Cav's Place

I was saying that Thursday I was going back to the hospital, willing to try to let them hospitalize me if they’ll still want to, though I couldn’t even imagine spending even one night in a hospital, nor going through some of the procedures that were recommended. And I did just that, and the fact that I’m here now and writing this isn’t because I turned or ran away, quite the contrary, because I insisted to be seen and eventually was, but that only happened in the evening, and I was told to come back Sunday morning to see the test results and discuss options.
But let’s start from the beginning, with saying that I got in bed at 5:25 AM that morning, got up when I woke up the third time, at 9:50 AM, struggled to fit everything I wanted to take with me in two backpacks, turned off the computer and left just after 11:45 AM. The first destination was an Orange Store, where I meant to just charge 1 EUR to activate my credit, but I was told they could only charge with a minimum of 3 EUR, even though it was a store and therefore it shouldn’t have been a matter of what codes they still had. So I considered the possibility of being tricked, them just wanting to earn a little bit more, but I hadn’t prepared for any other scenarios, so I just accepted that, neither arguing nor switching to higher amounts, even though charging with 3 EUR just activates the credit for 15 days, without adding a grace period, while I thought that 4 EUR would have meant 30 days plus the grace period, though now I see that they changed that and a minimum of 5 EUR is required for that. Either way, 7 EUR would have meant 60 days plus the grace period, therefore ensuring that I wouldn’t have had to charge again at the time of the marathon. Either way, I then also quickly checked the two confectioneries from that area and then walked to Coltea, getting there a bit after 12:50 PM.

Stood around for a while at first, only seeing a guy at the reception desk, not the woman who had helped me a month before, and when I tried to look into the emergency area when the door opened I couldn’t spot the other woman who seemed to understand me more either. Had actually tried to find out whether she’ll be there that day, calling the day before and asking about a doctor with the name listed as the person who requested my tests, but was told they had no doctor with that name, so I then assumed she must have been a nurse and, after managing to work up the courage to talk to the receptionist, I also asked him about a nurse with that name, but he said there wasn’t one in the emergency area either, so I have no idea why that name showed up there and also don’t know the name of that woman. But, getting back to my reason for being there, it was 1:05 PM when I managed to get myself to talk to the receptionist, but he just told me to call to schedule an appointment, not seeming willing to offer any other options. Crap.
With nothing else to do, I walked out, took some time to work up the courage to call, did so at 1:15 PM… But only got a busy signal, which continued to be the case as I tried a few more times, a guy finally answering at 1:25 PM… And after I quickly said what the issue was, he stayed silent, so after a few seconds I asked whether he heard me, he said he had but asked me to get back at 2 PM, exactly, without missing that time, and use a certain extension. I had no idea what that meant, however, so a few minutes before 2 PM I went back to the reception to ask. That guy had left by then, the shift changing at 2 PM, and out of the two women who were there instead of him one clearly looked like she knew and cared a whole lot more, so I asked her, and I later saw that it was a good thing I did so just then, because she also left once she finished what she had been doing at that point, just the other one being left from then on. Either way, she told me to call the number with those digits at the end instead of the last three of the one I called, proving that she was indeed the one who knew more, the other receptionist saying repeatedly that she didn’t think it worked like that. But it did work just like that, so I called, said the name of the doctor which had seen me a month ago when asked whether I had been seen before and by whom… And got told that the first available date for her was November 2, because she’s only there on Tuesdays and many ask for her. I said I had been there on a Monday, but the woman I was talking to said she didn’t know what to say about that and can’t stay on the phone, so I had to take it or leave it and for the moment I accepted that appointment.
