Relative Something

I’ve gone and done it again. I got a new poison ivy rash on my arms just as a previous outbreak was reaching the end of its healing process. You’d think I would know better, but my vigilance tends to be inexplicably cursory. Why is that? I have no idea. I wear a seatbelt when in a car and a helmet when I ride my bike. Why would I behave so cavalierly when it comes to this poison that grows all over our property and to which I am so sensitive?

For one thing, every time I research what the plant looks like, I get so many variations of leaves of 3, all looking frustratingly common and innocuous, that I gain little to no confidence that I could know it when I see it. I suppose I could try behaving as if every growing thing around here were hazardous.

Actually, I probably just give up too easily. After looking at pictures for a couple of hours last night, I believe I may now be able to recognize enough key features that I can identify it when I see it. Seeing it becomes the challenge. Honestly, there are so many things growing all over the place here that it tends to boggle my mind.

Speaking of my boggled mind, I have no idea how I have been able to avoid getting a rash after the number of times using the power trimmer when I have been sprayed head to toe with wet green shrapnel of the growing things being mowed to the ground. It makes no sense that I have somehow been lucky enough to not have trimmed places where poison ivy was present. It is pure hubris that I have forged ahead carelessly with this and gotten away with it.

Last Saturday, in a rush to try to finish clearing brush from the last section of our northern property line, I scrambled to cut and clear a wide variety of unidentified growth, both on the ground and as small vines and trees. With arms bare and wearing a t-shirt, I dragged through the undergrowth to cut and pull anything that stuck up. I grabbed piles of brush and branches in my arms and hauled them a short walk away to toss on a pile. It was hot, I was sweaty, and I worked hastily in a rush to finish before showering for a visit to the Walker’s bonfire gathering.

A day and a half later, I knew the rash on my arms was going to be bad. It was so head-slapping-D’oh obvious, it was embarrassing. Of course I put myself at risk with that thoughtless behavior. And I was just getting over a rash, probably from the same dang project when I started it a couple weeks before.

I’ve been treating the rash with my favorite method of super hot water, as hot as I can stand, on areas of rash to release histamine from the cells. It feels great at the time, and then calms itching for hours. In the past, doctors have treated me with the steroid, prednisone, which works really well, but I hate the side effects I experience. To avoid that, I have been taking an antihistamine, per one doctor’s suggestion, which seems to dry up the worst areas which would otherwise be oozing. Other than that, it’s simply a matter of enduring the 1-2 weeks it takes my skin to heal.

Ultimately, avoidance is the best way to deal with being sensitive to poison plants, so I intend to up my game of knowing what my nemesis looks like, and take prudent precautions when it is likely that my activity will put me at risk.

Obviously, simply trying to avoid hugging Delilah has not been a sufficient plan for keeping my skin from being poisoned again.

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