Portland Oregon
September 2008 - I return home to my cozy little 416 sq condo and observe my neighbor stuffing her mattress pad and pillow into a too small plastic sack in the common area outside our front doors. I think nothing of it, other than she looks miserable. I think she's regrouping, doing laundry.
October 2008 - Develop welts, bites, don't know what it could be. I wake in the middle of the night and see a little dinosaur like bug on my mattress at eye level as I lay on my pillow. I am amused, but not for long. A week later I get on the internet, and discover there actually is something called bedbugs, identify on internet, research, begin to realize I am so screwed! Neighbor infested me through careless community hygiene. I remember the incident in the hall, the bedding in the trash outside. My education begins.
November 2008 - researching how to eradicate, begin getting rid of stuff. (Studio condo, 2 closets, kitchen, bathroom and entryway, 416 square feet of what used to be sweet haven.) Ignorance, move some infested items (in retrospect) to storage unit in basement of 14 unit 1923 conversion. Losing a lot of sleep, averaging 3.5 hours a night, terror, soaked in alcohol, worried about spreading to friends, work. Purchase awesome vapor steamer to prepare for treatment - makes prep so much easier, well relatively so. My Neighbor says nothing. We share an adjoining wall.
December 2008 - decide on Pest Co that seems to know a lot about these things. Schedule treatment. Then things change, come home to find them not localized to bed, but running amok on floor in entryway, kitchen, living area, they are everywhere! What changed? (find out a month later that neighbor who never mentioned it, had treatment, probably on those days, repelling them into my house even more. Hundreds!
The day of her second treatment she knocks on my door (only at the suggestion of our association who she told, only at the suggestion of her PCO (Pest Control Officer). Her iinfested couch on adjoining wall, treated that day.
Spend days and days cleaning them up, no where is safe to sit, lay. Find car is infested from naps during lunch time at work (who knew).
Have first treatment, adults seem mostly gone, but tons of nymphs, lint on legs. I ask my PCO over and over, can the bed be treated effectively. An external Murphy bed, think wood bookcase mounted to wall, can't move to vacum. He assures me repeatedly that it's no problem.
Even more bitey, no peace,virtually no sleep. Not eating. Sleeping in long sleeve shirts, pajamas tucked into socks. Losing weight. Doing laundry almost every night. Continue to get rid of junk - that feels good! But feelings of hopelessness and despair are hard to keep at bay. Have to trust PCO, they use Demand, Sterifab, and Crack and Crevice 3.
January 2009 - How much more of this can I take? Laying in bed waiting for them to bite the bait. More sleeplessness, total exhaustion, back and shoulders are full of tiny bites, it feels like it's vibrating with bites. Why are there so many? How can I be so clueless! How did I let this happen? Get so out of hand? Ignorance, why would I know anything about this? Think back on moving infested items to clean, small house, hard to isolate anything. Can sit on sofa from 6pm to 8pm before biting becomes too crazy. Feel like I'm losing my mind. Have a second treatment, things are better for the first week, second week more eggs hatching, more nymph bites, seem more hungry. Armies at night coming up on sheet. "No where to run to, no where to hide" on radio program.. No room to isolate, they are everywhere.
Depression, hopelessness, how much more can I take? Cannot give up, there is nowhere to go. Sometimes think dying would bring relief, but not suicidal, maybe a terminal illness (passive death wish). How can I keep going? Will they ever be gone? Finally figure out how to get out of house without bugs on me - shower, dress from ziplocked bags, leave immediately. BTW, you can order those awesome giant ziplocks from Drugstore.com if you can't find them locally, your alcohol and vacuum bags from them and you've got free shipping.
Killer Queen (see www.bedbugger.com) talks to me on phone, offers great advice, so generous and compassionate, and hey, that east coast accent. : ) Thank you, your advice inspired some hope. "Dynamite with a laser beam...." well, DE.
February 2009 - Third treatment from PCO. Things improve dramatically. Only a few bites on couch, they use (Sterifab, Crack and crevice and Cy-Kick). I wonder if the pesticides will affect me, but decide if it's between the bugs taking years off my life or the pesticides, I'm choosing poison.
