WARNING--PICTURES OF MY POISON IVY RASH AHEAD---As much as I love Thoreau and going "into the woods" so to speak, it seems the woods and I have had a troubled relationship recently. It turns out that the myths and legends about the severity of nature's wrath are just as awful and true as could be imagined.
It all started on Easter Sunday. A day of fun and frolicing in the back yard with family and friends - or friend, I should say. Katie Leestma joined our family activities and we thought it would be fun to do some gardening. So, we started pulling up everything we could get our hands on. We pulled weeds that were almost as tall as us, enjoying the new backyard and promise of many summer days hanging outside. However, something awful happened the next 48 hours. Katie called me to ask if I had a rash. I had two tiny ant bite-looking spots and a strange spot that looked kind of black on my knee (like sap was stuck), but nothing crazy. That's when she told me she had a rash. Withing the next 12-24 hours she found herself in urgent care receiving cortisone injections and prednisone to fight the onslaught of poison ivy. I felt horrible and a little guilty, to boot. How did I not get it? Well, that guilt was short-lived as my couple of spots got slightly worse. nothing a little caladryl couldn't handle, but still the itching was awful.
The spots were raised and nasty, but it wasn't until I noticed a small spot on my face that I became concerned, as everything on the internet said to hurry to a doctor if it starts going toward any orafice on your face. By the time I was at the general physician the spots were on my eye and cheek. He prescribed 30 mgs of prednisone and said within 12-24 hours I should see it start to calm down. I felt still incredible uncomfortable and itchy, but was at least hopeful.
Then, this happened. As you can tell from the pictures, within hours it started to get worse, even on the prednisone. Started creeping behind my ears, in my ears, and on my neck. By the next day, I looked like I had some awful apocolyptic nightmare of a rash. I mean, I looked crazy. I called a dermatologist and they rushed me in because my eye was beginning to swell shut and it was taking over my face. I was in tears and terrified. Everything was insanely itching and there was no reprieve. AT ALL. I had to sleep with ice packs to rest and concentrating was nearly impossible, even to try and just color with Sadie to take my mind off of it. The dermatologist upped my meds to 50 mgs for five days straight (you max out at 60, FYI). Then I would begin to taper. I actually ended up taking it a full week at that dosage and it took a month and a half to taper off to steriod freedom.
As you can see, my legs, face, arms, everything looked like the scary pictures on the internet. You know the ones - the pictures that you think, "Oh, dear Lord! That is gross! That must only be in CRAZY AWFUL cases and would never happen to any normal people...least of all myself." It was awful. Through the lens, I realized it was a nightmare and couldn't help but document to show someone, or just look at it later and remember, "Yup. It really was as bad as I remember."
All I can say is that I am SO happy to be free from that. I am so thankful to have my skin back. I am aware that there are all kinds of inconveniences that will happen in life, but I now have a new way to measure discomfort, at least as rashes and such are concerned. I had a cold about a month later and all I could think was, "At least I don't have poison ivy." And that little nugget reminds me to be thankful for the moment I'm in with a stuffy nose or complaining toddler, because it turns out things could be much worse. You could have a crazy rash ransacking your limbs making you look like the main attraction and money-maker at the circus of crazy. SHEESH. So glad that's over with. From now on, I will vow never to ignore the old saying: "Leaves of three, let them be" and will tell everyone one else to do the same. Do not even get close. Unless you want your skin to turn crazy and want to be on steroids for a month and a half. In that case, go ahead and touch it...
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