Oh so very itchy

It has been a week since that fateful day that I cut down some little oak saplings emerging from a couple of stumps. Got those awesome ratcheting loppers going and made short work of it. I THOUGHT that I had some creeper vines entangling the branches that I dragged to the chipper that Rod was running, but NO. POISON OAK!!! It took 24 hours for something that I would normally have knocked down with a good wash of Tech-Nu to erupt, much to my horror.

It has been ten years since the last terrible episode and that was probably brought to me by the dogs, since I could see it lurking and would have avoided it. That time, we were getting ready to fly to France and somehow, after whatever lame prescription I was given, by the on call doctor failed MISERABLY, I was so desperate that I went into what was our local compounding pharmacy to see if there was anything that they could recommend. The pharmacist took pity on me, seeing that it was on my face, and gave me a little of his superduper Poison Oak eradicating solution. It was amazing.

Last week, I called in to the Kaiser advice nurse and got a doctor to prescribe a steroid and a heavy antihistamine, which began to make me feel better, overnight. *Huzzah, a Miracle*. Not so fast, sister. It did well at first, but by the time that day 5 of the prednisone came and went, I could feel the rashes gaining strength again. Last night I started begging my doctor to call in a prescription to a Compounding Pharmacy and after three emails, he finally called me. Of COURSE a Kaiser doctor would be out on his arse if he actually did what I asked of him. I was not really surprised but could hear the voice of a skeptic on the other side of our call, because, OF COURSE he could not do it.

So, here I am, after taking pill #1 of a regimented course of prednisone that is way more complicated than the one a day horse pill from last week. The boxes contain little tubes of steroid cream that you can’t use anywhere “sensitive”, so it must really be “something”. I am giving it a chance because, well, this effing ITCHING is driving me to the loony bin.

Wish me luck, will ya?