A good reason why sailing is for me.

Me Sailling last summer

You think I would have learned my lesson from last last time I had poison ivy (which was just a month or 2 ago).  Since then, I have made a point of not even going in the woods, or doing any Geocaching by anything that has to do with long grass or weeds of any kind.  How did I get this poison f---ing ivy/oak/sumac/whatever it is this time?  It's November!  Just from raking Maggie's backyard this past Sunday?  The yard is about the size of a small bedroom and most of it is a patio and rocks, no long grassy weedy area.  Yet this is the only lead to where the contact dermatitis has come from.  The good news is I was covered from head to toe ( I mean with cloths) ...it was cold.  But wait...where does it show up?  Right in the corner of my mouth...like I have a bad case of oral herpes oozing and crusting up my mouth or some disgusting disease from some STD.  I can't really cover it up with a bandaid with out affecting my speach.  It would have been nice if it was nice and hidden on my upper arm or calf or somewhere else.  BA!   

At first I thought it was a cold sore, but I never get cold sores.  I walked to the City Island Pharmacy to buy some make-up (easy to pick since the selection- was only 2  brands) to cut the redness down a little and hide the blisters, since I was going to work and didn't want to scare my patients (oh wait...they are sedated or demented anyway) or co-workers (oh wait...some aren't much better than the patients here at Bronx-leb).  I think I applied it right (the make up)...was never really good at that since of the times I try to look flattering with make-up -I look like a clown.  OK...so the blush from 9th grade is a little out of date.  

I did the routine -wash everything I touched and everything that that stuff touched- and so on.  Any way through out the night it turned to small blisters and itching like crazy...then moved to the corner of my eye, only to find a few more areas on other part of my body.  To the urgent care center I went this afternoon.   At least they knew me from last time.  So they believed me this time that I get it bad since I had to go for a follow up visit the last time because their initial  treatment was not enough the first visit.   So prescriptions of  antibiotics, steroids and some acetone ointment that they say don't use too much or it will thin the skin was the answer this time.  So instead of blisters I will have a missing chunk of lip and eye.  Anyway I should be set now.  I almost forgot, Dr. Ahn reinforced that avoidance is the best treatment.  Thanks Doc...I will try to remember that next time.

The good news is that I got the doctor to prescribe me an EPI pen for my medical kit on the boat ( just in case some one goes into anaphylactic shock from eating seafood or something while with me in the middle of the ocean).  Also some blood work for some booster shots I needed and few refills on some other medications and a list of doctors in the area for dermatology stuff in regards to high susceptibility to contact dermatitis and also for a physical that I need to get updated on.   

Any way, I think I will just stick to boating life away from this nonsense.  Enough run-on sentences for now...