You HAVE to be kidding me.

Yet another reason to hate call.

I don't have allergies. At least, I've never had any allergies that I am aware of. But I am seemingly allergic to call. Back at medical school, when a night of call was quiet enough that I slept for a period of time in my call room I would often wake up frequently during the night completely congested. I'd wake up in the morning rubbing my sticky eyes, trying to breathe out of my stuffed nose and prone to sneezing fits. Fun stuff.

Then I change cities. And hospitals. But the allergies remain. Now I've never had this reaction to another room away from home-- I've stayed in countless hotels and hostels and I've never had the same reaction to them as I do to call rooms. Dust? Could be, but my home can get pretty dusty too. Bleach? Don't think so. The call rooms are so sterile that I can't think of much that they all have in common-- plastic coated pillows that crinkle every time you move, rough white sheets, institutional blankets that need to be layered in factors of ten before they actually provide any warmth... what else is there?

Eventually, I just accepted that I am allergic to call and sucked it up.

Recently, though, it got worse. I started waking up from call ("waking up" is a bit of an exaggeration since I rarely get more than 20 consecutive minutes of sleep) with a rash. Again, I wasn't too concerned. I have insanely sensitive skin that is still recovering from a bout of poison ivy passed to me from the puppy from hell after a morning walk in the woods, and I seem to get random hives on a regular basis.

But these weren't hives. They looked like little pimples. And they itched like the dickens. I had a batch of them on my right ankle, and another batch on my left forearm. Then I looked closer-- the ones on my forearm formed a perfect line.



Ugh. I have bedbugs. Or rather, the call rooms have bedbugs. I am so grossed out right now I can't even think. The idea of bugs crawling over me as I sleep... UGH! If I can get bed bug bites when I sleep fully clothed, I don't want to think of what I'm taking home from the hospital attached to me in some way.