Monday, December 19, 2011

Poison Oak

I have it on my left leg and on my left arm.  I got it last Sunday on Jakes Rock-it ride, we did not get to ride this week.  It started as a small rash on my leg that itched on the Monday after the ride, so I put some cortisone cream on it and it stopped itching.  I watched it on Tuesday and it had not spread so in my expert medical opinion there was no way it could be poison oak, it had to be something else!  By Saturday it had become a 4" red, bumpy, oozing, itching patch.  My mother in law took a look at it (she is a nurse practitioner) and said it was definitely poison oak....  How was this possible, it wasn't spreading.  I was a Boy Scout growing up and I am a Boy Scout leader now, I know poison oak, it spreads.  My mother in law informed me that if you have been exposed to it before, which I have, then sometimes it takes longer to spread.  Sure enough by Sunday night, a whole week after exposure, it appeared on my arm.  The patch on my arm was hit with Triamcinolone Acetonide cream right away and is now almost gone, but the original patch on my leg is getting worse and will probably require a topical steroid or something stronger as it is now a four inch red, itching, swollen, bumpy, oozing blotch surrounded by a eight inch itching, bumpy area.  Here's what it looks like....
My advice is if you have even the slightest thought that it might be poison oak then treat it like it is, if I had done that my leg would not hurt and itch.  Next time I will be safe rather than sorry.  Poison oak sucks!!!!

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