Poison Ivy is (fill in the blank)

itchy, beyond all itchiness.

a sanity battle.

from Hell.

definitely part of the Fall.


OK, so I feel like I'm being a wimp.  When it comes to physical ailments, I've had my fair share, but I have a high pain tolerance.  But being itchy isn't about "pain" and it is at the top of my "hate" list.  When I was pregnant with Capps, I got some sort of liver issue and I was so itchy.  I scratched and scratched until I had bruises everywhere.  In hindsight, that is a little embarrassing.

Jason would like to point out a self-control issue.

So, two weeks ago today, I decided to weed out my monkey grass.  Our yard looks terrible and I make no effort to make it look good (desire for it to look good, but no desire to work and no time), but I decided it was getting out of control.  I was pretty sure it was poison ivy that I was pulling out, but I've never had a reaction to it before.

I was only outside for an hour.  I bagged what I pulled, showered as soon as I came in and washed the clothes I was wearing in hot water.  I did what I was supposed to do to be safe, or so I thought.

The next morning I was itching.  It was all over my ears, face, neck and hands.  I called the doctor and he called me in five days of prednisone - the strongest dose per day he could give me.  It seemed to get a little better, but didn't go away.

And then it started to get worse and spread to my arms, stomach, back and legs.  And I never stop scratching.  At two weeks, I met with the doctor again yesterday and he gave me another dose of prednisone.  This time a two week dose that gradually gets fewer mg per day. 

Two doses in and I think I'm getting relief.

And Mollee and Jason are strangely glad that I now know how bad poison ivy is - they get it all the time and I never have as much sympathy as I will have from now on.

And with all this prednisone in my system, maybe I'll get some closets cleaned out that I've been avoiding....