Leaves of three, let them be!

Recently my daughter has come in contact with poison oak. The vial plant has been the talk for century’s even the native Indians warned the newly American people to avoid this monstrous plant. It has been recorded in journals of early explores of their weeks of misery caused by coming in contact with these plants. Yet even with warnings and understandings of all these facts, people yearly get in contact with this beastly three leaved plant that inflicts great misery upon children, and yes adults. My daughter has been my sons adventure buddy for quite some time now and they have developed a great love for the wild land in front of our home. This great hill of greenness, lovely placed trees and brushes a plenty was a great place to explore, and fun to be had. Until the dreaded beastly of a plant called the poison oak came in contact with my daughter arm. I was reading a lovely book, actually a suspense thriller-just in time for my Valentine’s book club meeting, as my two adventure driven children where happily playing and trying to conquer this great hill in front. The baby was riding her bike in the street, I mean, on the sidewalk and the other was eating fruit snacks nurturing her cavities and watching some Barbie movie inside. When much to my disturbance, my daughter comes to me complaining that a branch has scratched her arm and it was hurting. There was several scratches present and I told her that “scratches happen when you are having fun and that must mean that the hill was really cool if it gave her a cool scratch like that.” So off she ran off and decided to ride her bike instead. If I had only know that little devil of a scratch was from a poison oak plant I would have ran her to the hose and immediately rinsed it off, because now I have read like 100 times and I quote from web MD “Initial treatment consists of washing the area with water immediately after contact with the plants. Within the first ten minutes of coming in contact with the plant the oils from the poison oak have not yet penetrated the skin and you will not have a reaction.” NICE! Yes I told her to go and play and it was cool that she got scraps!! Nice! I didn’t put my book down oh no… sent her away to be later effected by the oils of this monstrosity of a plant as the rash came into full force 4 days later!!!! I again quote “Most poison ivy, oak, and sumac rashes develop within 8 to 48 hours after touching urushiol, but they can take as long as 15 days to form. The rash usually takes more than a week to show up the first time you get urushiol on your skin.”
So we are crazy now, full blown rash all over the little cutties body much to my sure grin and now the topic is “Is she contagious?” I have had her a play dates, park days, libraries, joy school and not to mention all around the house… So is she contagious or not? Upon first research, no. Once the oil- urushiol, has absorbed into the skin and now is washed off, yes off of clothes, body, or anything that could have come into contact- it is gone. Just now it is raking havic in your body and causing an unsightly and very unpleasant reaction. Okay great. But now the sores are weeping and causing blister like oozing gross sorry. So is it now contagious?
We played it safe and stayed away for church and friends this weekend and articles were found that said: “If your child has a rash, he or she should not be in contact with other children or pregnant women. Most viral rashes are contagious, especially if a fever is present.” So yes? It is contagious? Yet tonight after much deliberation… The verdict is out that, and I quote :

“The rash is not contagious. You cannot catch or spread the rash after it appears, even if you touch it or the blister fluid, because the urushiol will already be absorbed into or washed off the skin. Sometimes people mistakenly believe that the rash is spreading because it appears later on different parts of the body. But the rash only appears where urushiol has come in contact with the skin. So either the rash is still developing from earlier contact or you have touched something that still has urushiol on it. The chemical can remain active for at least one year and sometimes much longer. Therefore, exposed objects or pets should be thoroughly cleaned with water after contact with the plants.

Contrary to common belief, scratching or spontaneous oozing of the rash and blisters will not cause them to spread because urushiol is not present in the blister fluid. If the chemical has not been completely washed off the skin, touching the affected areas and then another part of the body can transfer the chemical and thus the rash. Similarly, the rash cannot be passed between persons, unless urushiol is still present on the skin of the affected individual.”

In summary, poison oak is not contagious after it has been washed off the infected areas and is properly cleaned. Blisters and the spontaneous oozing cannot spread the rash to others or other parts of the body. It will be a long lasting event I’m getting ready for this to end in up to three weeks. However, I can now go to bed. Joy school at my home can still happen. My life can resume. My little angel who has been nearly drowned (twice), lost (and found), survived a fall from a very high tree(with stitches), will now survive the infestation to her little body of poison oak and the horrific rash plaguing her body. May I watch this child most carefully and have no other tales to tell. Good night…

P.S. Readers beware: “Admittedly, avoiding these plants can be difficult. Poison ivy and poison oak grow almost everywhere, in backyards as well as in woods and pastures, although neither poison oak nor poison ivy grow at elevations above 4,000 feet. Wearing long sleeves, long pants, and gloves will help protect against exposure in heavily wooded areas. And remember leaves of three let them be!