[tps_title]She knew to leave her possibly infected bag at the front door[/tps_title]
A. Because I knew I had bugs in my bed, I was afraid, so I left my bag — I have a foyer, upstairs, downstairs, so I left my bags downstairs by the front door. I knew to do that. I left my bags there.
Q. Okay.
A. My mom told me to take Benadryl to stop the itching.
Q. Okay.
A. I took Benadryl, it didn’t do anything for the itching at all.
Q. Okay.
A. Other than knock me out.
Q. So the next morning you get up or did you get up during the night?
A. All night. I didn’t sleep all night. I sat up. I wrapped myself in T-shirts so that I wouldn’t scratch myself. I was thinking about a baby, when you cover their fingernails from scratching. So I covered my body with about five T-shirts, and I sat up all night.
Q. Okay.
A. The itching was burning, painful, to the bone. I had stiffness all over my body. Wherever there was a bite, there was a stiffness, there was a tightness in my muscle.
Q. Okay. And with the itching and the burning and the tightness, you didn’t think you needed to go to the hospital at any point?
A. I never experienced being bit like that, so I figured I could wait until the next day to go to the — I knew I was going to go to my primary care physician. I knew I was going to do that, so I was trying to hold off to that. Had I experienced something like that before, I probably would have went to the hospital.
N. You’ll find great information, much like this document that you are reading on bedbugsbite . com that help shed light on the fight involving bed bugs.
Q. Okay. During this period of time, other than maybe a little bit of being nervous from it all, did you experience like a shortness of breath, accelerated heart rate, anything that made you feel like you were —
A. The accelerated heart rate was because I didn’t know what was going on.
Q. So like an anxiety issue?
A. Yes, I did have that. I didn’t know — because I knew from mosquito bites I never received — I never experienced like that. So I didn’t know what was going on.
Q. Okay.
A. Had someone explained to me or told me this is what happens when you get bit by bedbugs, I would have known. But because I didn’t know, I had accelerated, you know, heart rate. But I have a problem with PTSD, so — well, along with that.
Q. Well, I guess what I’m trying to get at is you didn’t have any situation where you were going into like an anaphylactic shock where —
A. What’s an anaphylactic shock?
Q. A very serious shock from an allergic reaction where you could have difficulty breathing to the point where you stopped breathing.
A. Oh, no, didn’t have that. No, didn’t have that.
Q. Okay.
A. Just more anxiety than anything else.
Q. Okay.
A. And very warm all over my body.
Q. Okay. So that night, that was a tough night it sounds like?
A. You’re still scratching (indicating).
Q. No, it’s the sweater too. You’re wrapped up and everything like that?
A. Yes.
Q. You get up and go to your PCP, I assume?
A. Yeah. I called immediately as soon as they opened.
Q. Is it Dr. Biririan?
A. Dr. Biririan.
Q. Okay. B-I-R-I-R-I-A-N?
A. That’s correct.
Q. Okay. And that’s your PCP?
A. That’s correct.
Q. Okay. And did you get an appointment that same day?
A. I asked for emergency intake to see him that morning because I got bit by bugs.
Q. And were you able to get in that same day?
A. Yes.
Q. And so that would have been that Monday?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. So that would have been on September 15th? 3 A. 15th.
Q. Okay. So describe that particular visit.
A. When I got to the doctor, normally you have to wait, but they seen what I was going through. At that point I was patting myself probably too hard, so they thought I was beating myself up. But I was patting myself. And they asked for me to come in right away. My doctor said he would see me in a minute. He took me to a room. And this is where I guess I got frightened, because when he came in he said, I hear you got bit by bugs. I said yes. And he said, Where? I said, All over my body. And he asked me to lift my shirt up. When I lift my shirt up, he jumped, was like, Oh, my God, and he ran out the office. He ran out the office and he didn’t come back. So he said, I’m sorry — I mean, he came back, he said, I’m sorry, I had to go and cancel my next appointment, this is not a regular bite, you have an allergic reaction. Because what had happened was the — I didn’t realize the — each bite, there was fluid coming out of it. So over 42 bites, was nothing but fluid or pus coming out. I didn’t realize it, I just knew I had the shirts around it. So he said you need to do a consultation, which means — that’s why he had to cancel the next appointment. So he said, Evidentially you’ve never been bitten by a bedbug, he said, because you would know allergic reaction.
Q. Okay.
A. And I asked him how could I not know. So he shared with me a story so I could understand about the bedbugs. He said his friend does lawns or whatever you want to call it when you beautify the lawns, what is it called? Not manicure, but —
Q. I know what you mean.
A. It’s manicure the lawns. Okay. He does landscape, and his friend had been doing it for 25 years, this friend just got bit a month before he spoke to me, and the friend swelled exactly the way I was. He said for 25 years he had not never gotten bit by a bee, so obviously he didn’t know. So he said with me, he knew I was a ex-flight attendant, with all the hotels I stayed in, if they had bedbugs, I would have known because I had a allergic reaction. He said I’m allergic to the venom, he said it’s not called venom, but it’s the venom that’s in the bedbug, my body’s allergic to it, and that’s why the bites were so severe.
