Hi everyone,
My wife and I just bought our first home - I was so excited to get out there and do some yard work... in my own yard!
I'd had poison ivy a few times as a kid but didn't think much of it... especially now in Massachusetts - trees are just now starting to bud.
Well, two days after a day of clearing brush, the rash showed up on my left arm... I suffered through it and it started to go away.
About a week later, without having gone back into the yard or anything, my right arm/hand, waist, groin, legs and neck swelled up like BALLOONS and got covered with fluid-filled blisters...
I went to my doctor who said it's one of the worst cases of poison ivy he's ever seen...
I'm now on prednisone, claritin and an antibiotic (he was scared the swelling in my right hand was SO bad due to an infection).
These meds seem to be working... the swelling is slowly subsiding... the blisters have pretty much stopped draining and are starting to crust over...
I am now looking into hiring someone to come in and OBLITERATE the brushy areas of my yard... I'll pay any price... I plan to have all the brush removed down to the roots, plus about a one-foot layer of topsoil. Then I'm going to BLAST the whole area with brush killers... Then I'm going to wait a few weeks and put down a new layer of topsoil...
If this doesn't work I don't know what I'll do!
Good luck to everyone out there... this is miserable! |
