The conditions in a hospital, the "luxury" edition

In this hospital I probably received the best that can be obtained from a hospital in Bulgaria. I can't say why - whether because all the people working there work conscientiously, or because they were well paid, better than the normal salary for the country, or because they are simply good people, a rare combination for these latitudes, as I have already told you before. Well, just because I got a good treatment doesn't mean I got a diagnosis. And God, I don't think I want to know my diagnosis anymore after the last few guesses by good doctors and professors. I just want to die in my sleep one day, just not wake up, no chemo, no corticosteroid treatments, none of those senseless "therapies" that are so destructive to a person's body.

Anyway, the hospital.
I won't go into great detail about what this hospital is and why exactly it's like that, for security reasons. But like I said, it's probably the best you can get in the country anyway. And "it's a luxury," said the woman in the next bed, and I believe her, because I have no experience with hospitals, but she's 70 and has had enough such already.

When I was a student, I had to be hospitalized because of an epidemic (something that no living Western European has ever experienced, I'm sure), and that's the only time I've ever been hospitalized in my life. But maybe that's enough to make me terrified of them.
In fact, back then, at that time, when we were all living in great misery and poverty, the conditions in that hospital didn't even make any impression on me - the fact that we were in rooms of 6-8 people, that there was only one bathroom for the entire ward, that there probably wasn't hot water, that the toilets were so primitive and just one hole, and there was a pungent smell of chlorine everywhere. I was already living in the boarding house of the most elite language school in the country in the same conditions. 😂 But maybe it's still so ingrained in my subconscious that I'm terrified of hospitals, just like I'm terrified of potential surgeries because I know I'm going to die (at the hands of our incompetent doctors and the substandard anesthetics that make people go crazy after waking up from surgery). But as I said, the current hospital was a "luxury" that not all hospitals in the country have, in fact almost none.

And yet... "We don't have a bathroom and nowhere to wash ourselves," the woman in the next bed also said. She had been admitted before me and had already learned everything.

"How come there is no bathroom?", I asked in amazement. As if I didn't have enough stress from being admitted to a hospital, and now I have to worry that I can't maintain normal hygiene...
I went out into the hallway. There were two doors. One said: "Toilet." The other: "Staff bathroom and toilet".
"Maybe the staff will let us use their bathroom," I said hopefully, back in the room.
Of course, that couldn't be true. There's no way the staff would let patients into their own bathroom. But how the hell was I going to wash myself, and how was I going to shower?
I took a shower and washed my hair the night before at the hotel I was staying at in the capital. But it never occurred to me that this would be the last shower I would take for... how many days? I had no idea how many days I would have to stay there.

"Well, I have an empty mineral water bottle and I'm going to wash myself over the toilet like this," said my roommate. "I made it up."
Well, luckily I also have a half-empty mineral water bottle and I'm going to wash myself like this too, but, my God!

Bulgarians are an inventive people! People in need are always inventive, yes. I washed myself with a bottle of water many years ago over a toilet with a hole in a tourist hut in one of the mountains of the country, where there are also no human conditions for living.
But God, this is a hospital! A place where hygiene must be maintained.
And God, I've been on the Camino, I've slept everywhere, I'm used to everything, I had a miserable childhood and whatnot, but I could never have imagined that I wouldn't have the conditions to wash myself in a hospital, in the 21st century. And in a "luxury" hospital, according to Bulgarian standards, at that.

"Is there really no bathroom here?" I immediately asked the nurse and the orderly when they came to take my blood again. It was as if I was already more worried about where and how I would wash myself than what my diagnosis was. And maybe that was the "therapeutic effect" of this hospital! 😂 Who knows.

"How come there's no bathroom?" the nurse scolded me, almost offended. "Of course there is. When you come out of your hallway, turn left and go out into the main hallway and then turn left again, and there, in the other hallway, you'll find your bathroom."

Okay, so things aren't that bad, I tell myself hopefully, and I go out into the hallway, turn left, and go out into the main hallway... in my nightgown. If I have to take a shower, I'll show up in the main hallway in a towel in front of everyone, as well as the men's room, which is glass-enclosed. But no problem, we should all be a family by now, getting here.
Besides, I've been on the Camino, showered, undressed, and slept with strange men in adjacent beds... Nothing should scare me.

But... in this next corridor I see the next thing. There are two doors that say: "Men's toilet." and "Bathroom for rooms 3, 4, and 5 and toilet for room 3". And behind this second door with such a long inscription on it, which is supposed to be the bathroom I'm looking for, there's actually just a single toilet and a shower stall with transparent doors, placed together, side by side, in a small room, as if I were at home or in a small hotel room. And this small room is supposed to serve as a bathroom for 3 rooms and a toilet for one room.
So, no chance of using this thing!

Later, talking to the nurse about this, she said this (reassuringly): "Take it as an ordeal!"
And I was amazed: "What ordeal are we talking about? Not having basic living conditions? For maintaining basic hygiene?"
Of course, I didn't say anything. But I was amazed. And my head couldn't take it in and still can't.
And maybe that's the quintessence of my whole life. I just don't understand why things have to be this way (when they could be much more normal). Why does being in hospital have to be an ordeal in this sense, when it's an ordeal in every other sense possible? I just don't understand. And I also don't understand how a hospital with such a reputation and such a look can actually be like this. Because, do you know how a woman washes herself with a bottle over a toilet? Washing herself this way over a toilet with a hole turns out to be much easier 😂
And let me not comment on the water either. Because the water is extremely soft and it takes a while to wash anything off, if at all, and my legs hurt, my flip-flops slide sideways on the tiles...

I tried to wash my face too, thank God over a sink next to the toilet, but no matter how much I soaped my skin, in the end everything ended up in the towel. And it was clearly visible because I use zinc cream and it is white. None of it could be washed off my face with soap and water! But this should no longer be the hospital's problem, but the city's problem. I had forgotten what kind of water I used to take a shoew and wash with when I also lived in this city...

Well, should I talk about the food too? Maybe I should. But not now. Maybe in another post.
And yet. What do you think? What is your experience with hospitals in your country? What are the conditions there?

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.😊🧐🧭|