The Downside of Country Living

Two words. Poison Oak.

I have only ever seen Poison Oak as a little bush on the ground. John always told me it was a vine but I didn't really understand because it never looked like a vine, but a small bush. So when we had these huge vines climbing up the oak trees in the front, I thought, "Hmmmm.....That can't be good for the trees, let's cut them down!" Luckily for me, the trunks of the vine were too thick for me to cut. Unluckily for John, he got enlisted in the task. He mentioned once that it was probably poison oak. I thought he was joking and laughed. He wasn't. And it was.

Two days later his eyes are almost swollen shut, his throat is swollen so it's hard to breathe, and his entire body is broken out in a weeping rash. So it's a day off of work and to town we go en masse to see the good doc and get some steroids. It's been over a week now and he's getting much better, but now Dylan has it.

Apparently "kids stay completely away from that part of the yard and especially those vines" means "hey, why don't you go play in those mysterious vines!" First he had one spot on either cheek. I was thinking mosquito bites. That's what they looked like. Then he had a stripe down each forearm. I figured it out. Now this morning he woke up with it all over his FACE! *sigh* Must be on his sheets. It looks terrible but blessedly he's hyposensitive (yeah autism!) so it's not bothering him a bit. Just looks bad. We need to stop it from spreading then I think we'll be set.

I'm itchy just thinking about it, but so far the rest of us are rash free. Let's hope it stays that way.