There are some things that never occurred to me in my adult life. One of which is the possibility that there are things that exist for which there is no cure. I've accepted male pattern baldness, but I had an idea that that might be coming. I later found that there is no cure for the skin condition Psoriasis, which is life altering for those none-the-wiser, there is no cure for the herpes virus, I am not a carrier but my brother is and I've learned that there is no cure. Finally, I've learned that there is no cure for bed bugs.
I recently moved to a suburb of Kansas City after spending the last 3 years in Denver. In my third year bed bugs happened. I had no idea, I was non- the-wiser. I reported to my apartment manager, he gave me a lengthy prep-list and told me an exterminator would by over in the next few days. Washing and drying and drying again and trash bags and more trash bags and a kitchen and bathroom floor to ceiling with trash bags and boxes were soon to come. The exterminator came and treated my place. I assumed that that was that. Oh, no. A week later. Bam. They were back in full form and now they were pissed off. They were bigger, they bit harder and more frequently and the bites itched and swelled more. I called for another treatment and repeated the process, (at this point I had yet to learn to just keep everything in my kitchen and bathroom in trash bags and not to bother with unpacking). I was treated again and was assured that the problem was taken care of. One week later... Over the course of 4 months I was treated 6 times. I was last treated on a Friday. I woke up on Sunday and had a bad bite. I lifted up my mattress and there was a full grown demon crawling along the middle of the box spring. That was it for me. I took my $500 couch straight to the trash and quickly followed with my $800 mattress, box spring, head board and bed frame.
I lived in that apartment for another two months and didn't experience any bites. Sleeping on the floor sucked and sitting in a camping chair in the living room wasn't much better, but I was bed bug free. I packed up and moved to Kansas City confident that I was rid of the nightmare. I've lived in this apartment for 6 months now. Over the summer months my dog and cat had fleas really, really bad. They were on Frontline but it wasn't working. I was bitten by the fleas terribly and it brought back bad memories from Denver, but I was happy to have fleas instead of bed bugs. Due to having Bed Bug Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after a few bites on my back and arms I started flipping my mattress and inspecting every day. I found fleas on my pets and in my bed, I told myself it was fleas. The bites were singular and not in the 3 bite fashion of bed bugs. I started to notice black streaks on my bedding, in Denver the spots were red, these were black. I tried to convince myself, it's just the fleas. After a big day of itching yesterday I completely tore apart my bedroom. Sure enough on the baseboard behind my bed I found the biggest bed bug that I've ever seen. Full grown, bigger than an apple seed. It was dead, but there is was. I don't cry much, but I was near tears when I found that vermin.
In Denver I never had to pay anything for the treatment and it never occurred to me that someday I may have to. I reported the finding to management who treated me like a leper and told me that I was responsible for the treatment of my apartment. I was angry and flabbergasted. Bed bugs can happen to anyone. I'm very clean and neat. I don't buy thrift store furniture or grab corner freebies. I am scheduled to have my apartment treated tomorrow. $500 for the treatment, $100 for boarding my pets and the joy of washing, drying and bagging every piece of cloth that I own. Before I digress I want to highlight the best part of this story. I called the pest company to ask about their warranty. The young lady I spoke with was very pleasant and informative. She told me that they had a 90 day warranty, but, she said, and I quote, "I would recommend having your apartment treated as many times as possible during those 90 days, because, you, have, the bed, bugs." Very reassuring.
My final comment is that it is very possible to have a flea and bed bug infestation at the same time and it is a nightmare. Also, I am fully convinced that I will have bed bugs forever. I guess now I've accepted it and that's the way it's going to be. The part that bothers me the most is that I can never meet a girl and have her over for dinner, I can't have friends come by, I can't go to friends' houses. I am forever a leper that is highly contagious. I've contemplated suicide more than once over this matter and I will never be the same. Ever. To all those struggling know that you are not alone.