Hand Horror

Last night was not a good night for my hands. I came home from work armed with a recipe for roasted butternut squash. We had stopped by the local farmer’s shed and picked up some apples and squash last Sunday and I figured I should probably use them up. I got to peeling, seeding, and cubing the first squash. After much frustration I decided it totally wasn’t worth it and just halved the remaining squash. I got them into the oven and went to wash my hands. This is when I noticed they were orange. I scrubbed at them with soap and water but they wouldn’t de-orange. They were also very tight and stiff. I lotioned them up good and put some rubber gloves on them while I cleaned up the kitchen. While loading the dishwasher I managed to slice the tip of my right pinky finger open with my huge (and awesome) knife. Right through the rubber glove. Wow, did that finger ever bleed up a storm. When I finally managed to get it to slow down enough that a band-aid (or three) would stay on, I kind of gave up on cleaning up the kitchen or doing much of anything. By this time my left hand had started peeling. I don’t know if it was a pesticide/chemical reaction, a squash reaction, or what it was. It was just uncomfortable. After the squash was done and removed from the oven I soaked my hand in soapy water for a while. This didn’t accomplish much other than make my fingers wrinkly. I donned gloves again when I scooped the squash out of its skin. After stowing the food in the fridge I took refuge in bed for a while. Then I tortured the guinea pigs with cuddling for a little while. Good times.

This morning my hand was pretty much the same until I took a shower. Then it started peeling like crazy. I showed it to Adam and he was kind of disgusted. Most of the loose skin rubbed right off though and now there are just little patches of flaky skin on my palm and fingers. My pinky finger is still all bandaged up though. When I removed the band-aid this morning it started gushing again. *sigh* Good thing I’m not squeamish about blood…

My question is this: what in the squash caused me to lose a layer of skin on my hand? I don’t think I’m allergic to squash but I suppose this is the first time I’ve ever prepared it myself. I was just not expecting this kind of reaction.