The end of the year

I finally received the test results, those results that seemed impossible to obtain for weeks.
I received them on the penultimate working day of the year, and it was a kind of closure. I received them on the 40th day after my test was done (oh, what symbolism - sometimes it's useful to crunch numbers😃) and exactly one month, or four weeks, after the deadline I was told they would be ready.
This was a kind of crowning moment for the end of the year for me.
But... it left me somewhat numb, instead of relieved.

Not because the result was positive. No, the test result for this disease, which you don't live long with, was negative, thank God. Another result turned out to be negative too, for an even more terrible disease, the presence of which was suspected and assumed. But... how does one live with such assumptions? So this result just left me numb, instead of relieved.

For weeks I thought of all sorts of options on how to get the test results, which seemed absolutely impossible. I called a well-known doctor in the same area, who I had gone to for a private check-up earlier in the year in the capital, to ask her if she had any connections at this clinic. Connections that are necessary even just to get some lab results. But she said, "No, unfortunately I don't know anyone there, just try calling all the phones you can find."
And I found a bunch of phones on the hospital website and started calling. I called for about two weeks before anyone even picked up the phone there.

Before that, I was calculating other things and thinking of all sorts of other schemes (because, as I've wrote before, you have to be inventive to survive here). I was looking for a group on FB, or maybe a site where it is possible to offer or obtain paid services in the capital. For example - you need someone to go and do this and that, get a document, pay a bill, buy something... It seems completely natural to me that there should be such a service site, after all, there are so many old people in this country, for example, not everyone can cope with all the difficult daily battles related to the daily life of every Bulgarian. But still, I didn't find anything in this regard.

Then I regretted not asking for the business card of a taxi driver who twice by chance gave me a ride in his taxi during those days of my stay in the hospital.
From the conversation we had, I saw that he would do anything for money, like any Bulgarian, I suppose, and why not, if I offered him a good sum of money, do this service for me too - to get this document from the hospital and send it to me by courier.
I've pointed out before that people here are bad, but I could, I'm just saying, hypothetically I could come across someone who could do me a favor when there's money involved in that service.
But I, of course, had already missed this opportunity while I was there - to get his contacts, so there was no way I could do what I would have certainly done - entrust this very important and personal document, full of so much personal data, to a stranger.

Then I decided on something else - even more dangerous. 😅
To write a post on FB and ask if anyone "has a way" (has to go) to this clinic to call me. I don't think I would get any results. First of all, I don't want any of my acquaintances, let alone my relatives, to know anything like that about me. Then, things here are even more complicated than relationships with strangers. I'll just add this - have you heard of this tradition in Bulgaria of wearing a red thread on the wrist against evil eyes and bad wishes? Right now, as I write this post, I realize that evil eyes and bad wishes aren't just random things thrown by random people on the street. They're usually from people we know personally, sometimes even from our own family. So any such disclosure of such personal things to such people could make me vulnerable... to such things. But I had no choice. I had no other chance.

Meanwhile, at the clinic, a phone answered. Of course, not the one of an employee who would be of any use to me. They first told me not to call after 12 or 1 p.m., because after that time I would not find anyone there.
And then it dawned on me. Then I finally understood how these people work in these conditions, which I showed you in the pictures in my penultimate post.
I don't know when these people start working there, but it's probably not at 7 a.m. They come to work in this institution for a few hours - 3 or maximum 4, they come here for various practical, rational and profitable reasons - reputation, experience or insurance. Then they go somewhere else - to private clinics, health centers or private offices, where they earn big money and work under different conditions.

The young doctor who promised to send me the document via Viber and asked for and wrote down my phone number in the journal, but in the end did not send me anything, turned out to be an intern at this hospital. From the Internet I found out that she works in other private clinics. But her personal phone number was not announced anywhere so that I could contact her. Eventually, I found her Facebook profile and wrote her a message on Messenger... of course, to no avail.

But after learning the working hours of the employees at this clinic, my chances of success decreased even more. Although they were never great anyway. And the possibility of taking a day off, traveling to the capital, relying on luck that someone will be at work or will unlock the locked doors of the laboratory for me from 9 to 12, seems to be doomed to failure in advance.

Anyway, no one answered any of the phones there for about two weeks. It seemed like no one worked at that clinic. How could I be sure I would find anyone working if I went there.

I called again the only phone number that had ever been answered.
"Be more persistent. I wish you success," the woman on the other end said to me and hung up.

Interestingly, they had told me the same thing when they initially sent me to this clinic for the test.
And I finally started to be more insistent. I dialed the office number and let the phone ring until it stopped ringing on its own. Immediately after that I dialed again. Then again and again. Until finally someone on the other end picked up. Then I briefly explained why I was calling, and politely asked for help. I said that I was waiting for the results of a test for a disease that, if positive, would mean a very short remainder of this life, so I needed to know.

"You know we don't do that kind of service, right?" the woman at the office told me. To have them tell me the result over the phone, not in person, is the service I'm asking for, and which they're not providing. I felt both ashamed and entitled to ask for this "service" at the same time.

And then the woman unexpectedly said: "OK, I'll make an exception for you. But nothing depends on me, I warn you. Now I'll take your data - your names and phone number to my colleagues in the laboratory and they should give you the result. But also, I don't know how long it will take..."

At first I was amazed by this unexpected turn of events. Then, when nothing happened in the next few hours, and for the rest of their workday, I thought resignedly that, well, I tried anyway, I've exhausted this opportunity too, I failed here too, but I tried anyway...

Nothing happened for the next whole week either. And I kept thinking about other impossibilities of getting this document.

Then on the 29th, out of nowhere, suddenly, so unexpectedly, I received a message on Viber from some person named Tanya (nothing more than that as information), who wrote to me that she was from the clinic and was sending me a photo of the document.

And so I was left numb in my relief...

Thank you for your time! Copyright:	@soulsdetour
	Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you.

Personally, I am a sensitive soul with a strong sense of justice.
Traveling and photography are my greatest passions.
Sounds trivial to you?
No, it's not trivial. Because I still love to travel to not so famous destinations.🗺️
Of course, the current situation does not allow me to do this, but I still find a way to satisfy my hunger for knowledge, new places, beauty and art.
Sometimes you can find the most amazing things even in the backyard of your house.😊🧐🧭|