Poison Ivy and Other mysterious ailments

We don't have poison ivy in Wyoming. At least, I don't think we do. It's much too dry and the hot/cold temperatures are usually too extreme. Therefore, I wasn't prepared for the awful experience of poison ivy afflicting our family. Brent got a bad case of it after working in the garden. Foolishly, he tried his own remedies before doing actual research, thus causing a much severe outbreak in the end. It's been over two weeks and he's still itching. Nasty stuff.
Last week, I noticed that Josef's eye was swollen when I picked him from school. He also had several bite marks on his chin, neck and near his ear. It looked rather like a rash, but since he wasn't running a fever, I suspected an allergic reaction to something. When I spoke to the nurse on the phone she recommended a dose of benadryl. The next morning Josef's eye was completely shollen shut. The bite marks looked worse and he was itching like crazy. I scheduled an appointment with the doctor that day. When the doctor saw Josef, he said that it looked like ocular cellulitis, which a very serious skin infection that can cause menigitis and brain damage if not treated. He thought the bite marks looked like insect marks. He drew around Josef's eye to show where the swelling was, scheduled a follow-up appointment the next day and gave us a prescription for antibiotics. The next day his eye looked worse as did the bite marks. Brent took Josef to his appointment because I had a Primary Presidency meeting. Brent called me and said that two doctors looked at it, including the original doctor and said that it now resembled poison ivy as opposed to ocular cellulitis. To be safe, Josef has continued the antibiotics. The itching has been awful for him. Treating poison ivy on the eye is tricky because it is so hard to wash it. Anyhow, Josef has been a trooper during the whole ordeal. He is doing much better now, although he does still have a few of the marks on his face. After doing some internet research on ocular cellulitis, I don't think the doctor was over-reacting. Josef's eye looked very much like several photos I saw on the internet. Fortunately, he never had a fever, so it probably was poison ivy.

So the lesson of the whole experience? Poison ivy is serious stuff. We've identified patches of it in our garden and in the bushes and trees. The kids now know what it looks like. Brent will be wearing long sleeves and long pants, plus gloves when he works in the garden. And then taking a shower with dish soap immediately after gardening. The dish soap breaks up the oils on the skin. And we wash everything that has come into contact with exposed areas: sheets, pillows, clothes, suits, belts, etc. Claritin helps calm down the allergic reaction.

Have any of you ever had a close encounter with poison ivy or poison oak? If so, do tell.