Poison Ivy

I got poison ivy on my face. Nearly healed and dwindled down to soft red splotches on my cheeks and jaw line, but last week i was not so lucky.  Last week I looked like a leper- or like i had peeling psoriasis all over my face. Neither are a fun option when you live where I live. On the train i could feel people staring. Half of them were trying to figure out what was wrong and the other half just trying to get further away from me in case it was contagious.

The saddest part of this is that this is not the first time I've had poison ivy on my face. Not the second or even the third. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson. 

The summer I adopted my dog I took her up north and she was playing in woods that were poison ivy ridden. I washed my hands like crazy that week - but never thought to wash her. I got PI all over my nose. Big itchy blisters on the tip of my nose. It was super un-awesome.  

My last or second to last year of being a camp counselor I got Poison Sumac on my face. All over my face. It was bad. I looked like a burn victim. I looked like I was wearing a mask of dead schluffy skin.  I had to get multiple steroid shots in my ass that month before it cleared up.  I remember feeling so bad for the parents of the campers who had to try to pretend like they weren't worried or staring as they dropped their daughters off for two weeks of living with the Phantom of the Opera.  

Now please excuse me while I go scrub my face with poison to kill the poison.