Jay;

What a story! So many problems from a walk! There is a walk from Muir Woods to Stinson Beach, which we have taken, but we stay away from the Poison Oak. I have heard you do not have to touch Poison Oak to become infected - it has a oil that can become air born.

As you know not everyone is allergic to the stuff. I still stay away from it as I do not wish to “tempt the gods”.

After reading your story I might just stay away from Stinson
Beach. Hope you recovered with no long-term problems. Having a heart attack is frightening. It is a good thing you were able to get to a hospital.

Another thing about Stinston Beach – it is within the area called “The Triangle”, which is an area of California that has the worlds highest White Shark infestation. The Great White’s come from all over the world to “visit” us, just North of San Francisco, on the Marin County side. A few people have been bitten by the sharks in that area.

I remember in 1968 my brother was really into scuba diving. He would go to Stinston Beach by himself and go after Abalone. He would take home these enormous Abalone and one day we had a feast of six pounds of Abalone. That tasted so good!

Shortly after that my brother found out about “The Triangle”, and we knew the reason the Abalone were so plentiful and big. The sharks kept other forms of sea life away from the Abalone. My brother never again went scuba diving – he felt he had had enough! :)

Tom




>Back in 1984 my girlfriend and I hitchhiked out to California from New York. When we were in a place called Stinson Beach just north of San Francisco we hiked through some old dead branches that turned out to be poison oak. We both got it bad, but I got it worse. We spent a couple weeks at Bodega Bay at a state park that was no more than a parking lot sticking out into the bay. We basically spent our day walking into town to buy fresh seafood and tequila, eating and drinking, taking scalding showers because the pain was better than the itch and then trying to sleep so we would not have to deal with it. My eyes swelled shut after a number of days and we ended up at a hospital in Santa Rosa where I was admitted and given shots of cortisone. I was released after 3 days, but the poison oak remained for weeks. We took a plane back from Oakland to New York, but due to a blood clot from the poison oak I had a heart attack and the plane had to land in Chicago. Another 3 weeks in a hospital
>there and we were finally on our way back to the east coast. I still have scars on my legs from the damage that was done from that innocent walk through some dead branches in California. I feel for you, because if I had a choice I think I would rather go through the heart attack again than the experience I had with the poison oak. One could kill you, but the other makes you wish you were dead.
>
>>Well, this may set the record for the most irrelevant post of all time...
>>
>>Three weeks ago, I did some major yardwork.
>>
>>Two days later, I noticed what appeared to be some mosquito bites on my legs.
>>
>>A day later, my arms, legs, and stomach just seemed to go haywire. Rashes, breakouts, and really funky looking scars. Itched like heck. My wife said, 'you realize that's poison ivy, don't you?' I'm 39 and was exposed to P.I. several times as a kid, and never itched once.
>>
>>Two days later, it got so bad that I went to the doctor. A shot of cortisone, some prednisone.
>>
>>Four days later, it spread worse. My arms, legs, and stomach looked like someone had cut them up with razors. Another shot and 80 mg of prednisone. They say that dosing down on prednisone makes one cry. Of course, being a life-long KC Chiefs fan makes one cry as well.
>>
>>Then someone told me to take Oatmeal baths...being a bit naive, I said, 'huh?' I didn't realize they actually sold packets of the stuff. Last time I took a 'bath', it was with Mr Bubble (no, not Michael Jackson's pet python.). The directions say to pour the contents of one Oatmeal package into the bathtub. Recalling the South Park episode when Cartman filled his bathtub with calamine lotion to soothe the itching from chicken pox, I poured all 8. Ahhhhhh.....temporary relief.
>>
>>So naturally, I did some web research...PoisonIvyHallOfShame.com. Some people actually posted pictures of their arms and legs....yikers! Mine was on par with theirs. That was really depressing. Then I read about some poor soul who inhaled the vapors/fumes/whatever from poison ivy that was being burned, and he wound up having part of a lung removed. I never knew that stuff was so nasty.
>>
>>I had just received my tax refund from last year, most of which I wound up spending on calamine spray and doctor visits. So I'm not as rich as I had hoped, and most of the time my body looks like someone splashed Pepto Bismol on it.
>>
>>I started to clear up, but was still itching like mad, especially at night. They gave me hydroxyzine. At times in my career, I always felt I was treated like a dog. Now I was being medicated as one. But I made a great discovery...Kevin's chemical rule for sleeping...
>>
>>one hydroxyzine pill + 2 spoons of Benadryl + 2 bottles of Chocolate Stoudt = ONE VERY GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP!
>>
>>(As those 2 goobers on the Guinness TV commercial say..."BRILLIANT!")
>>
>>So now I'm finally drying up...though I've developed some minor rashes and dermatitis in spots. My wife bought me something that has Zinc Oxide and Dimethicone in it...yes, Diaper Rash Cream. It really helps. At times in my career, I felt I was treated like a baby...now I was being medicated like one. (Wait, that sounds familiar).
>>
>>So...moral of the story...the next time I have two options for Sunday afternoon...
>>
>>1) Sit on a couch, drink beer, work with .NET, and watch MST3K episodes
>>2) Attempt to be a normal husband by doing yardwork...
>>
>>Which do you think I'll choose?
>>
>>Last December was my 7 year wedding anniversary....is this what they mean by the Seven Year Itch?
>>
>>Kevin