06 August 2007

Verge of Madness..

I'm blaming my current state on Abenanna and hairball's mom and whoever else started me geocaching..

A couple weeks ago I picked up a Travel Bug that was part of a race.. Curious at to what kind of race it was, I looked online and found that he could get more points depending on where he went and what he did.. Of course, I wanted to get him the most points possible. He got 9 points for being in a "historical cache" (one that had been place pre-2002), so I found the closest cache that would qualify as historical, and on Wednesday my friends Krys and Mary and I went to drop off this bug in the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge about 15 miles north of here.. After an almost two mile trek through the wilderness, we had successfully scored "Patrick" 9 points..

Saturday I thought I had a couple mosquito bites on my forearm.. And then I saw later that I had a couple more "bites" on my shins.. The itching and scratching gradually increased.. By Sunday morning, there were many more spots on my arms and shins. It was apparent that these weren't mosquito bites.. No.. I had been attacked by poison oak while caching!!

Last night and today, the itching is making me almost insane!! I take the Benadryl, I apply the cream, and still I itch and Itch and ITCH!! From what I can find online, there's really nothing to be done.. But if I suffer through the next two weeks, all should be fine.... TWO WEEKS OF THIS?? I will surely go mad by then.. Surely......

4 Comments:

Blogger abeNanna said...

I'm sorry, but our madness didn't really cause yours.... LOL (hope you feel better soon)

8/08/2007 6:50 PM

 
Blogger leaner said...

Geesh! That sucks.

Ok, first BAD point about where you live. One point against it, 50 against where I live... Yeah, I still wanna come visit. (Plus you KNOW what it looks like, and wouldn't subject me to it, right?)

8/09/2007 7:14 AM

 
Blogger Elise said...

Malcolm found a cream (or soap?) at the Big Bass Pro shop that eliminates the oils of the poison and give immediate relief. Sorry but I do not know the name of it. Does poison oak work the same as poison ivy?

8/09/2007 9:52 PM

 
Blogger Joxer's Human said...

abenanna,

but you were the one who started me geocaching and were it not for my being out in the woods getting a caching fix, i'd not be in such a sad state.. and besides, i need someone to blame my ignorance on. somehow i thought if i just stayed on the trail, i'd be safe, though the cache info clearly stated in capital letters to watch out for poison oak... (silly me).. and to think that i made fun of my friends for wearing pants in the heat (it was 85 outside and we were all complaining about it being so warm).. of course, neither of them came down with the mad itchies...


leaner,

yes, it sucks.. but not as bad as it did before i bought benadryl spray. it took all the itchies away :) and NOW i believe i know what it looks like, so i will avoid it at all costs.. looking forward to the day when you actually visit.. CAT and i will think about you while we're out and about in a couple weeks!



hairball,

from what i read poison oak and ivy infections are pretty much the same thing.. my problem was that i didn't know i'd gotten infected until start to itch a couple days later, and by then the oil had been absorbed in my skin and no soap was going to help.. i tried soaps and creams, but found that they may work for a bit, but rubbing anything on the itchy spots just made things worse.. best to just spray them with benadryl and not to touch...


AND just as a funny coincidence--
my brother, who now lives on the complete opposite side of the country from me, was climbing a tree to get firewood (something about showing jules how to build a fire or some craziness like that) and he has also spent the last week miserable from poison oak!! and not having any luck himself with the cream remedy, i advised him on the spray, as we felt bad for each other over the phone.. :)

8/10/2007 6:45 AM

 

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