Sunday, June 26, 2011

The itches

For a couple of weeks I have been getting up early and going out to work in the yard while it's cool enough to be outside. That first week it was in the 90's quite a bit, but then it cooled off quite nicely.
I had not gotten out to do the spring clean up of the yard, we just had so much rain and things were just wet and yucky. what, that's a word.  So I was quite pleased that the clean up went so well and the yard was looking really good. But as I stood on the porch to survey the tidy little site, I was disturbed by the mess that remained on the north/west corner of the yard. The trash had been hauled away, and there was a wheel barrow and an old swimming pool that we used for the dogs, but that didn't bother me as much as the 5 ft. high weeds. There were a couple of huge stalky looking things and I just wanted them gone.

So I headed out there to the edge of the yard and just stepped on the bottom of the stalk and pushed it down with my foot. That was pretty easy, so I did the other one. There were some more weeds and such, so I pulled and plucked and before you knew it the whole fence line was looking neat and trim. I felt proud, fulfilled. I needed a cold drink and a nap.

That was about Tuesday, on Friday I began to scratch my ankle a lot, and then I noticed a few little tiny blisters on Saturday. Nothing really,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Sunday was coming out day. I had a huge red patch on both legs above the ankles, my arms, elbow neck and I think I even have it on my head. Poison Ivy. I hate this stuff and since I am diabetic steroids are not a great option. So I have itched all week, and lost considerable sleep, hence my middle of the night blog posts.
I have used caladryl, hydro cortisone cream and a few other 'home remedies. Nothing has helped much, freezing ice cold water running over the itches seems to help the most.
I am so ready to be over this, I hope it's gone in the morning.

What are my chances?

2 comments:

Deb from WhatsInMyAttic said...

You see! That's why you shouldn't be out there in the heat and nature and all that! It's got catching stuff all over it, and there you were in the middle of it. Hope you feel better soon...I only had it once (actually, it was poison oak for me), but it took steroids because I had a "stress reaction"...and no, it wasn't that I screamed or anything! Take it easy and stay inside where humans belong, for goodness sakes!

Cindy McPherson said...

Hi Donna,
Finally took time to read your blog. I know you have to be cured of this now, but for future use thought I would tell you of Steve's invention. He took Seabreeze and added smashed up ibuprofen to it - making a paste, and smeared it all of the poison ivy. This is the only thing that actually helped him. I think it might have been the Seabreeze pulling the poision ivy "oil" out of his skin that did it. He tried all of the over the counter remedies, and nothing worked.
It was nice to read your blog. Tell everyone we said hello.
Cindy McPherson