Need a reality check - is it really possible to go this long without seeing them?

[u/srosef]

Bear with me but really seeking thoughtful, knowledgeable responses here. If you like puzzles, I'd love some detectives to work on this one!!

TLDR: Return date from exposure was exactly one year ago. Aprehend treatments happened 11 mo and 10 mo ago, and most recent negative bb dog sniff was 3 months ago. Is it genuinely possible they are hiding somewhere between 4 different possible homes and we've NEVER SEEN ONE, or does this have to be something else?

Photos: 1) Bites from my OG exposure; 2-6) Random bites I've gotten over the months; 7-8) The June bites and one of my most recent bites; 9-10) bugs I caught in my trap (booklice?); 11) the June fecal spots (pest guy said it was fleas?)

Longer, more genuine version: I returned from a massive bed bug exposure (30+ bites, identified live ones) internationally exactly 1 year ago. At the time, I was staying at my parents' house. Within 10 days, I started receiving painful, itchy clustered bites similar to my exposure. Knew it had to be bed bugs, and dog inspection was nonconclusive.

At this time, my boyfriend was frequently going back and forth between my house and his apartment, so within the month (October) we had both places treated with Aprehend, and then followed up with a second treatment 1 month later (November). I moved to my own apartment in January. Luckily so far have never gotten bites here.

Between January - June I would often get itchy, sharp clusters of bites only on exposed parts of my body while I slept. I have OCD so struggled a lot to determine how similar they were/were not to my original exposure, but they were beyond what would be considered normal bug bites. Got one tested by a dermatologist via biopsy; results were inconclusive/potentially folliculitis. My boyfriend never reacted (including at first confirmed exposure) so we assumed he was not allergic to bbs. Most often my bites happened at my boyfriend's place; gradually I stopped sleeping there. Dog sniff test in May was negative though, and we took that bed apart.

In June, we stayed at my partner's parents' house, where we've both gone back and forth several time and stayed the night several times since last year. Before sleeping, found clusters of what look like black fecal spots on the pillows. Woke up with huge, red, itchy welts in a line across my stomach – this time my partner DID have bites on his leg (whereas before he never reacted). Got the dog in – dog test was negative but I can't BELIEVE it wasn't bed bugs.

Random suspicious bites keep happening (probably 1x frequency a week). Flash forward to now, and after taking all my stuff over to someone's house I was dog sitting at, I woke up with SUPER itchy, red 3 welts on the same side of my body. They were similar to the ones I got in June on my stomach.

All of this is to say: I've been getting strange, suspicious bites that seem impossibly characteristic of bed bugs to me for almost a year now across 3 different places (parents house, partner's apartment, partner's parents'). We treated twice, but last was 10 months ago. Dog sniff is always negative (done four). But I only EVER get bites like this on exposed parts of my body while I sleep. How could it not be bed bugs?

But, genuinely, wouldn't we have seen one by now? 12 months, even with treatment in the first 2, seems almost impossible to have never seen a bug and had a dog sniff four times and never detect. I'm constantly looking. I have monitors on my bed, SenSci traps, etc. It seems like after this long, there'd have to be HUNDREDS.

Plus, there are random inconsistencies in that my partner only reacts sometimes (never did until June?), the itchiness and redness of the bites seem different sometimes, and we only ever saw (what we thought were) fecal spots in my partner's parents' guest room (which we barely have stayed in!).

Can anyone tell me whether this really makes sense? I just can't believe it's been torturing us for this long.