17. That Bugs Me

Lice, bed bugs, ringworms, weird kind of termite-like bugs, and scabies; I have conquered them all. These are all things that street kids are in constant battle with, and I have also had the opportunity to share it with them. I am actually fortunate that I have not had them more than I have.
I have actually been extremely fortunate. Let’s see… I had lice and bed bugs once each. A simple cutting of the hair and washing of the sheets worked fine for both.
Ringworms I have had on a couple of occasions. Once I had two huge ones on my face. The only thing I could remember every time I looked in the mirror was how my mom told me, when I was little, that if you pick your nose and eat your boogers, you would get ringworms. That is the very reason I stopped that, at a young age I might add. All I knew was that I had definitely NOT gotten those ring worms from eating boogers!
On a couple of occasions I have had this weird kind of boil-like things appear on my hand. I still have no clue what in the world they were. They kind of looked like a pimple that was exposed to some sort of radioactive chemicals or something. I still have a scar on my hand from one of them.
The weird termite-like bugs had to be the funniest! I actually call them homeless bugs because they are quite common in the
blankets of homeless people. I have no clue what class they are but they bear a striking resemblance to termites. They are extremely passive bugs though. They don’t bite or cause trouble; they just like to hang out in your blanket and eventually your hair.
I was intimately introduced to them when one of the kids stayed at my house one night because I had to take him to the hospital the next morning. The bugs must have decided they were tired of him and that they were going to move on and stay with me.
I tried to vacuum them up, and thought I got them all. Well, I didn’t. A few days later I felt something on my forehead. It felt like a drop of sweat. I tried to wipe it off, but to my surprise, it was a homeless bug! I had long hair at the time and they had nested in it.
It was a pretty funny and embarrassing thing, at times, to be talking with someone and then feel something on my forehead and then see a look of horror in the person’s eyes as they try and figure out why I had bugs crawling out of my hair and onto my forehead. Fortunately, after a few months, they must have gotten tired of me because the just went away.
The worst thing I have EVER experienced is scabies!!! Oh my word!!! I had scabies in the summer of 2002 and it was awful. It was truly one of the most terrible things I have ever had!
There was a bad breakout of them amongst the kids that summer. Scabies burrow under your skin and it makes these red dots appear that eventually turn into huge rashes. They can only burrow in areas where they have something to push against so the armpits, waist line, bases of fingers and pubic areas are the common areas that are affected.
I didn’t even realize what I had for a couple of months so I assumed it was fleas or bedbugs. When I finally realized that is was actually scabies, I had already developed an extremely bad case. I spent MANY nights awake, because that is the time that they are the most active and it itches even more.
I have never itched like that in my life!! There were times when I felt like cutting off my skin! I went to the pharmacy to get medication and I went home to apply it. After I had evenly smeared it over my whole body, it started to feel like it was burning my skin off.
I have a pretty high tolerance for pain but I have never felt anything like that before! It literally felt like acid eating away at my skin. I tried to wash it off and the water seemed to make the pain increase.
I washed with soap as my skin continued to burn and after about fifteen minutes it finally stopped. I laughed because I was supposed to keep that stuff on my skin for twenty-four hours and I couldn’t even make it for a few minutes. I called the pharmacist who said, “Oh, yeah. Some people’s skin is incredibly sensitive to it.” Thanks for letting me know!
I finally had to wait for some medication to come in the mail that my mom had sent me from my doctor in the States. It took me a couple of months but I eventually got rid of them.
Scabies were terrible and I don’t think I would wish them even on my worst enemies but when all is said and done, I survived them, along with all the other strange creatures I have been a home for.
I have conquered them all and now I have funny stories to tell my grandkids. At least now I can say, “Been there, done that”, I got the T-shirt… and I washed it!!