The Prologue: What if they actually want to kill us?

Finally, that terrifying moment came that I had feared so much and denied the need for so long - to be hospitalized in the capital to have tests done to "exclude probable diagnoses that are suspected to be present."
And now I don't know where to start. Whether with "how I got to this hospital" - but that should be a separate post with the title: "Don't trust any taxi driver in Sofia." 😆Whether with the dangers that lurk around every corner when visiting the capital, but that should also be a whole separate post about how you should keep your eyes open when entering this city. Always.
Instead of all that, today I will tell you what it means to be hospitalized in a Bulgarian hospital. Even in the milder and better version that can happen to you, or maybe actually the best that can happen to you in this country. And yet.

So, two weeks ago I had to get to the capital once again to see a doctor I knew, a woman I could trust. Hoping that she would refute all the previous doctors and reject the insistence that I be hospitalized. But she unfortunately did the exact opposite.
And she said this: "You should not go to a doctor who does not know you. Even when I, as a doctor, go somewhere and they do not know me there, they do not treat me well. (!!!) So I will call someone and you will go there."
And I know very well what she said to this doctor. The same she immediately said to her assistant too, when she saw me in front of the door of her private clinic: "This is the professor's sister." So I ended up in this hospital with connections that I never intended to use, and of course, my brother's name was never mentioned by anyone, and I don't think the doctor treated me like a privileged patient compared to everyone else, but I was somehow reassured.
Because entering a Bulgarian hospital can sometimes be a terrible experience. Quite often, even. And even for the same hospital, but in a different ward, I had read horrifying comments that no matter what complaints you enter with, you end up being "cut off". And this is actually the practice in many Bulgarian hospitals, if not all. Because hospital departments are draining the health insurance fund in this way, walking patients from one department to another, inventing their complaints so that they can use "health paths" that the patient does not need at all, but the departments benefit from the funds they receive from the health insurance fund for these unnecessary movements, even real surgeries on people who do not need them. So, reading all this, I was like: "I shouldn't let them give me infusions, they might sedate me and then it's not clear what will happen to me; I shouldn't fall asleep", etc. 😄 But, of course, things weren't that way in this particular ward. And I was immediately fitted with a cannula, and the woman in the next bed was immediately given infusions, and I was like: hey, I want to finally be clarified, and if necessary, give me infusions. I don't mind, I just want you to help me.

In the background of my arrival at this hospital, there was a whole week of brainstorming on how to get the necessary referral to get to this hospital. The first doctor I visited in the capital called my GP a moron, but still said - try to ask him to get a referral, because you need it. If you don't manage to get one, you will have to be admitted to the hospital "as an emergency". And it took me a few days to gather my strength and go to him again, after the last scandal he made for me.
At first he refused again, but I was kind of persistent, rather confident that this had to happen somehow, I went there within my rights, I speak, I present facts, and I get what I need, because it is needed. And somehow I succeeded.
Maybe it was because I said that I had gone to the capital and was returning from there with yet another, but the same medical opinion, the same and same guidelines and recommendations that I had already received so far and which he had vehemently denied and refuted the previous time. Perhaps mentioning the word "capital" is what made him give in, because in the settlements outside the capital, people have respect for the people from the capital, for the specialists there. And there's a reason for that.

So, he eventually gave me the referral. With reluctance. Then, with great willingness, he gave me a prescription for an antibiotic, which I decided to take myself. And he even said: "If one pack isn't enough for you, come and I'll give you a prescription for another one." So, he was more than happy to give me a prescription for an antibiotic that no one had prescribed and was ultimately a whim of mine. But he wouldn't give me a referral after the advice and opinions of multiple specialists. 🤔 He's such a big ass!
And yet I was happy because I got what I wanted. This time.

Because the next time I called him from the hospital in the capital under the guidance of the attending physician because I needed a new referral, he simply said "no" and hung up the phone while I handed it to the doctor to explain to this asshole my condition and why I absolutely needed this referral.
The doctor was like: "OMG, why haven't you changed him yet?"
And then I had to explain to her that this is actually the new GP I've had since June, because then I had to change my previous GP, who was also a nutcase, but in a different way. And I expressed my concerns that I wouldn't actually be able to find a normal doctor/normal person in this damn town because it seems like everyone there is a nutcase...
Then she said: "Maybe you should look in another city then?"
And of course, I don't have many cities to choose from. They should be in the same area. But, after all, imagine, it's not realistic for my GP to be somewhere 30-40-50-80 km. away. How will I get there, given that I don't have a car and I'm not a driver.
I think the distance I have to travel to get to a dentist - 100 km., is enough for me, as is the distance of 50 km., which I often traveled to a number of "specialists" this summer, which are not available in the neighboring town. Even to have the stitches removed, which need to be removed from one of my arms now, I have to go to a town 30 km. away. But for a GP, who is the first and most unpretentious stop, who should mainly be of help, not constantly interfering in the process of diagnosis and treatment, who is not even a specialist and plays the role of a dispatcher, although he plays his own schemes and games at the same time... if he/she is that far away, I will probably have to take paid time off to get to them, and that is unjustified and extremely unrealistic. In general, the whole situation seems unjustified and unrealistic to me. But isn't that the case with all of life, anyway?

The truth is that when I last visited my GP and he gave me the referral I needed at the time, as well as the prescription for an antibiotic, I even thought that maybe the feud was over and from now on we would start getting along well. That I wouldn't even need to look for someone else to replace him. Maybe I wouldn't be able to find anyone else in this damn city anyway.
He then even looked at my blood tests and said, "oh, your blood tests aren't good either. But actually, that's the least of your problems right now." And I was finally relieved, because finally he admitted that I had a problem. Because before that he was in denial and even claimed that I didn't need blood tests because I was completely healthy.
And then I said to myself, really, maybe it's all over now. Maybe now things will change. Until the next time he just hung up on me.
My partner said: "He was just in another phase then, apparently."
But I don't care about his "phases" anymore. I'm never going to set foot in his office again. And maybe that's exactly what he was going for.

I can imagine that GPs in Bulgaria receive extra instructions on how to kill their patients. The population has drastically decreased and we are the first in mortality in Europe.
Or they don't even need instructions because they are evil by nature.
Especially the people in this city, most of whom are communists. And when they sense that there is an outsider among them who is not a like-minded person, they try to kill him. Don't laugh, this is my experience so far with the GPs in this city. And with other representatives of this "humanitarian profession" who you have to beg to accept you, to diagnose you and write a prescription. Then you have to beg again if that prescription doesn't work, but then they won't accept you again anyway.

Well, that post didn't go as planned again. So, about hospital conditions in BG, I will write the next time in the next post.

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.😊🧐🧭|