Hard Week

This has not been an easy week.

It started last Wednesday.  Tuesday, really, when Gisèle came home from school scratching her head.  I didn't think too much of it, because she was also pretty hot and sweaty at the time, having just come from the playground.  When she was still scratching the next morning, though, Jamie took a look and confirmed - it was lice.  LICE. 

(If your family has never had to deal with lice, I pray you escape it.  I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.  Not that I have an enemies I can think of.  But I wouldn't even wish it on people I don't like.  Like the most annoying Jeopardy contestant ever, Colby, or Nicholas Cage, who just makes me roll my eyes.)

On Thursday, Miles's preschool said they found 2 "bugs" in his hair.  (We had not found anything at all the night before.  The school knew, however, that Miles's sister had lice.)  Jamie took him home, but didn't find a single bug or egg anywhere on his head.  He treated him anyway, as a precaution, and planned to send him back to school on Friday.  Later Thursday afternoon, Jamie got a call from the school director, who informed him that Miles wouldn't be allowed back at school without a doctor's note.  He spent the next hour scrambling to get the doctor's office to fax a note to the school clearing Miles's to go back since he never had lice in the first place.    

Everyone's hair has been treated, and since Wednesday, we've had to wash and change the sheets and towels daily, vacuum everything daily, and do nightly, lengthy lice & nit checks.  Jamie and I are exhausted.

Friday, Miles's school sent a long letter to all the parents, informing them that "a child in one of the preschool classrooms has been diagnosed with head lice."  It advised that extra hand-washing and other precautions be taken, and reassured parents that the infected child would not be allowed back to school until he was "disease-free for 24 hours."

Monday morning, I had a glucose tolerance test and battery of bloodwork for my next PCOS check-up, which will be next week.  That left me completely drained the rest of the day.

Jamie left on a business trip Monday afternoon, so things have become a little bit more difficult in the last couple of days, simply because I'm on my own with the kids and the lice-containment duties.  On the upside, last night I didn't find any more lice on Gisèle (knock on wood!), and very few nits.  We'll do a follow-up shampoo treatment on Friday, after Jamie is home. 

The hardest part about having Jamie gone, besides simply missing him, is the lack of sleep.  With him away, I'm responsible for transporting both kids to and from school.  Gisèle's school is near the house, but Miles's is near Halliburton.  I never sleep well with Jamie away, and I have to wake up extra-early to get ready before getting the kids up, so the most I can hope for right now is about 5 hours of sleep.  I haven't been able to get that, though.  Monday night, Gisèle woke up in the middle of the night with a nightmare.  Tuesday night, Miles woke up because he "bonk-ted {his} head."  I've had 2 espresso drinks each of the first 2 days, and that's the only thing keeping me going.  At least the traffic wasn't bad this morning.  Yesterday there were 2 accidents, so I was in the car for 1 1/2 hours before I finally go to work.


Jamie gets home tomorrow afternoon.  I can hold out until then.  Right?