Mom! Help! We Have Head Lice!

When my phone rang I knew I wasn’t expecting any calls, but it was still early on the west coast.  A call coming in at 8:30 pm wasn’t all that late really.  Until I read the caller ID.  It was my son. He and his family live on the east coast.  For him it was 11:30 pm on a week night. My heart dropped into my stomach. 

“Hi, Son” I answered sweetly. 

“What up?”  I was trying to sound casual, as if his calling that late was perfectly normal and ordinary.

"Mom, you've got to help me!" 

I could tell from his tone that he was annoyed.  I was relieved.  None of the horrible things I instantly imagined he could have been calling about were the reason for this call.

 "Okay, with what?"  I asked.

 "Your granddaughter has lice again!  Why can't I get rid of this once and for all?  This is so frustrating!"

I walked him through the process of getting the live lice out first and explained why that alone was not sufficient to get rid of the little buggers.  I told him to buy the comb from the LiceDoctors site, because he will need that, even if he still had the small, plastic comb from the grocery store that he purchased last time. 

“The tines on the plastic combs aren’t close enough together to actually remove a lot of the nits” I said.

“Nits? Mom, what are you talking about?”  He was beginning to get annoyed again.

“The little eggs they lay” I said “that stay attached to the hair even after the lice are gone.”

“Oh, the eggs” he said.  “They’re called nits?  And I have to get every single one of them out of her hair?  How am I going to do that?  We’ll be up all night!”

I told him to relax, and I explained the rest of the treatment plan and the lice life cycle.  The lice life cycle is important to understand if you intend to get rid of them and effectively use the follow up plan.  He was listening on speaker while going through the kids’ hair.  He finally had them in bed.  We had been on the phone for over an hour.  I heard him sigh. 

“This is what you do for people, Mom?  Everything you just had me doing?” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s what we do” I said proudly.

“Seems stressful” he said.

I was confused.  “What’s stressful?”  I asked.

“Your job, I mean, just look at my reaction but I get to call my mom.  Other people don’t get to just pick up the phone and boom! Problem solved!”  He continued “I just think having to deal with upset people all the time would be awful.”

“How do feel now?” I asked him.  “Are you feeling confident?  Are you certain that this is no longer an issue?”

“Yeah” he said “I do”

“That’s the point of my job.  When I leave my client’s home, they have the same feeling you have now, except, they are in the same city with me and I am here to actually show them how to execute each step.  I have easy to follow instructions that I leave with them.  And when I leave, they feel the way you do right now.”

“Yeah, I can see why.  It’s late.  I’m going to go bed.  Thanks, Mom.  I love you.”

“Yeah it is getting late, even for me. Good night, Son. I love you, too.”

If you find head lice, LiceDoctors is only a phone call away for you, as well. Call 858-939-9202 in the Escondido area, and a lice technician (who is probably NOT your mom) will arrive at your home to check and treat all members of your family. We let you say good bye to your case of lice for good!