Mystery solved

[mdlbear]

Wednesday morning I noticed a rash on my right hand; I assumed it was something I'd picked up taking out the garbage Tuesday night. But that night I noticed more on my chest, in rather odd patterns. It was worse in the morning, so I went in to Kaiser (on rather short notice, causing chaoswolf to have to take the bus to school, but that's another story). The doctor confirmed that it appeared to be contact dermatitis -- all of the rash was in areas where I might plausibly have touched myself. That of course explained the streaky patterns as well.

I went to bed Thursday night still puzzled about what I might have picked up. The rash was worse this morning--all over my hands; it mostly faded during the day, but there was still some on the backs of my hands. Hmm. I noticed a little more of it tonight after tackling the dishes, and noticed a little pain to my right eyelid after rubbing my eye -- that rated an immediate washing.

I got back to the dishes after watching some TV, and that's when I realized that I don't dry the backs of my hands as thoroughly as the fronts. And I don't always wash my hands when I'm done washing the pots. The clincher was the blue sponge that was torn on one edge: I'd noticed it on Tuesday when I found it instead of the purple one I'd been using for a while. And once I thought about it, I noticed a bit of a burning sensation as I held it.

I still don't know what was on that sponge: maybe some kind of cleaner that needs to be handled with rubber gloves. Maybe it was just one of SpongeBob's evil relatives. But it's in the trash now, and I understand what happened.

Comments

[obsessivewoman.livejournal.com]

After my run to the ER for contact dermatitis, I can sympthasize. I hope it heals quickly and you can figure out what it was so you can keep away from it.

[mdlbear]

Well, I still haven't traced back to what was on the sponge, but it does seem to be getting better. Unfortunately, we tend to keep a small stack of used sponges around to dry out and use in rotation; it could have been there for weeks. I'm guessing oven cleaner.

Oops.

[roaringmouse.livejournal.com]

I use sponges for different things. I put the sponge that I use to clean the silver in a ziplock bag and mark it with a permanent Sharpie pen with "Silver cleaning". The sponge that is used to clean the rabbit stuff is in a ziplock bag marked "Bunny"... It helps and prevents problems later. Just a suggestion.

Re: Oops.

[mdlbear]

Sounds like a good idea, and in fact I do something similar with polishing rags. But it wasn't me who used a sponge with something nasty and then threw it back on the pile. Wish I knew who it was so I could chew them out properly.