Problematic Poison Ivy

On the mend!

Well I may be the only member of my family who does not suffer from motion-sickness, but alas, I seem to be the only one who gets poison ivy.  Now, I have known since my summer camp days, that I am sensitive to poison ivy, and I keep a solid look-out for the plants whenever I travel in cottage/canoeing country.  Unfortunately I didn’t see the patch of poison ivy that we have on the edge of our property.  The end result has been the worst case of poison Ivy I’ve ever had.  Argh.

The offending plant!  Notice loonie for scale.

It all started out innocently enough with just a smallish spot of the itchy blisters on my calf.  Somehow that migrated to my right calf and to my left wrist and elbow.  Two weeks later and I’m still dealing with new blisters.  I eventually gave up on all the over-the-counter medications, although I will say that the Benadryl anti-itch spray was excellent at stopping the itching.  I went to the doctor and got a steroid cream, and things seem to be healing up nicely.  In the meantime we went anti-green and bought a giant bottle of “Poison Ivy Round-Up,”  which is only available behind lock and key at the hardware store.  John put on his bio-hazard suit and rubber boots and went out to eradicate the nasty stuff.  One spray application and there is no longer any sign of the poison ivy.  A bit frightening really, I mean what can possibly be in that Round-Up that it kills the most resilient plant going?  However, no complaints here.  Honestly, if I just look at the plant I seem to get blisters.  

Not very green I'll admit--but effective!

So I am reminded of the yin and the yang, and recognize that no matter how perfect a place may be there will likely be little glitches along the way.  In the meantime, I sit at the picnic table, in the gentle breeze, listening to the birds, the cicadas and the waves lapping against the shore, and I feel very lucky indeed.