It was such a beautiful day! A warm sunny day with fall in the air. Spouse was safely home from the hospital and even feeling like puttering just a bit outside. I did the lawn and dumped the clippings in the back woods, checking oh so very carefully for the poison ivy that attacked me so vigorously a year ago. All done, I didn't want to go in. The day was too nice, besides there was weeding and cleaning out of vines and bushes that had gone too long neglected. I got busy. Pretty sweaty too. Wow I got a lot done. A great sense of accomplishment.
Several days later, driving home from work, I noticed two bumps on my leg that itched. Must have gotten bitten by something. Then two more "bites" on my chest. (You would think I would have remembered a year ago, turning the house upside down cleaning, convinced there were bugs infesting something.) Well, duh, I finally get what it is. But still leave it, thinking this can't be as bad a case as last time. No scratching this time, but still it spreads daily and weeps and looks like leprosy or something. This is true POISON inside me. I am amazed at it's power. Finally treated, the poison is still taking its sweet old time to leave my body. And I get to suffer side effects of the treatment as well. What we are thinking in this household is, "When will life get back to normal?"
Don picked some mangoes once to take to the neighbor across the street. He laid them on his arm to carry them. Some time later he got a rash. When he stopped at the dermatologist's office, Dr. Demetree said, "Don, you have poison ivy." "But I haven't been in poison ivy," said Don.
ReplyDeleteMangoes, cashew nuts, and poison ivy are all in the same family. We had a missionary wife in Haiti who was very allergic to cashew nuts. Danny had bought some from the lady who came by selling them. They were wrapped in a paper in a drawer in his bedroom, and when his mom walked in the door, she began itching.
I've never had that experience...of poison ivy, that is.