Summer with Aunt Sara and Mabel

Summer is here, officially. For a lot of people, Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. Where I live, it can stay cool for a couple more weeks. So the official start of summer is, well, the official start of summer.

Since the weather has finally been warm for an extended period of time, all of the "poisons" (ivy, oak, sumac) have had a chance to start growing. So have all of the bugs. Mosquitoes and bees/wasps/hornets are starting to have their way.

There's a campground not far from my pharmacy. From Memorial Day until Labor Day the campground sends a fair number of people into the pharmacy over the weekends. Half of my time is spent trying to figure out what caused the rash on any given body part and recommending an appropriate over the counter remedy. Sometimes the remedy is a trip to the local urgent care center or emergency department to get a course of steroids prescribed.

I don't mind helping people out in these situations. They have specific complaints and come to me directly to get my expert opinion on the best over the counter medications to alleviate their symptoms. Over ninety percent of the time the people select one of the products that I choose for them. With all of the OTC counseling sessions for rashes, bug bites, and sunburns, I can keep busy.

But there is one thing that absolutely burns my butt. People coming in after they have taken the advice of their Aunt Sara's friend Mabel's first-cousin's mother-in-law who used to be a nurse's aid at the now-closed-down hospital two towns down the road.

One of my favorite pieces of advice from Aunt Sara's friend Mabel's first-cousin's mother-in-law who used to be a nurse's aid at the now-closed-down hospital two towns down the road is to pour bleach, yes bleach, on the skin to cure poison ivy.

At least three times a week I have somebody come into the pharmacy who is wondering why their skin is itching like crazy. After two or three questions they reveal that they poured bleach all over their arms/legs/you-name-it in an attempt to cure their poison ivy.

Then I ask why they would do that. They always answer Aunt Sara's........down the road said to try this. I then explain to them that they are now dealing with both their poison ivy AND a chemical burn on their skin caused by pouring the bleach on it.

I think Aunt Sara ought to stay away from Mabel during the summer. It makes my job more difficult.