by Sylvie Galloway

Created on: March 04, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

The Great Head Lice Invasion

One day I was sitting in church listening to the sermon, with my youngest daughter beside me. She was sleepy and had her head in my lap. As I was prone to do, I was playing with her hair, combing through it with my fingers, making little braids, when I swear I saw something move amongst the strands. I immediately sat my daughter up, suspecting what I saw and not wanting to have it on me. After the service I found the pastor's wife, with daughter in tow. I asked her if it was possible that what I saw was what I suspected. As she had just dealt with the matter herself in her own twin daughters, she did a quick inspection and confirmed my suspicions. Thus began the great head lice invasion of 1997.

As our two daughters shared a room and a double bed I did an inspection to the other girl to see whether or not the nasty little bugs had taken up residence there. Of course they had, so off to the store we went for lice shampoo and that little comb with tiny, close together teeth. I gathered up all their linens and laundered them, placing the pillows in plastic bags then putting a pillowcase over that. I also gathered up 12 million of their stuffed animals and dolls and bagged them up then sprayed Lysol throughout the entire house. I shampooed each girl's hair and went through the arduous process of combing and picking dead lice and nits out of their hair. Now as both girls had beautiful, long, blond hair this took about two hours a head. I felt at the end of the day like one of those gorillas grooming a member of their group on those nature shows.

I considered the matter closed, and was glad that I had defeated head lice from the heads of my children. Two weeks later, I got a note sent home with one of the girls informing me that head lice had been found in her head. So, off to the store I went for lice shampoo, little comb not necessary. I gathered up all their linens and washed them, re-encasing the pillows in the plastic/pillowcase combination. The stuffed animals and dolls were still in storage so that step was omitted but spraying Lysol through the house was not. Then I shampooed each girl and went once again through the process of what I now was dubbing "Acting like Gorillas in the mist".

Once again I considered the matter closed, as I knew, from reading the lice shampoo label that sometimes one might miss a nit, prompting a return of head lice. But a week later, another note. This time I took the girls to the doctor who prescribed

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