Oh my goodness Nobugs! Doug?! Wow, it's been so long. I was looking something up at Google U the other day and bedbugger popped up and I felt a warm rush of affection (not to mention the possibility of bad juju ~ will I get them again because I visited?! Gah!).
I don't remember when I joined here but I can tell you that I got bed bugs 2 weeks after moving into this subsidized apartment back in November 2007. How I remember watching that little guy crawling between my bleary eyes and the light of late night tv when I couldn't sleep. I'm a tomboy and bugs don't bug me much at all. I had no idea what I was in for!
I read with anxiety the posts of people who said they felt like they had PTSD as a consequence of their experience getting bed bugs because I did & do have PTSD after having been a victim of sexual gun violence. It triggered me in more ways than you can imagine but I very quickly realized that people were simply looking for strong enough words to express their current situation. I was ok.
I needed so much help and the kind people here helped me in more ways than are imaginable, particularly the stable and irreproachable, level intellect of nobugsonme. I can't believe you're still here, fighting for people, providing a safe forum for all their voices. You deserve a bloody medal woman. That is not an overstatement. What you do is a huge commitment and even greater amount of work. I bow down to your level of commitment, woman!
It may be of interest to know that I had to stop participating here because I was becoming re-infested at a rate that was so unacceptable that I just couldn't talk about it anymore. It became tiring even to me; never mind others. I haven't lived here for a full 9 years but I've had bed bugs 12 times. I haven't had them for over 2 years now (oh please no bad juju!). So whats that? Slightly over twice a year? Holy hell. I didn't feel freaked out by it anymore but rather dead inside.
Don't get me wrong. I have a university education and had the wherewithal to write the CEO with evidence of their bug fighting problems. Didn't matter, everything remained the same. The PCO's finally started to pity me and put their licences on the line by breaching confidentiality and telling me about certain people who lived near me who didn't do anything about their bugs. Even that didn't matter. The response was "Thats what you people get for living in housing, thats what it's like." Like I chose this life. Bed bugs every 6 months for years.
But certain people finally moved out; no more bugs. Until the next one moves in (Cue Jaws soundtrack).
You guys rock. You provide a better service than those who are paid on a daily basis. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Nobugs? Thank you woman.