Round One:
Putting two and two together. Large bites all over body appearing in the morning + evidence of bugs on sheets = bed bugs. Now, I'm not embarrassed to admit that I have them. I keep a clean house. I figure I have spent the night in enough rundown roach-infested places in Morocco, that this should come as no surprise. But, still.....ick.
Round Two:
Scary internet research that confirmed presence of BBs. Scratching and reading all afternoon gave me a few good ideas of how to tackle this problem, for people living in the developed world, where there is such a thing as people who specialize in the profession of extermination. Not the case here. Internet research has led to inevitable paranoia.
Round Three:
Bleaching of entire bedding and floor. Investigating chipped paint on wall....chipped paint away with fingernail to find more chipped paint, but no BBs. Removal of mattress to roof. Talking on phone to mom. Before bed, tucking shirt into pants, pants into socks, wearing turtleneck and wrapping entire body in tiny fleece blanket. Sleeping in salon. Fretful sleep.
Round Four:
Waking up...will boil water now and annihilate any BBs and possible offspring. Then, off to store to buy new mattress and blanket. Plan to expunge entire house.
If you have any experience with BBs, please please please email me. please.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hey there - I am a Morocco RPCV(2000-2002) and while I did not have bed bugs when I was there, my village did infect/reinfect me 7 times in 10 months with scabies. So, pretty close symptoms and I can feel your pain.
My only consolation is that it is a complete bitch having to clean everything all the time. Not sure about you, but I didn't have any running water and had to haul it all from a well a couple hundred meters away. The PCMO would reimburse me for the skin meds needed to clear it up, but that didn't really help me feel much better. If I hadn't been close to COSing I probably would have ETed.
Any advice I can give you would be to gently educate your village - since they probably are the culprit - on sanitation. Encourage them to lay blankets out in the sun to bleach them and basically just do your best to not hang out on people's furniture. Not very easy, I know.
Feel free to pop me any questions (steetoa@gmail.com).
-Rebecca
Post a Comment