Mazur Manor: The Unluckiest Summer, Round 1

ROUND 1 (June 8th)

All I wanted to do was garden - have a pretty lawn, plant some flowers, grow some veggies...

A week prior to this itchy-scratchy outbreak, I had finally finished tilling and preparing ground for my vegetable garden. Our property seems to be covered in various plants I've never seen in my life - I learned as a little girl, "three leaves, leave it be," so surely everything else is fair game? I assumed many were weeds. One day I was outside pulling weeds - wearing jeans and a t-shirt - just waiting for the veggies to grow, so I could begin picking something edible instead...

At work, my hands began to itch and I started seeing these small red bumps... which eventually became smallish red rashes... which eventually starting jumping to new locations all over my body. The general consensus on the hand bumps were Oak Mites... before everything else showed up, that is.

Where did I get it? Was it in the brush in the middle of the driveway? Was it along the side of the house? Maybe it was in that grass next to the barn...

The rash got worse and worse, eventually covering my face. I tried everything from Calamine Lotion, to Benadryl itch cream, to finally, a product called Zanfel - A LIFE SAVER. Thank you aunt Jackie for the recommendation! The lesions began to dry up and slowly started to heal (which led to the picture in the black tank top).

This episode... my very first time ever having poison ivy... lasted about FOUR. WEEKS. TOTAL. I eventually had to be put on steroids, which was the turning point. During those first weeks though, I couldn't sleep. I couldn't sweat. I couldn't change clothes. I couldn't shower.

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I sure hope the severity of this breakout means I'm now immune to this wretched plant!

Thank the Lord I'm healed... now on to other priorities.