PCO (they are so fired) says if I had been properly prepared, he could have treated my place in 15 minutes. That was the last treatment from those spray jockeys. See what to ask your PCO before you hire them...
Management Co for condo treats common areas (after i put the fear of god by telling this story at the association meeting) and give me a free treatment from Terminex. The neighbor who infected me was treated by Terminex and I was judgmental based on her..previous poor choices and that she said she still had BB at association meeting. They were, however, more thorough and used different poison and freezing. Took my external murphy bed platform off at my request to see what was going on underneath - 20 dead adults and 7 live - well not live anymore. This was much better than I had imagined. Glad they looked, I couldn't bring myself to.
This seemed to compliment what had been done already in my place. They used Freezing, Phantom, Gentrol and Tri-die (a DE spray).
Sofa seems to be no bugs or so few can't tell. Spent hours on sofa, but not going from bed to sofa without bathing and changing clothes. Area rug does not jump up and bite me anymore. I'm wearing flip flops today! I'm sitting at my kitchen table and nothing is biting me on the butt, or feet, or arms. Nothing running around biting me in my jammies last night. They are not gone, but at this point, they will not - cannot regroup, they will all die eventually. Will take KQ's advice and have begun DE'ing and caulking, but it's a big job, super "cracky" house, will need handyman, but it will happen.
But I'm home sick from work today. So run down, i finally did catch a cold/flu. Must get rest, cannot stay sick, still vigilant vacuuming, laundry. There is a little bit of normal now, and more everyday. Expect it could be weeks before this is over, but over is the goal. Sleep is still a crapshoot, sometimes 5 hours sometimes 4, sometimes chronic wakefulness, but getting progressively better. Hear bumping around in next door unit, open front door to find, yes, neighbors trash bag open and sitting in hall in front of my door. I knock LOUD and practically shout at her to get her trash inside her house.
BTW, stayed in hotel for 4 nights before third treatment - HAD TO SLEEP. 4th day, bed bug crawling up bathroom wall, no surprise by the amount of white powder around baseboard/carpet hotel room (no doubt, Diamatacious Earth) Reported to mgr, who said they had never before had a report - right, sure!! He asks what kind of bug, and I look deep into his eyes and say "a red one." We lock eyes, and he says he'll check it out.
I think my life will be different after it's over. I don't think I'll go back to being a collector of stuff. Been listening to Jack Kornfield on Buddhism (at son's suggestion), always looking to see what positive thing I can take from this nightmare (released attachment to sentimental possessions, had to focus on ME, the present in the most practical terms possible, more compassion for those without $$ to deal with this problem, lord, if you were just a little bit crazy and had to live with these things crawling on you 24/7 cause you're too poor, mentally ill, or whatever, you'd be crazy BIG TIME in no time at all.
February 2009 - Still have bugs, but much less. Sofa treated and may not stay. Not worth fighting to erradicate. Think Janice Joplin, cover of Pearl, 1940's overstuffed, late bordello sofa with red velvet, tucking, everything BB love to live in. We'll see. Have Murphy Bed
Called public health on a management co where friend lives and has neighbors with 1 year+ infestations. Guess what, they made the laundry free and are doing a total building treatment next week, helping those who can't do it, fumigation room, individual room treatment - Yay! This is an indigent population mostly who cannot solve this problem on their own. They have to get permission to even use the vacuum cleaner. Feel like my experience can help others a little.
Feeling empowered! If you are in the worst of this, don't give up. It DOES GET BETTER. With hyperdiligence, determination, and good advice. www.bedbugger.com SAVED MY LIFE. Really, without all the ideas, stories and information, I don't know how I could have dealt with this situation where we all start out with "what, you mean those are real?"
Fast Forward - March 2009. Thank you all. Not done yet, but hope this story helps you as you have helped me. BTW, when this seems mostly over, I'm gettin me a Pack-tite heater upper thing.
