The Nit Pickers
No one likes a nit picker, except me.
I don't think this is common knowledge, but I'm a bit of a germ freak. I can't spend too much time thinking about all the surfaces I touch in a day, and what unseen colony of pathogens await me or it's game over for this girl! However, I am very stealthy at hiding my ever present cringe on the edge of my mind, and appearing quite blase about the matter of germs.
Nevertheless, imagine my absolute horror when I received a frantic call from a dear friend of my kids, pleading for help with a sensitive health situation. Lice.
Yes, Lice.
I have escaped my whole life without a lice encounter. This week, however, was my lucky week! As hard as it was to run to her rescue, I have no regrets. I mean, it wasn't hard to drop everything and go to help and minister to her, but it was hard to wrap my mind around what the outcome could be.
I picked her up from the college and consoled her. We went and picked up several goodies for treating a lice infestation and I'm not exaggerating when I say, infestation. We went back to her apartment and packed up everything in her room into black garbage bags and hauled them down to my car where they sat for the duration of the day. I sprayed down every surface in her room, including the carpet where she does yoga, with a chemical that kills the eggs.
Once we had all of that done, I brought her home and we started the big job of nit picking. While she applied the first treatment herself, I bagged up all of my house, just as I had done at her's and applied the chemical to everything. She has been spending several days with us, so, unsure of what was lurking in my house, I wasn't about to take any chances.
As the day unfolded, it came as a shock to find out members of her family back in California had lice, her good friends here at college, and a guy she went out on a date with. The odds of us not having it was looking slim. We determined that she has had it for just over a month, since recently returning from a full time mission in South America.
I spent nearly 4 hours, picking through her long, beautiful, thick, brown hair with a nit comb. It was so sad. Even after the treatment, more than a dozen lice fell from her scalp, some alive, some dead. The eggs were numerous. Her poor head had sores where the lice had been feeding and it must have been so painful to have a metal pronged comb, dragging along her raw skin.
As gross as the day was, I felt blessed to be able to help this sweet girl. She set such an example of patience and long suffering. The day dragged on into the late hours of the evening because after all the nit picking, we had to go to the laundromat and get all of her things sanitized.
When I got home, and she was settled back in her apartment for the night, I called upon my own little Saint named Charlotte, to come and check my head for lice. So far, I think I am clear of lice, though until I reach the incubation period for the eggs to hatch, I'm not going to rest easy. And of course, because my mind is my most powerful asset...for good or for bad...my head itches like crazy!!
I have missed two solid days of work just trying to handle this but thankfully and nothing short of a miracle, my clients were too busy to even wonder why I was behind. I think that was truly an act of God. So, I survived this tough week.
Anyways...God bless the nit pickers...all those who jump in when the going gets tough, risking it all for the love of someone else. May you be one and may you live among them!
I don't think this is common knowledge, but I'm a bit of a germ freak. I can't spend too much time thinking about all the surfaces I touch in a day, and what unseen colony of pathogens await me or it's game over for this girl! However, I am very stealthy at hiding my ever present cringe on the edge of my mind, and appearing quite blase about the matter of germs.
Nevertheless, imagine my absolute horror when I received a frantic call from a dear friend of my kids, pleading for help with a sensitive health situation. Lice.
Yes, Lice.
I have escaped my whole life without a lice encounter. This week, however, was my lucky week! As hard as it was to run to her rescue, I have no regrets. I mean, it wasn't hard to drop everything and go to help and minister to her, but it was hard to wrap my mind around what the outcome could be.
I picked her up from the college and consoled her. We went and picked up several goodies for treating a lice infestation and I'm not exaggerating when I say, infestation. We went back to her apartment and packed up everything in her room into black garbage bags and hauled them down to my car where they sat for the duration of the day. I sprayed down every surface in her room, including the carpet where she does yoga, with a chemical that kills the eggs.
Once we had all of that done, I brought her home and we started the big job of nit picking. While she applied the first treatment herself, I bagged up all of my house, just as I had done at her's and applied the chemical to everything. She has been spending several days with us, so, unsure of what was lurking in my house, I wasn't about to take any chances.
As the day unfolded, it came as a shock to find out members of her family back in California had lice, her good friends here at college, and a guy she went out on a date with. The odds of us not having it was looking slim. We determined that she has had it for just over a month, since recently returning from a full time mission in South America.
I spent nearly 4 hours, picking through her long, beautiful, thick, brown hair with a nit comb. It was so sad. Even after the treatment, more than a dozen lice fell from her scalp, some alive, some dead. The eggs were numerous. Her poor head had sores where the lice had been feeding and it must have been so painful to have a metal pronged comb, dragging along her raw skin.
As gross as the day was, I felt blessed to be able to help this sweet girl. She set such an example of patience and long suffering. The day dragged on into the late hours of the evening because after all the nit picking, we had to go to the laundromat and get all of her things sanitized.
When I got home, and she was settled back in her apartment for the night, I called upon my own little Saint named Charlotte, to come and check my head for lice. So far, I think I am clear of lice, though until I reach the incubation period for the eggs to hatch, I'm not going to rest easy. And of course, because my mind is my most powerful asset...for good or for bad...my head itches like crazy!!
I have missed two solid days of work just trying to handle this but thankfully and nothing short of a miracle, my clients were too busy to even wonder why I was behind. I think that was truly an act of God. So, I survived this tough week.
Anyways...God bless the nit pickers...all those who jump in when the going gets tough, risking it all for the love of someone else. May you be one and may you live among them!
Bahahaha!! My mind always starts to go crazy if I get exposed, so I feel your pain...or, itch.
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