I didn’t struggle to get myself to go there, willing to try to let them hospitalize me, just to come back and wait for nearly two more months, however, and I didn’t want to work with that cardiologist again in the first place, so after taking a few minutes to recover and be able to think again, I realized I should have asked whether another cardiologist was available sooner and tried to call back… But there was no answer, and I remembered that part about needing to not wait until after 2 PM to call, so after trying twice I gave up, found another place to sit, after a janitor asked me to move from the spot I had been sitting in, and just sat there in shock for a while, until I guess the guy who asked whether I was all right snapped me out of it to some extent… At which point I went back to the reception, finding both of those women still there and again approaching the one who seemed to know and care more, to ask about other options, since that date’s two months away and things are definitely not getting better. Also asked how come they wanted to hold me right away a month ago and now can’t even see me for two more months and got told the hospitals are filling, everybody’s coming back from vacation, nobody waits around for me to change my mind. But I tried to insist, though I’m not sure what came out and said that because of my social anxiety I hardly even knew what I was doing anymore, and she eventually said that I could either try to go up to cardiology right then, plead with them and see whether anyone will see me, go back home and maybe wait for some other obvious symptom to use as an excuse to be again seen as an emergency, or try to wait at the emergency room and see if they’ll see me again right then.
In hindsight, I probably should have chosen the first option, and even if I’d have been refused I’d have likely still been able to also try the last one, but it’d have meant more talking and trying to persuade people and I couldn’t even think of that anymore, so I chose to just wait. I was told to talk to a nurse when one will come out, however, and had no idea what that meant, which person to approach, when, how, so I just stood there for a while, but eventually, when the one who seemed to be handling the triage walked out more than a few steps, I asked what I should do, since the receptionists hadn’t registered me. I was told I didn’t need to be registered, I just had to wait my turn to be seen, but was also asked what the problem was, and when I tried to say I was there to continue the investigations recommended a month ago, I was told you don’t come to the emergency room for investigations, you schedule appointments for that, and when I said the appointment was on November 2 that woman said we’re in September and I should wait, and walked away.
I just broke down at that point, started crying, just went to the entrance area and sat down and cried my eyes out for some minutes. But after that I wandered back in and waited some more, and surprisingly, a bit before 4 PM someone did come out to ask who else was there for triage, asked for my information and accepted me, sending me to the receptionist to be registered, even if we had a hard time finding something for her to write down as my reason for coming to the emergency room. And soon after that I was called again, for the quick test, even though I didn’t think anything else was going to happen for quite a while and I had gone to the toilet, a guy who had apparently been waiting there since 10:30 AM coming to look for me and telling me I had been called when I came out of the bathroom.
Well, just that guy turned out to be the big problem, the guard saying soon after that two men had tested positive and they’ll have to close the emergency area for an hour or more to disinfect it. But either she was wrong about the second one or he was isolated immediately, because it was just that guy who was later identified as having tested positive, and that actually happened when he was called to be notified of the result, which started a big scandal, because the person who called him said he had a positive PCR result, not a quick one, though the doctors assured him they had just used a quick test, and since he kept saying he’ll pay for a PCR test and call the police on them if that will be negative they said that the PCR test overrules the quick one, so if that will be negative all restrictions will be removed, but until then he can’t leave and will need to be taken away by ambulance… Yet they allowed him to stand around, arguing and being on the phone, for an hour or more after that point. And he was fully vaccinated and was there with a woman, and I gather mostly for her to get checked up, and she tested negative and wasn’t vaccinated, and kept saying she was against the vaccine and had told him it’ll split them up… Which proved to quite literally be the case, since quite some time later, long after he was finally taken to isolation and she asked how long it’ll be until that ambulance will arrive, she was told that the ambulance will come when it comes, they have no control over that, but it’ll just transport him, so she’ll need to get back on her own. But, either way, what sense does it make for them to take an hour or more to disinfect the emergency area, where he had been for mere moments, and do nothing about the waiting area, where he had been for hours, and all the rest of us who had been there with him?
Either way, for a while I went outside, sitting on my backpack, and the woman I had initially approached for the triage poked her head out at one point and asked why was I sitting there when I thought it’d be obvious that I was trying to do what little I could to protect myself. But I eventually went back inside, even before that guy was taken to isolation, and definitely well before the woman he was with left, and I kept waiting, since I was obviously not an emergency and was left for last, only being called in around 7:45 PM… When pretty much only the emergency section remains open after 7 PM, though the ORL doctor is also there and it seemed that she only started seeing patients around 7 PM, probably also because that area had been closed off, and finished just after I was called in.
