Bedbugs!

[fredericks]

The little critters are rampant in the city's apartments, and as our job requires us to spend hours in the homes of the city's citizens my coworkers and I are constantly running into bedbugs. Everyone has a favorite story: I have one nurse who saw a patient with a case of bedbugs so bad that the bugs were actually making their way up the patient's leg while the nurse was doing wound care. I only have one story, in that I went to see a patient for a nurse and discovered a gentleman in a cluttered apartment who had bedbugs crawling all over his hastily donned pants. He kicked me out of his apartment when I asked him whether he knew about his bedbug problem (after finding them all over the floor and their dropping marks along with blood smears on his mattress) and one of his supers refused to investigate when I told him about the issue. But the main risk lays in bringing them to our homes, which one of the nurses on my team reported this morning. Bedbugs themselves aren't disease vectors, nor are they necessarily health hazards, but the clean up required for an infestation is time- and cost-intensive. Not to mention the social stigma still associated with the things (imagine getting hit with bedbugs and head lice?). I'm scratching just thinking about it.

On a less cringeworthy note, my manager called me from her personal cell on Saturday. I don't recall ever giving her my number, for one. And although she was calling me to ask me about the details of a coworker's baby shower (the invitation said the party started at 6, she got there for 6:20 and was told the party actually started at 7, the invitation said 6 to get folks there for 7-8, yet there was nothing ready for the party until around 8...SO tacky), I'm not cool with her conversing with me outside of the workplace. Don't get me wrong, my manager is a nice person and I could see us maybe being casual friends if the power thing wasn't an issue. And I firmly believe she makes inappropriate decisions in regards to her friendships and the workplace (one of the nurses on my team is a pretty close friend of hers and the entire thing makes me uncomfortable). I just haven't figured out a way to say "don't call me ever again outside of a major emergency." So I'm just going to ID her number and let it go to voicemail if she decides to call me in the future.

And quickly, before I just lose my nerve and close this window out, a couple of comments/questions:
1. My great-grandmother turned 95 last week. Apparently the key to her longevity is being afraid of going outside. And drinking a cup of chamomile tea sweetened with brown sugar every night. But mainly being scared of going outside.

2. Is it "di-a-BEE-tes" or "di-a-BEE-tus"? Webster.com has both. Is it a regional thing? Because when Wilford Brimley comes on my TV and tries to sell me on "diabetus" supplies from Liberty Mutual I always wonder what his damage is.

3. I haven't played a RPG-type video game since my post-college Diablo days. The only video games I pull out semi-routinely are Rock Band/Guitar Hero. The lack of immersive experiences makes me sorta sad.

4. TV sort of sucks. Hmm.

Comments

[childofmetis.livejournal.com]

I say "di-a-bee-tees", and I've been raised in the south my whole life. My dad's mother and sister (and sometimes Dad) say "di-a-bee-tus", and their accents are right out of Des Moines.

I usually hate passivity, but I cannot see another better way to avoid the awkwardness with your manager than to just let it go to VM.

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Agh. Bedbugs. :(

Josh spent a couple of days clearing a bedbug infestation out of an apartment he kind of helps out in. (He works for an apartment program for people with mental illness.) He told me all about his disgusting discoveries, and I made him throw his clothes straight into the wash when he got home.

The worst was his description of a mattress so infested that he could see them embedded into the pillow top. UGH! >.

[paradise-city.livejournal.com]

Ajsdklfjksddjfkl bedbugs. Please be careful.

Also, it's totally "die-a-bee-tees." Eff Wilford Brimley.

Also also, sorry for the boss suck. I think voicemail's a really good middle ground solution.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I'm finding the diabetus pronunciation more quaint, if that makes any sense, so I feel like just throwing that out for a while and seeing what folks around here think.

And I'm totally going to go the passive route.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

After I saw that one patient with the bedbugs everything as soon as I came home I left my bag and shoes outside, stripped down to the skin while on my porch, threw my clothing in a plastic bag and put everything right into the wash. Just thinking about it makes me start to scratch.

Ugh. UGH. to Josh's entire description. It hits my tick and roach squick in one go.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Dude. I know. No more bugs for anyone. No flashbacks, either. :(

I was having a bad boss day today, so now I'm sorely tempted to block her number. I think folks in management in fast-paced environments must have a touch of ADHD in order to be efficient, but hers is so pronounced I'm finding it hard to deal. I start talking to her about staffing, she's either answering the phone or checking her e-mails or exclaiming about how shiny my watch is (I WISH I was joking). Gah ::headsmash::

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Any kind of parasite description totally grosses me out. Brr.

[sitaangel.livejournal.com]

I've always pronounced it "di-a-bee-tees".

[emily-goddess.livejournal.com]

My dad had bedbugs a couple of times while I lived with him. They didn't migrate to my room until just before I moved out (and left the mattress behind), but the one bite I got left a scar for over a year. I barely sleep when I'm in a hotel, out of anxiety about bringing the damn things home again .

(They are a health risk inasmuch as they have been known to induce serious anxiety in people whose homes are infested. What's more terrifying than being unable to be safe in your own bed, knowing that something is eating you while you sleep?)

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

(They are a health risk inasmuch as they have been known to induce serious anxiety in people whose homes are infested. What's more terrifying than being unable to be safe in your own bed, knowing that something is eating you while you sleep?)
That is true, they have definitely have a huge impact on people's mental well-being.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Me too! I'm still thinking it's vaguely regional, but I'm not sure where the lines are drawn.