Living in Hell

Hello all!

I cannot believe it has been FOUR months since my last posting. But when I think about what has been happening for the last four months, it makes sense. Let's just say that my faith in reusing and recycling has been severely tested this past quarter.

It seems that the sleeping bag that I purchased second-hand at a thrift shop for my week-long permaculture outdoor workshop was infested with bedbugs.

A couple of weeks after my trip, the kids and I began to suffer from small, red, itchy bumps on our torsos and arms. I cursed the day we rescued our cat and treated the house and him immediately for fleas. I felt horrible using the chemical treatment, but have had them before and knew I had to contain them before they overtook the house. A week later when the bites didn't disappear, but got worse, I knew something wasn't right. I had heard about bedbugs before but didn't believe I needed to worry about them. Besides, everything I had ever bought used I washed right away and hung outside to dry on the line. I was so confused. I read a little about them online and looked for pictures of them. So far, I hadn't seen any in our house, but I needed to know what to look for. Sure enough, after a few more days I found one dead on smashed on the strap of my bra which was hanging off of my door handle!! Immediately, I called the pest control company I have always used for ants in the past and explained the situation. They came out that afternoon.



(Photo courtesy of bed-bugs-handbook.com)
An adult bed bug, a bit bigger than a grain of rice

 It has been four months since that first treatment. That pest control company came SIX more times. Still, two of us continued to get bitten. I assumed the bugs must still be in my son's room and my room which was why we were still getting eaten alive. (It cost $400 dollars for the treatment which included a thirty day warranty.) I almost passed out when I heard the cost. Little did I know that they were extremely reasonable compared to all the other companies I would contact. After my bug guy had come a total of seven times with no luck, I finally looked up "Bed Bug Exterminators" online and called one named AAA Bedbugs. They were located in Chicago. Just the fact that they had the word "bed bugs" in their title made me feel better. They would have to know how to get rid of these little monsters. After finding out that they charged a $45 inspection fee plus over $150 per room but had a sixty day warranty, I made an appointment. The technician (that's what their called now, not "the bug guy") came out that day and sprayed the two bedrooms  with "cryonite." It is basically freezing them upon contact.

Well......that same technician just left my house about an hour ago.
For the FOURTH time. He came back after doing the two bedrooms and sprayed the whole house. (at over $150 per room, remember) He has used the cryonite again, he has sprayed toxic pesticides. He even set off those awful "bombs" in the house. (This, I just recently found out is the WORST possible thing you could do, as it causes the bugs to delve deeper into their hiding spots to get away.) I have thrown out my mattress and box spring, my son's mattress and box spring and our vacuum cleaner. I have thrown away comforters and blankets, towels and clothing. Books, toys, stuffed animals, posters, rugs, shoes...you name it.

We have been living a nightmare for the past four months. We continue to get bitten. I currently have about thirty old and new bites on my belly, back, shoulders and upper arms. My oldest woke up with fifteen bites on his upper arm yesterday and poor B has at least fifty bites all over him. It seems that T, the youngest doesn't react to the bites. I have only found one on him the whole time. The bites itch like a mosquito bite and bleed quickly. The itching can last from one to three weeks. B has scars from the places he has scratched so much.

These mother*!#*!'s can hide anywhere. They particularly like linens and wood, but have been found in clock radios and picture frames before. Everything that is too big or cannot be laundered has been sealed in black garbage bags and placed in the garage.

I spent three hundred dollars today at Walmart on mattress encasements, a steam cleaner, bed bug pesticides, gloves, face masks,  big rubbermaid storage containers,  rubbing alcohol and MORE laundry detergent. I am going to vacuum, steam, spray and scrub the crap out of every surface in my house. I will throw out my couch if I have to, I'm so desperate.

The worst part is, I cannot even donate any of this stuff. It could have bed bugs and the last thing I want to do is pass this on to another family.

I consider myself fairly close to a bedbug expert by now and found out how they got in. I mentioned the sleeping bag earlier, and washing linens and clothing should kill bedbugs. However, it must be washed in EXTREMELY HOT water--at least 120 degrees. Also, you must PUT IT IN THE DRYER as well. The heat from the dryer also kills all stages of bedbugs. When I brought the sleeping bag home, I was trying to be environmentally friendly and economical. I used COLD water when I washed it and hung it outside to dry. Those little critters must have been laughing at me as they swayed to and fro in the breeze on the line in my backyard.

At night, I dream of washers and dryers, spinning non-stop. I have nightmares of bites I cannot reach, or fingers with no nails to speak of.

I have shown the kids how to use a long serving fork as a back/torso scratcher for those hard to reach places.

We live out of plastic bags. I do loads and loads of laundry every day. Our pillows have been washed fourteen times. They aren't even pillows anymore, more like lumps of fabric that used to be soft. The blankets and comforters have holes in them from getting snagged by the top of the washer. The boys are down to four pairs of pants and five shirts each because it is easier that way. When we go to someone's house we wear clean clothes and don't bring anything with us.

I hope you can forgive me for my blogging absence. I just haven't had the heart to tout the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra lately and I haven't had the time to, either. If I have learned anything so far, though, it is that one can live upon very little--that material possessions really don't mean that much....especially if they are infested with bedbugs.