Well I figured I’d start my stint back with a nice little post about bugs. What sort of bugs, you ask? Well, the kind that make you itch. Now keep in mind there are several varieties and I plan to only discuss one of those little buggers (yes, pun intended) here today. The name… scabies! Now you may be wondering how I have come across these little guys and how I have obtained such a wealth of knowledge about them, well, here goes. I got them or well, I had them ( I hope!)
I have traced back the source based on where the dr. said I could get them from…possible sources include sharing clothes (nope, haven’t done that nor have I bought anything new for a few months), close contact with another such as holding a child for prolonged periods, sexual contact, etc. (know I didn’t get them from hubby because he doesn’t have the same problem) which pretty much made me think I got it from one of the kids. Now I didn’t think it was from the girls because I was pretty sure I had started to itch (which is the main symptom…not just any itch either…it’s an itch that doesn’t go away and is insane at night) before they came to us. So last night I was going through some of our foster care papers and came across papers on a little boy we did respite for around the time, I thought I would have contracted them. It all came together then.
Typically for all foster kids as soon as they come to our home, we strip them and wash anything we can (clothes, stuffed animals, blankets, etc.) just because you never know what they are coming from. Now a respite child is already placed with a foster home so I’m usually not as concerned, but if it’s a longer respite we will still do it because I have this thing about how clothes smell and sometimes people use detergent I don’t care for, etc, etc.
Now in this particulary case, the respite was just one night and I thought, what the heck, I would skip doing the laundry that day. Well, that was a big MISTAKE!!! Looking back I realized that his clothes were kind of yucky (I actually ended up having him wear some of my backup clothes when we went out to eat because his clothes were so nasty and stained and smelly (now keep in mind this is a child that is already in a foster home!). This sort of thing doesn’t really phase me anymore because there are quite a few foster parents around here that treat their kids like second-class citizens. These people however were working to adopt this sweet little boy. Now, I will say that honestly, the adults didn’t look much better themselves.
Now thankfully, these little buggers have quite the discerning taste buds and actually have preferences on who they like to chomp on. Thankfully (well, not so much for me) they only liked me! Mike didn’t get it nor did any of my girls or Carter.
I finally couldn’t take it any longer and went to the dr. he gave me a lotion that should take care of it. Now I’ve done the lotion thing and still itch which apparently is normal for 2-6 more weeks after treatement. At least the itching has subsided some. I’m not sure I could handle the itching anymore.
Moral of the story!!! ALWAYS WASH THE CLOTHES!!!!
