wind time backwards and have Connor never exposed to lice", that did not happen.

But even in my panic, I was able to remember that I had tools! In June, 2010, I attended a blogging event for DC Metro Moms - a site I wrote fewer than 10 posts for before it collapsed. While it appears I spent more time tasting cupcakes at that event than anything else, I did remember having a little shiver creep up my spine when the founders of Lice Happens gifted me a comb during that event. I politely tucked the comb away, and prayed that I would never need it. Because lice? That's creepy.

I am nothing, if not an over-reactor in situations like these. I had Connor remove all his clothes before entering the house, and gifted him with a new set upon crossing the threshold to what I hoped was our lice free abode. I didn't know, yet, that lice can't actually hang out and live for a long period of time, so even if Connor's head had been riddled with lice (and thank goodness it was not!), lice weren't going to set up camp in my home, or they would die. They need to be close to the scalp.

We ate dinner, and then I set about using The Comb. And I found four living lice, and about 10 nits (eggs) - and because I wasn't sure I was using the comb correctly, and because I was still freaking out underneath, I called Lice Happens and I talked to a co-owner of the company, Nancy, for a long time. She really did calm me down. She answered a lot of questions that I had and she agreed to have someone at my home the next morning at 10:30. I was actually hoping she'd hop in her car and come right over, and I did ask, but she assured me that this morning would be sufficient. I might point out though, that while this is completely logical on her part, she wasn't the one with four lice recently discovered on her kid.

Also, I should note that I never would have seen these lice by inspecting his head. The only reason I found them was because of that comb. Connor had no symptoms (classic ones would have been an itchy head or a red scalp) to give me a clue he had the little buggers on his head.

I combed Helen's hair - though not as thoroughly as Connor's hair since I knew reinforcements were on the way, and found a couple of nits. That made it official that she'd be staying home from school. Then Helen started sobbing, because Helen LOVES school, and it was such a tease to send her yesterday (first day after two weeks off) and then not let her go today. And, to make it worse her friend's birthday was possibly scheduled for today, and missing that would be awful. Luckily, it's actually tomorrow. I called the mom of the birthday boy and asked about the party and when she queried "why do you ask" (she's a reporter for a major newspaper and it is impossible for her not to ask this at any given opportunity) I said "I'll tell you, but let me warn you - what I am about to tell you can never be unheard or unlearned - are you sure you want me to continue". Yes, yes she did. And when I told her, I could actually feel her shiver. She can't say I didn't warn her!

After the kids were in bed, I continued combing and found a louse on Ed's head. I decided it was OK to be freaked out again and was thrilled that I had decided to call someone who knew what they were doing in for help. This morning, when Connor normally would've snuggled up next to me in bed, I told him I'd wake up instead. Having lice on your head can work to your advantage (from Connor's point of view), as it turns out.

This morning, Kara from Lice Happens showed up and found 1 additional louse on Connor's head and one louse on Helen's head. She found 2 - 3 nits on each of their heads as well. She found nothing on my head, Ed's head, or our au pair's head. And here, I have to hand it to my au pair because she was awesome, working this morning when she should've been off AND not freaking out at all.

Because we didn't actually have many lice, and because nobody in my house has long, thick hair - the whole appointment took an hour, which meant it wasn't too hard on the pocketbook - though it certainly wasn't cheap. I'll be submitting the expense to my FSA and getting reimbursed via that. And even though it seems like I probably could've solved this on my own, I would've had a nagging feeling that I missed some AND my head would've been sympathy itching for days, so I'm glad I ponied up the bucks to eradicate the problem. My sanity is worth way more than the price I paid.

I'll be doing follow-up combing for 2 weeks, and hopefully there won't be any new bugs. I'm a lot calmer now than I was when this episode began, and I will now be decreasing my list of parenting challenges that I thought I could absolutely not handle by 1. (Ironically, my friend Vickie and I were chatting about lice over Christmas and I was definitely no way, no how, I am NOT dealing with those gross things.)

So here it is - my ringing endorsement of the company Lice Happens. They have a 24 hour a day lice line (443.510.4480). I hope you never need it.

Elaine

As a side note, I emailed the mom of someone Connor had a playdate with over the weekend even though the likelihood of spread was infinitesimally small, and she replied "I'll check the boys, but I doubt they have it. And don't worry - almost everyone gets these at some point or another". That, in case you don't know, is a very comforting email to read.