journal for 2003-05-21
the ooze
Stop reading this if you don’t want to hear about oozy wounds.
Interestingly, the urushiol can be vaporized when exposed to a fire. If you have a neighbor who is burning poison ivy, the resin will rise with the smoke. If you are downwind when the resin cools off and rains back down to earth, you could receive a coat of urushiol on any uncovered areas resulting in a surprise case of poison ivy.
Under no circumstances should you burn the plant; the smoke is as potent as the plant itself. Inhaling the smoke can produce a systemic reaction, including potentially serious, and life-threatening, lung inflammation.
That’s from some page about poison ivy/oak/sumac. I have a rash from one of these. Sumac, I suspect. It sucks.
It itches, although I’m pretty much over that. It still itches a lot, but I don’t care anymore. What gets me is the ooze. The rash is leaky, as apparently it’s supposed to be. It’s kind of watery, but just thick enough not to pour all down my leg. Also, it’s slighly orange.
It is totally disgusting. I feel leprous. At least it has no discernable odor.
I picked up some medical tape, today, and taped some paper towel to my knee to keep it from getting on my pants. See, the ooze gets on the inside knee of my pants, then shifts around so I get cold ooze on my leg. It feels like I’m wetting my pants. It’s just awful.
Stupid nature.