I will admit - there was one point over the weekend when I wondered "Has any one ever died from ivy poisoning?"

So, apparently you can acquire a bad allergy to poison ivy later into your adult years.

I have pretty much always lived in the country and have encountered those leaves of three several times throughout my childhood. I would break out and itch - was slightly uncomfortable, but nothing awful.

About a month ago Dave was working on installing a large redneck-esque TV antenna (free TV - the only way we will have it) and the area by our house where he was working  ended up having a small crop of poison ivy on it.

He broke out.

I said I would stay away from him for a while.

I did not do as I said.

I also think I encountered some poison ivy when I was helping him stack some fire wood in our back yard. At any rate - I found evidence of poison ivy on my arm. It started to clear up after about two weeks - and then in a cruel turn of fate it returned, with a vengeance. It was really bad.

It multiplied. Alot.

I kept waiting for it to get better...

On Saturday Dave went to an all day men's conference in Indiana. K had a "migraine" (what the doctors are now saying these "seizure" type episodes have been all along. This will probably be my next post... ). I was trying to deal with his discomfort and take care of things here but I started feeling really ill. Nauseous, chills, low grade fever. Then I noticed that my arm, where the poison ivy had started, was about double its original size. There were some rather unsettling red streaks going down the entire length of my arm... Not pretty.

It was a rough day. Dave arrived home around 7:30 pm and I left for the after hours clinic. The doctor took one look at me and ordered a steroid shot - I quickly threw out the fact that I was nursing and he changed the order to a one week steroid pill regime (thank you very much my nursing baby. The shot may have expedited the healing, but being saved from a shot is okay with me any day. I've had enough shots to last a life time).

I am now taking the steroids, an allergy med, and an antibiotic... Whew.

I'm feeling so much better - other than the fact that this combination of meds tend to make me sick to my stomach. Worth it to kick out this awful poison ivy onslaught though.

(I really am okay now mom...) ;)

 I've been busy, busy! I hardly even slowed down to get through the poison ivy misery.

Taking lots of pictures (I'll show you soon!), designing a bright, fun, girlie blog for a friend (yes, I am totally hooked to the design thing now...), going to dentist appointments, doctor appointments, and meetings with kiddos, excited about a fund raiser I am helping with for the Center for Women this weekend, planning some charity work for our Sunday school class to do together, dreaming and scheming about camping, yard work, maybe a garden, and lots more stuff....

Just thought I'd pop in for a quick little update. :)