Rash & Links

Yesterday was J’s first day attending school since the Rash Incident. She’s been improving, so I gave her a non-drowsy allergy medicine and sent an email to the nurse telling her that my doctor swears it’s poison ivy or poison oak, as unlikely as it seems, and that it’s absolutely, definitely not chicken pox. J managed pretty well all day yesterday.

Today, something wonderful happened. J arrived home with no trace of rash. Completely itch-free. I’d been worried, too, because I’d forgotten her medicine in the morning. She was back to her perfect sweet little J self. In fact, she’s in a bit of an exhibitionist phase, so when she saw how delighted I was with her lovely face and smooth porcelain arms, she offered a full display of her non-rashy perfection. Gor-geous!

Seriously, she’d looked so awful for so long that I almost didn’t believe that she’d be able to get back to normal.

I freakin’ love normal. Normal is beautiful.

And then, about 2 hours later, she had itchy splotches on her face and arms.

OMG.

She’d been playing outside around the playhouse, just like before. Why did I think that this would be fine?

1. I am not allowed to say that I’m an idiot. It’s a New Year’s Resolution.
2. The area isn’t exactly wild. In fact, it’s paved. The previous owners couldn’t get enough asphalt. And, besides,
3. The girls play there all the time and nothing has ever bothered her before.
4. What the heck vegetation is even alive? Well, maybe dead poison ivy would still bother her?
5. J had a rash all over her entire body, which is partly why I’d thought that there was some sort of poison ivy-ness on the blanket she’d been snuggling before the rash outbreak and why the doctor thought that it could have been burning poison ivy. It was spread everywhere, which didn’t seem to line up with direct contact.

Needless to say, I freaked out. First I had J walk me over to wherever she and M had been playing, so that I could inspect it. I couldn’t see anything that looked like leaves-of-three, but it was already getting dark. Then I rushed her to the shower, where I scrubbed her myself in the hopes that at least I’d stop the rash from spreading farther. And I gave her medicine. Again. Just when she thought she’d be done.

Tomorrow, if it’s not covered in snow, I’ll head out to Shop Vac the area, scrub the playhouse, and hack away at any vegetation. I guess it’s at least good to know, right? And maybe I caught it quickly enough that it will go away faster this time.

Speaking of allergies, here’s a really great Robyn O’Brien TEDxAustin Talk about food allergies and the US food industry.

And here’s a very sweet and funny essay by Michael Ian Black about how terrifying and emotional it is to become a parent.