We stopped by to see Nana yesterday, after a call where she mentioned that she had an itchy red rash around her neck. This had happened about a year ago as well, and it was a contact dermatitis-- she was using dishsoap that advertised that doing dishes with this product would leave you with soft hands... as a lotion.
She greeted us at her door with open arms-- she still recognizes us on most days, and she loves when my husband Tom comes along (she often mentions that she misses seeing more men in her life...) I checked out her skin, and agreed with my assessment that Nana was having an allergic reaction to some skin product.
"Ok, Mom, let's check out your bathroom. I want to see what products you are using on your skin." We walked into her bathroom, and there was quite an array of products spread across her vanity: liquid soaps, toners, lotions, lip balms, deodorants, cleaners... I brought a trash bag, a marker and some adhesive labels to mark the products properly, as well as some cortisone cream for the itchy rash. I asked her to show me what she uses on her skin.
"Well, a doctor here told me to use this orange bottle of lotion on my skin." Jackpot. The orange bottle was Softsoap. "Mom, that is not lotion, that is soap. That is causing your skin to dry out." "Ohhhh! What should I use instead? I know that you told me to use this cream here before, but a DOCTOR suggested the orange bottle."
Sigh. I marked the soap with a big sticker that said "SOAP". Lotions were marked with the word "Lotion" as well as the part of her body she should put it on (at her request.) I threw out the toners and half-empty tubs around the sink. I then noticed the Glade air freshener. "When do you use this, Mom?"
"Oh," she said, "That's my underarm deodorant". That's what I thought. A big sticker was slapped on that bad boy, and it was placed behind the toilet. I took the Secret deodorant spray and put a "Deodorant" sticker on it. Problem solved, for the moment. :)
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