Bed Bugs (Part II)

So indeed, I believed I had bed bugs!!

I looked it up immediately and this is what I found:

1. small, brown bugs (not going to explain ANY further....) CHECK!

2. bites in patches, some showing patterns of three or more bites all in a row (called Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner bites....) CHECK!

3. dots and smears of smooshed bed bug and blood on the sheets CHECK!

4. itchy itchy itchyness that Cortisone cream won't quite help CHECK!

5. an increased number of bites over time, none going away all too quickly (bed bug bites may not appear for up to 10 days so therefore when one shows up and you scratch it, it irritates all the others.... charming....) CHECK!

6. possibility of finding more bed bugs in Julie's bed, my bed, etc...... CHECK! (we found a huuuuge one in Julie's bed and one more in my bed who got away)

So at this point we had no idea what to do.... It was 12:30.... we were tired, Luciana was sleeping.... So I called Giovanna and explained it to her. I slept in Ali's room although none of us could really sleep....

Then this morning Luciana comes flying in saying, "Che è successo? Che è successo? Che è successo? " ("What happened?") This was the part we dreaded most because who wants to tell their adorable, 70-year-old host mother that they think there are bed bugs... So we told her. And she felt awful and panicked and told us to go back to sleep and she would take care of it and call Giovanna. Which she did, but she also decided it was simply a wood worm parasite which she had in her house previously. After talking to Giovanna on the phone a dozen times and exchanging emails with photos and links, we all decided that alas, it was NOT a wood worm but bed bugs. Who even gets bed bugs? Like really.... who??? ME, that's who!

After we snoozed some more (somewhat unsucessfully, I might add) we came downstairs to find an apology note from Luciana for this mess, and some breakfast on the table which we enjoyed as we sat and laughed about how ridiculous it is that I actually have bed bugs.... At which point we found 2 more dead bed bugs in my mattress cover.... We didn't dare unzip the actual mattress...

Anyway. Long story short! We are staying in a hotel for a few nights until the house has been fumigated, hopefully getting new mattresses, and still eating dinner here all together every night. Tomorrow morning I have to go to the doctor to have it verified that I indeed am covered in bed bug bites, and then (hopefully!!) this whole disaster will end.

Bite count: Absolutely impossible to count them but there are AT LEAST 500 bites covering my ENTIRE body - toes (especially my right big toe where there are literally 18 bites....), my feet (tops and bottoms), my calves and thighs and knees, my belly (including in my belly button!!!), my back, the back of my shoulders, the tops of my shoulders, my arms (the worst area - absolutely everrrywhere.....), my neck, my chin, my eyebrow, my cheeks, my fingers, hands.... TUTTO. EVERYWHERE.

What is especially terrible is that at this point, they are starting to look less like mosquito bites and more like a terrible skin condition.... Some of them are starting to almost blister... If my whole body blisters... Boh. What a mess.

I only hope that tomorrow is better than today because things can't get much worse! Its a good thing that Ali and Julie are so wonderful as well as Luciana and Giovanna or else this would have felt much worse than it does.... Ali, Julie and I are all in good humor about it because there is nothing we can do other than ask ourselves, "Who the heckkkkk actually gets bed bugs in real life?????"

Me.

Ciao! Baci e abbracci!