Q. Okay. Got you. So just — I’m looking at the record here from Dr. Biririan. So it looks like he did give you an examination. So like you said, he cancelled his previous —
A. His next appointment.
Q. — his next appointment —
A. Uh-huh.
Q. — so that he could give you a full examination?
A. Consultation. Uh-huh.
Q. Okay. So at that point he indicates that you’re well developed, your body habits are normal, you’re uncomfortable due to the bites. Everything else was normal, thankfully, your throat, your neck, thyroid, your lungs, cardiac, abdomen.
A. That’s correct.
Q. Your skin, other than the bedbugs, mostly to your arms, torso, a few on the face. He said all your joints no swelling or tenderness. Your nerves were normal to the examination. Your speech was normal. And then he diagnosed you with insect bite, multiple, unspecified sites, without infection. Is that correct to your understanding?
A. That’s my understanding, yeah.
Q. And at that point it looks like you were prescribed cream, which was probably like a hydrocortisone cream?
A. That’s correct.
Q. Applied to the skin two times for about two weeks; is that correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. Okay. And he said discuss processing of clothing. Do you recall what that —
A. Yes. He asked me what happened to the clothing that I brought back with me, and I told him I had an idea that I should not bring the clothes into my home, I left them downstairs in the foyer. And he told me to have them treated.
Q. Okay. And then he told you to take the topical steroid for local reactions; is that correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. And you weren’t really admitted, but you were discharged that particular day?
A. That’s correct.
Q. You filled the prescription? And this was a prescription, steroid —
A. That’s correct.
Q. It looks like one of the over-the-counter ones?
A. Prescription, that’s correct.
Q. Okay. And you came back on the 29th for a follow-up. And he indicated that at that point you are point comfortable, your vital signs are regular. You were taking the medication, the Cutivate cream?
A. That’s correct.
Q. And again he did another full evaluation for you?
A. That’s correct.
Q. And at that point, similarly, neck, throat, other physical parts of you are normal. It appears your neck, your thyroid, lungs, cardiac were all within normal limits. And then at that point he tells you to stop taking the cream because your course is completed; is that correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. And then told you to follow up as needed. And then told you to follow up for some personal regular —
A. Exactly.
Q. Okay. Between the 15th when you went and saw him and the 29th, describe sort of what’s going on physically with you.
A. The bites are still on my body, I guess the marks. But the feverish thing — the feverish feeling didn’t go away.
Q. Okay.
A. Although I didn’t have a fever, but the feverish feeling didn’t go away.
Q. Okay. Rewind. So when would you say the bites started to go away?
A. Well, some of them haven’t. I still have scars.
Q. Okay. Well, did you say that they were going away or —
A. Oh. Going away as in the bites — oh, they weren’t swelled like that.
Q. Okay.
A. To that degree, what’s on the picture.
Q. So let’s talk about the pictures. We previously marked as them as collectively Exhibit 1. And we’ve got a picture of — let’s describe this one. This looks to be I guess your right arm?
A. Right arm.
Q. Okay. And this is the side to the back of your right arm; is that correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. And can you circle where — because the quality’s a little bit off. Can you circle what you’re showing in that picture?
A. I’m showing the top of the forearm, the middle of the foreman, the wrist of that arm, the lower wrist of that arm.
Q. Okay. And those were bites that you were showing in that picture; is that correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. About when would you say you took this picture?
A. That was the next day, that was the day — the 15th.
Q. The day you saw the doctor?
A. Yes
Q. Okay. Was it after you saw the doctor?
A. That was after I seen the doctor.
Q. Had you started the treatment at that point?
A. No.
Q. Okay. So you hadn’t started using any of the cream?
A. No.
Q. Okay.
A. No.
Q. The next picture I’m going to show you looks to be your face on the left side; is that correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. And what are you showing in this picture?
A. I have about five to eight bites on my face.
Q. Can you circle where the bites would be?
A. Yes, I can. (Witness complies.)
Q. Okay. And these are pictures of your cheekbone side of your face area; correct?
A. Yes. I have moles on my face as well, so I didn’t want you to mix it up, with the moles and the bites.
Q. Okay. The next picture looks to be your left shoulder; is that correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. And can you circle there where you are hoping to show —
A. There’s a great deal of bites on this one. (Witness complies.) Eight, nine, ten.
Q. And then the next picture we have is your back on the — it seems like the left side again, primarily?
A. Yes. I wanted to show specifically where some of the bites had swollen and —
Q. And I’m assuming this is the same day, the 7 15th?
A. Yes. This is all the same day.
Q. Okay. You’re going to have to describe what that picture is.
A. Yes. This picture — figure out for myself. This picture has my arm bent up towards my ear. My right — my left arm is bent up towards my ear.
Q. Okay. So almost like you’re making a biceps curl?
A. Like I’m making a biceps curl, that’s correct. So my left arm is bent up to my ear.
Q. Okay. And can you circle on that picture as well?
A. I want to make sure I got this right.
Q. Okay.
A. No, there’s a garbage can in this picture. Make it so you can see. There’s a garbage can in this picture. The garbage can is on the bottom. So this must be my right arm bent up.
Q. Okay. So it’s your right arm —
A. My right arm that’s bent up to my ear, making a bicep curl.
Q. Okay.