Jan 11, 2010

Giving New Meaning To "Bad Hair Day"


I guess this means her head doesn't hurt. I bought this little hammer today. I thought this would be a good toy for her for increasing her grip strength and to encourage pounding, it lights up and makes sound. She likes it and is pounding everything. Being silly I hit myself on the head with it and then she decided to copy me. Yikes! She had no pain meds today. Not even Advil. She didn't even complain when I washed her hair later. She's over it and moving on!

But I didn't send her to school because I kept her up late shampooing her hair again. I tried Joy. Shampoo, rinse lather repeat, rinse lather repeat, rinse lather repeat.... but it didn't work and her hair was as greasy as ever. But I had to try. Besides, I wasn't sure our nurse would feel comfortable showing up at 8:15 and jumping on a bus with her given that it wouldn't have even been 4 days since the surgery. I think it was a good call. She had a great day at home with Carmela and was super busy and happy. Plus, something HAS to be done about that hair.

Tonight I gave her yet another bath. Have I mentioned how much she loves baths? She can hear the bath water running from any room in the house and will come "runnin" to see if she can get in. Or that aside from taking baths her favorite thing to do is throw the bath toys that we keep in a tray under the clawfoot into the tub? Tonight she was so excited she was standing on tiptoe and even lifting her leg to stand one legged for a second. If she gets much taller she might fall in (don't worry we'll keep an eye on her).



This is what I was trying to fix:


Gives a whole new meaning to the term "bad hair day" doesn't it? Again, this is Bacitracin the hair is not wet and has already been shampooed 10 times. And seriously, it was like she grew a Brillo pad on the back of her head.

I went to the store for Dawn. My friend Janis says this is the dish soap they use to wash birds that get stuck in oil spills so I figure it's my best shot. I agonized over the 7+ different formulas, opted against "with odor eater", "with bleach alternative" three scents to choose from, hand soap (why is Dawn making hand soap disguised as dish soap?) two scents to choose from, or Dawn with Oil of Olay two scents to choose from. I wanted to scream. Although I questioned the decision we went with the original bright blue formula. I figure massive amounts of dye are better than bleach or whatever chemical eats odors and who knows if the hand soap variety is up to the job. And I suspected the Oil of Olay version might add oil, not worth the risk. If the security people were watching me I'm sure they wondered why it was taking me so freakin' long to pick dish soap.

Rather than wet the hair I put massive quantities of soap directly into her dry hair and scrubbed and scrubbed, combed and repeated, being very careful not to let it get in her eyes. And it mostly came out. The area where the drain was is a bit swollen so I didn't want to rub too hard and that area is still a bit greasy but it's good enough that she can go to school tomorrow without shame. And luckily all that dye did not turn her incision blue.

3 comments:

  1. That is so funny. We had a heck of a time with Harlie's hair, too. I guess you don't have to put Bacitracin on it anymore? They told us to put that on her incisions for 10 days! Ugh - talk about a grease-fest! I still have a stain on my couch from the first time around! Anyway, it took several weeks - after the last of the bacitracin was applied - for her hair to be de-greasified. Ew. Wish I had thought to use Dawn...or at least talk about it on my blog so Janis would have told me! haha

    Happy washing!!!
    ~Christy

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  2. Christy. FYI- Our surgeon told us three days on Friday and that he's trying to get the hospital policy for instructions changed. So yes, we don't have to keep doing it for the 10 more days. And the problem was that her hair was such a mess the nurses were slathering in on and getting all over her hair not just the incision. Something to ask about if there's a next time for you.

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  3. You ladies are too funny. Well i am glad it sort of worked...maybe it was Palmolive? Nah I am sure it was Dawn and pretty sure it was the Original formula unless there is an Aviary one. LOL. I am so amazed at Ainsley's recover...WOOT! WOOT!

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