The first two itchy bites on my left arm appeared benign enough - just mosquitoes, I thought. Some very hot Sydney summer nights, no flyscreens on my doors - it was the obvious conclusion.

It took days before the thought of a spider crawling through my bed entered my head.

The extensive swelling was the tell-tale sign of another spider bite. Credit:Fleta Page

Three weeks and seven bites later - including two on my face, and an eye that nearly closed over, I finally cracked. I slept on the couch the night before the pest man arrived.

The delay seems stupid in hindsight, but the first two bites progressed slowly. After two days, the redness had spread, the swelling began, and, as I sat at my desk applying more Stingose, my boss caught a glimpse of my arm and asked, horrified, what I had done.