At least the emergency doctor was the same one as a month ago, and he seems all right, and finally seeing a familiar face, who wasn’t that cardiologist who neither understood nor believed me, was a relief, but he just asked a nurse to take some more blood and do another EKG, looked over the results from a month ago and said it was too late to have results or talk about where to go from there that evening, and also that it doesn’t work that way when I said I had come prepared, or at least willing to try, to stay there if they’d still say I’ll need to and go through whatever tests they wanted to put me through in order to figure out what’s wrong and what to do about it and know I won’t need to come again. He also asked whether I’m eating, saying that the previous test results don’t exactly show that I do, but at least seeming to take my word for it, just like that previous time, when he even spoke up to contradict the cardiologist who didn’t believe me… And just before leaving I did remind him of the cardiologist not believing me and said that I can’t work with a doctor who won’t believe what I say, and he seemed to agree that I had a point. But yes, he released me quickly, without any other recommendations or prescription, telling me to come back Sunday morning to look over the results and discuss options, and when I asked whether I should still be prepared to be hospitalized he said he didn’t know, anything’s possible, we can only discuss it after seeing the results.

I walked out just before 8:10 PM and quickly sent dad a message, asking him to call me, but soon after that told him to hold on and put the phone down, realizing that the cotton ball which should have been stuck to the inside of my left elbow, after blood had been drawn from there, was coming away under the shirt and jacket, eventually using one of the rubber bands I had taken with me to try to make it stay in place at least to some extent. But by then dad had hung up and immediately called back, and said he should leave me to it so I won’t get distracted again and we should talk when I get back, and even though I really needed to babble, I agreed that it was probably for the best, considering what happened on my way back from Floreasca, and finally got moving at 8:25 PM.
Didn’t come straight back though, deciding to go to the Carrefour from Unirii, since I hadn’t planned to be home for the next days and didn’t really have things left to eat at dinner, and I fortunately found some expiring things to get and also some nice discounts. The one issue was that the cashier was rushing to close, I guess her shift being shorter, since it was just getting to be 9:30 PM and that location closes at 11 PM, and she didn’t give me my receipt and I only realized that after stepping away and didn’t go back to try to get it, just retrieving my things from the cabinet and making my way back. Also checked a Mega Image on the way, however, just walking in with two backpacks and a bag, since there was no way to stuff all of that in their small cabinets, I just wanted to look at the discounted bakery products and the guard was right there, so I assumed he’d keep his eyes on me… Only to be stopped by him on my way out, being asked whether I had walked in with all of that and saying that I had, he must have seen me and the purchases were from Carrefour, hoping that glancing at the labels would be enough and he won’t ask for a receipt, which indeed proved to be the case. It was definitely enough to make me decide against also checking another Mega Image I walked past, however.
It was after taking off and throwing away my mask in a trash can, not wanting to bring it back here, that it really hit me that I was coming back when I shouldn’t have been back that day, and in a few days I’ll have to go through it all again. I was walking past the church on Basarabia at that moment, so I should have been six or seven minutes away, but it took me twice as long to get here, was rather stumbling, weaving around, most likely seeming drunk to anyone who was looking. When I walked in, just before 10:30 PM, I guess I was in shock, nothing seemed real, I could hardly move, sat down and cried a little more… And there’s the matter of having been around that guy for all that time and putting dad, and through him my mother and grandmother, at risk, and that he’ll be a contact if they test me again and I’ll be positive and won’t be able to go on that trip he has planned. But I eventually managed to have some sweet pastry, a banana and a few plums, then took a bath, then found myself really needing to go to the toilet while making dinner, which also included lunch, as it used to be until not so long ago, so I ended up starting to eat a bit after 3:20 AM. And it was a bit after 6:05 AM when I was finally in bed, after also staying up to watch something.

Yes, I’m again still awake at this hour, and I’ll need to wake up at 6 AM and go back there now, so if I’ll sleep at all it’ll be very little, and who knows what the day will bring, but I wanted to post this and make sure I have a second post this week, in case I’ll have to stay there this time around. It should have also included the part about the first time I went to Coltea, on August 9, and I realize that some of the things written here may not make that much sense without that part, but it’s not like this is written for anyone else, and either way I barely managed to write this much, so there was no way to also add that, even if I initially meant to.