Spring of Sickness (and LICE)

Around the end of March I remember thinking and even saying out loud something like: Wow, compared to last winter, we haven't been sick hardly at all. A mama should never, ever utter those words. 

Around mid-April we were hit with a series of sickness and other horribleness (in the form of lice) that lasted at least two months. I am currently known as the flakiest person alive because I am canceling plans left and right.

It all started with a random (and still unknown) viral rash. In some ways it resembled fifths disease, which Clara contracted around the age of two also, but the doctor didn't think it was a slam dunk. We would have had to perform blood tests to confirm and we opted out. Basically his face looked like this for a few days and his body was covered in a lovely rash for at least a week. The poor guy.

At the end of that whole ordeal, he came down with a really bad virus that literally laid him flat for over a week, I swear. I have never had a kid this sick. He had a high fever every day, ate next to nothing, kept hardly any food down, and was completely lethargic. We ended up in the ER in the middle of the night during this stretch when he spiked a 104 fever and hadn't kept food down for a few days. It was scary and so sad. The poor guy.

And just when we passed all of that loveliness, I found lice in Clara's hair. LIVE lice. As in, I almost passed out and puked into her hair at the same time. I could go into major details here, but that's probably unnecessary. Basically what transpired from that point was an entire house upheaval. Laundry on the sanitize cycle like crazy. Twelve bags full of coats/pillows/etc to the garage for two weeks. Deep cleaning (followed by professional deep cleaning). Multiple lice treatments and dozens and dozens of turns picking through Clara's hair. Oh yes, and a buzz cut for Caleb (just in case).

My mom went through my entire mop of hair twice and Jonathan did the same many times. I swear to you at least twice I was 100% convinced I had it. I'd go in and blast my hair with hair drier until my scalp was basically burned to a crisp. But nobody ever found lice on me, thank goodness. 

The good news is that Clara was a champion through it all. She sat patiently so many times as I picked through her hair. We broke major rules about television and movie consumption during those days. And she wore her hair in pigtails for about two weeks after, just in case.

I am happy to say we are through with lice. I'm not sure how long it will take me to mentally recover, though. It may be weeks if not months before I see a small white speck (of dandruff, usually) in my daughter's hair and don't investigate further to make sure it's not a lice egg. Or before my heart stops racing at the sight of someone itching their head.

So this has been part of our spring. Thankfully we have had many lovely moments too - but all of this sickness + hair bugs needed to be documented. Hopefully we are due up for the healthiest of summers!