About one year ago I separated from my husband, changed careers and took a pay cut. I was stressed paying a mortgage and maintenance on a smaller salary, and decided to rent out the two vacant bedrooms in my condo. Unfortunately, one of my boarders brought along some unexpected guests—bedbugs.

Bedbugs have become an urban scourge, yet I never expected to fall victim to these tiny bloodsuckers. My apartment is, and always has been, very clean. I’m particular about where I shop, never keeping brown paper bags stuffed under my sink. I dust, vacuum, and scrub regularly. Sure, I’ve seen the occasional roach or waterbug, but what New Yorker hasn’t? I’ve never met a city pest that couldn’t be gotten rid of by calling the right exterminator. Bedbugs, I was about to learn, are in a category by themselves.

My bedbug adventure began with a call from my best girlfriend, Jan, who lives in Florence, Italy. Did I have room to put up the son of a friend who wanted to stay in New York for four months? Kismet! I had just thought about renting out my rooms and a candidate dropped into my lap. I quickly said yes. Marco came for four months and, being a young Italian guy, he was a lot of fun. After Marco left, he recommended another friend, Andrea, who stayed for three months. The pattern continued and a succession of young, foreign students took up residence in my apartment for anywhere from two to four months. I was enjoying myself (I said they were young and Italian, right?) and the extra income helped me pay my bills.

After a short period of time, one of these young men showed me some bites on his legs and asked me what they could be. The bites were small, red and very itchy. Mosquito bites? An allergy? Bedbugs were the farthest thing from my mind. A week went by before he came to me again with the same complaint. I checked out the room, mattress, bedding and found nothing. A bedbug is the size of a lentil and reddish-brown, so it is possible to see one. I didn’t see any, but as a precaution I had the renter’s room cleaned top to bottom. In the back of my mind, though, I was beginning to worry that the New York epidemic of bedbugs was hitting home. How was this possible? How could this happen to me? A condominium near Park Avenue kept immaculately clean and tidy—never!!

After some research on the web I became more that just a little bit concerned. I sought solace from friends at breakfast. “I think I have bedbugs,” I told them. Their horrified faces said it all. “You’ll never get rid of them!” “You’ll have to toss out everything in your apartment!” “It will cost a fortune!” Was I imagining that they began to move away from me, picking up their purses and sweaters and setting them aside? Did they believe that bedbugs, like lice, are able to hop from one host to another? Feeling like an outcast, I skulked home.

It was time for action. I called a pest company and someone came the same day. Apparently a bedbug infestation is treated with the same urgency as a gas leak. His inspection mirrored mine: no evidence of bedbugs. He looked in the mattress and under the mattress, the walls and at the floor boards. Bedbugs apparently like wood. The head and footboards are brass-whew! No sign of anything. He recommended that he spray and that the room then be closed tight and not used for a twelve-hour period.

After the first application, he said he would come back in three weeks for a second application. This recommended treatment cost me $350 in cash. A few days after the first spraying, my boarder reported no further bites. The pest control company told me that bedbugs typically come out in force after the first spraying and then can go into hiding for a four to six week period. So I knew my ordeal was not yet over.

Four days after the spraying I began to itch. I checked the seams of my mattress and discovered deep, dark red spots that looked like dead bugs. I had to face the truth: I had bedbugs. Out went the mattresses and box springs on both beds. Fortunately, my boarder had to travel for two weeks and would not be using the bedroom. I panicked and called the pest control company to come back. They sprayed again. The company explained the many possible highways the bedbugs use to travel. They could have come from an apartment below or next door to me because of wiring; they could have come in with luggage that came from a traveler from a foreign country; or, any worker doing repairs or maintenance on an apartment could bring them inside.

Suddenly, just spraying didn’t go far enough. I decided to paint the boarder’s room—-$800—paint my room—$500—redo the floors by sanding and putting a new layer of polyurethane—$1,000—and buy two new mattresses—$2,000.

Five weeks later, my super told me that my next door neighbor and the apartment owners above my apartment were also complaining about bedbugs. The company’s explanation about the little critters traveling through wiring came back to me. Was I now being blamed for infesting the entire building? Could I be sued? Evicted? Would this be a test case? My super asked if I would consent to an inspection by a dog trained to detect bedbugs. When this canine bug detective entered the two nearby apartments he began to yelp and jump around the bedrooms like he was doing a St. Vitus dance. When this adorable pooch entered my abode, he was perfectly calm. Success! The bugs were gone! All that spraying and renovation cost me close to $5,000, so my two bedrooms will once again be available for rent. Next time, however, I’m frisking each and every one of my tenants at the door. Perhaps one of those bedbug dogs needs a new home.