as most of you are aware, there has been a major bed bug outbreak across the united states, affecting cities and towns in all 50 states. the bed bug epidemic plagues homes, stores and public facilities especially in areas with a large population density (i.e. big cities). san francisco is no exception. mysterious "bites" surfaced on siri's face a couple of weeks ago. jeff and i freaked out and were convinced it was bed bugs. naturally, we scoured a ton of resources looking up anything and everything related to their bite patterns, size, life cycle, the location of their nests, etc., etc., etc. we were obsessed. i swear i killed a bed bug and jeff swears he felt them crawling on him, sucking his blood, but then being crushed when he rolled over. there were no blood stains on our sheets and no bed bug corpses. we looked for droppings, castings and eggs. we found no evidence of bed bugs, but we were convinced that they were biting siri. curiously enough, we were never bitten.
project: get rid of bed bugs went underway. we began to clean our place, threw out old possessions we no longer needed, placed clothing we hadn't worn in a while in double plastic bags, suffocated countless stuffed animals in plastic bags and separated them into two batches: one batch that is sealed up in storage, and another batch that went through the wash or are currently in the freezer. we want to get rid of clutter and take the time to (re)organize our apartment. what used to be "siri's room" is now really siri's room. we put up siri's princess canopy, moved her mattress into the room and rearranged the furniture a bit. siri absolutely LOVES it! but, we keep finding "bites" on siri. the bed bugs are still alive and well and apparently prefer to feast on young children.
then, i noticed a rash on siri's leg, which jeff is certain are bed bug bites that look different from the previous ones. we took a picture and sent it to our friend bory, who is a doctor. bory showed the picture to her colleagues and they all guessed chicken pox. chicken pox after being vaccinated?! jeff and i became obsessed with chicken pox, reading anything and everything that has to do with "breakthrough infections" (when a person gets the virus despite vaccination). we decided to take siri to her doctor today so we would know for sure.
siri's doctor gave us an early morning appointment and looked at her rash for two seconds and said "i know exactly what this is: it's folliculitis." what?! no chicken pox? so, siri has an inflammation of the hair follicles. we are now obsessed with folliculitis...the great news about all of this is that we have gotten rid of, and are still getting rid of a lot of crap. siri's room is finally looking like her own space, and we are happy with our progress on our own room. clutter makes an attractive home to bed bugs, and we're convinced we still have them...until the next "bites" surface.
project: get rid of bed bugs went underway. we began to clean our place, threw out old possessions we no longer needed, placed clothing we hadn't worn in a while in double plastic bags, suffocated countless stuffed animals in plastic bags and separated them into two batches: one batch that is sealed up in storage, and another batch that went through the wash or are currently in the freezer. we want to get rid of clutter and take the time to (re)organize our apartment. what used to be "siri's room" is now really siri's room. we put up siri's princess canopy, moved her mattress into the room and rearranged the furniture a bit. siri absolutely LOVES it! but, we keep finding "bites" on siri. the bed bugs are still alive and well and apparently prefer to feast on young children.
then, i noticed a rash on siri's leg, which jeff is certain are bed bug bites that look different from the previous ones. we took a picture and sent it to our friend bory, who is a doctor. bory showed the picture to her colleagues and they all guessed chicken pox. chicken pox after being vaccinated?! jeff and i became obsessed with chicken pox, reading anything and everything that has to do with "breakthrough infections" (when a person gets the virus despite vaccination). we decided to take siri to her doctor today so we would know for sure.
siri's doctor gave us an early morning appointment and looked at her rash for two seconds and said "i know exactly what this is: it's folliculitis." what?! no chicken pox? so, siri has an inflammation of the hair follicles. we are now obsessed with folliculitis...the great news about all of this is that we have gotten rid of, and are still getting rid of a lot of crap. siri's room is finally looking like her own space, and we are happy with our progress on our own room. clutter makes an attractive home to bed bugs, and we're convinced we still have them...until the next "bites" surface.
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