So as I had previously mentioned, my head has been itching like crazy for the past couple of days and my bug bites that I acquired in Belize have started itching again. Today I went to Student Health to have someone check me out. Apparently 4-5 other students from our trips brought back lice and scabies, so the health center was prepared for my encounter. The nurse wouldn't check my temperature or blood pressure for fear of coming near me, and the NP was wearing full contact precautions when she came in for my exam: gloves, gown, mask, even shoe protectors. I was convinced for a second that I had ebola instead of lice.
She gave me a once-over and concluded that I have not only head lice, but also scabies. This isn't too surprising, since I did sleep on the dirt floor of a thatched-roof hut in Belize and nearly every child at our clinics had both of these infections. Evidently the eggs take 7-10 days to hatch, so that's why my symptoms are appearing now.
Thankfully both the lice shampoo (Malathion) and body cream (Permethrin) I have to use to clear up this nasty stuff are class B (safe during pregnancy). I called my OB's office to let her know I would be taking them, and the doctor on-call gave me the go-ahead. Jordan is now in a state of full on paranoia, since he'll probably have symptoms of one or both conditions in a couple of days. He's currently washing every item of clothing and bedding we own, as well as vacuuming the entirety of our apartment- bed, couch, floors. I'll have to vacuum the car too. We'll have to give the dogs and cat a bath in special shampoo and watch them closely for signs of itching. If they have it, we'll just keep giving it back to each other in a never-ending viscious cycle.
So I am now that kid, the kid at school that your mother told you to NEVER hang out with again at recess (Amber, I'm thinking of Boone, the redhead who lived down the street from us in Oregon- when he had lice, Amber and I rode our bikes in front of his driveway and yelled up to him, "We can't play with you! You have LICE!" as if he had the plague... wow, we were nice people). But, I'm going to look on the bright side- at least now I will be ready if our children ever get lice.
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Hilarious, I do remember Boone. Kids can be cruel (including us) but Mom's the one who told us not to play with him, so which is worse? I read the CDC's ideas on treatment for scabies and they seemed to indicate that Jordan should be treated regardless of whether he's showing symptoms yet...something to consider I guess. You neglect to mention that we also thought we were Top Gun fighter pilots riding our bikes through the neighborhood (little hoodlums that we were). Good luck!
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