Adventures with Poison Ivy

Two Saturdays ago, we were blessed with a day of sunshine after what seemed like never-ending rainfall in the month of June. I looked out the kitchen window to observe the rainforest that had grown, hiding our backyard and what used to be a moderately polished garden. I decided to attack.

I weeded the vegetable garden, picked up stray leaves from the flower garden, mowed, whacked weeds, and trimmed the hedges and trees that border 3 sides of the yard. When it was all done and I called it a day, I went inside to take a nice, hot shower.

Fastforward to Monday, I have a spot on my right cheek and a small red area on my right hand. Over the course of last week, it formed what I will nicely call a "chinstrap" shape up the sides of my cheeks and chin, and spread over the tops of my right hand fingers, even between my middle and ring finger. Having dealt with a severe case of poison ivy when I was little, I went to the doctor and she put my on 2 antihistamines (one non-drowsy, one drowsy to help me sleep) and prednasone (sp?), a steroid to help with the rash and inflammation. I was NOT psyched heading into Fourth of July weekend not being able to have a beer and having to be wary of the sun (if it should grace us with it's presence - which it did).

Well, here it is a week later since seeing the doctor. My face is almost back to normal, a couple blemishes I need to be mindful not to touch so they heal cleanly. My finger got worse before it got better because I use my hands, I was in the pool a lot over the weekend, and it didn't get much chance to really dry out. But it's showing promise today, it should be better by next week.

There's really no moral to this story. Poison ivy does grow in urban settings. Always wear gloves when doing yardwork. Know your weed(s). Heh.