Having consulted w/ a non-medical professional but confirmed sufferer (To the point of US$1,700.00 to heat his City of B______ dump to the 150°F fatal to bedbugs) & an actual does-it-for-a-living & probably-tolerably-compensated-for-it M.D., both of whom said naw, not bites & you'd know (and having myself checked the sheets & found no tell-tale signs, to lapse into ad-speak) I followed the croaker's suggestion to wash all bedclothes & what not 'cause something environmental must be causing it. Yet despite the three great medical minds & a lack of evidence, when I got to the mattress cover I discovered live (although not for long) & moving evidence of infestation.
What fucking next?
I call bathtub barnacles.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least it's something tangible to direct your ire upon.
ReplyDeletemaybe this experience can be a stepping stone, instead of a stumbling block
ReplyDeletethe contrast between expert opinion and your own eyes reminds me of a dictum from a book that i was much impressed with - 'the positive force' by gary emery and pat emery - in hardback the title was 'the second force' -
DON'T THINK -- LOOK
it may be that the emerys got this from wittgenstein
ReplyDeleteLudwig Wittgenstein
“Don't think, but look! (Philosophical Investigations 66)”
Do you live in multi-family housing? If so, you may want to talk to your neighbors -- bedbugs can move between apartments.
ReplyDeleteHere's some useful info about the nasty little fuckers. (The bugs, not the neighbors):
http://npic.orst.edu/pest/bedbug.html
Entomology Ed.:
ReplyDeleteThanks BS, I was going to search myself but that saved some time. We call them "tenements," here, not "multi-family housing," but yeah; bugs've been in the bldg. for a while & there's a pest (control) co. on call.
Hell, a how-to-get-ready-for-the-insecticider letter was left on all tenant doors last wk.
Having slept on the floor on a sleeping bag instead of in infested sheets filled w/ allergens the reaction is already way down, but there is the sleeping on bare wooded floor aspect of that. (Five hrs. only: Expect crankiness later.)
Two problems: I didn't think to look any farther than the top o' the sheets; wasn't until I went for the mattress cover that I saw them, & the other two great minds at work were looking for bites rather than an allergic reaction aggravated by my scratching the living hell out of it. So we looked but then we thought & that didn't work either.