Poison Ivy

Well.  It's been weird around here the last week and a half.  Back on May 9th, our family got together with the rest of Darin's family for a photo session in a beautiful park close by.  We had a great time, but the entire time, Henry wanted to get and get over to the waterfall to play.  It was a busy day in that park.  TONS of people were there getting their pictures taken, and the waterfall was a hot spot.  Our photographer took us to a gorgeous bridge where we took most of our pics.  So we were finally done, and Henry and I braved the irritation of the other photographers to go stand on the edge of the waterfall for just a minute!  :-)  Henry had a leaf he wanted to throw in so he could watch it go down the falls.  He couldn't quite get it into the water.  It kept landing just short, in the weeds.  So I retrieved his leaf for him each time, until he finally got the leaf in.  Woohoo!  Success.  :-)

The problem is that I got poison ivy from that little jaunt by the water, and I don't just get poison ivy.  It gets me!  The last time I had it, it was on my legs, arms, face, stomach....everywhere.  I went to the dr. for it and she gave me a steroid pill.  I was back two days later and she gave me the pill AND a steroid shot.  My friend's neighbor thought that I was a burn victim.  The nurses at the doctor's office were afraid they would be the one asked to be my nurse.  When my doctor wanted me to get a blood allergy test, the phlebotomist (my next door neighbor!) was afraid to touch me.  God bless them all.  I would have been freaked out, too!  But just so everyone knows....it's a bloodstream thing.  The poison is passed around our bodies through our blood.  Not contact.   :-)

Anyway, after the shot and pill combo, I spent two days being wide awake, but the stuff was gone.  This time, it was only on my arms and a little tiny bit on my chest and stomach, so I thought I could handle it on my own.  I especially wanted to do this because I really didn't want to take drugs while pregnant.  I could just kick myself.  I tried just about every home remedy I could get my hands on, but ended up at the doctor's office on Wednesday afternoon with a low grade fever and infected poison ivy.  Waaaah!  So now I'm taking oral steroids for a week, an antibiotic for the infection, and have to take Claritin for 2 months.  My doctor said this will be a slooooowwww recovery and I believe her.  After two days on the antibiotics, I don't feel all that much better.  I am frustrated with not being able to do much!  Thank God that Darin was able to stay home today and help me take care of everything around here.  What peace of mind that brought!  It was also nice to have some meals stashed in the freezer that we've been able to use.  God is good.