After spending a whole day being shuttled between different clinics and Pirogov hospital, I then ended up going to Takuda for a second opinion. Takuda, I'll have you know, is very civilized.

I got there at about 10am maybe a little later and was home by 11:30am.

The first thing I did was check in at the reception desk. There they made me an electronic card for the hospital. This way all of my records will be digital. That's pretty fancy for Bulgaria. All of the other clinics and hospitals I've been in Bulgaria to are doing everything on paper still.

From there I went to urology. The girl at the desk for the urology department didn't speak very good English. We had a little go around about what kind of a doctor I wanted to see. I said: urologist. Then I said it slowly. Then I said it slower. The funny thing was that I knew I was in the right place because it was the first specialty on the sign above the desk hanging above the girl's head. Once we stored this part out, I paid and was waiting for my invoice when the nurse called my name. I never even had a chance to sit down in the waiting room.<!--more-->

I went straight in and had a long talk in English with the urologist. I explained everything that had happened to me over the last three months and more specifically over the last few days. He listened. He asked questions. He read lab reports and looked over my prescriptions.

He ended up confirming the basic diagnosis of the first doctors but he was hesitant to prescribe any medicine until he'd run a sterile urine test. Fair enough. He asked me to complete this test. He instructed me to come back in a week when he'd then run a few more tests and finalize my treatment.

I have to say it was everything I'd hoped for and then some. The hospital was clean, well organized and the most efficient hospital I've been in Bulgaria. My trip confirmed my suspicion that I probably should have gone their first and altogether bypassed Pirogov but these things happen sometimes.

At this point, I am not really getting any better but I am not getting any worse which is, in it's own way, comforting. I just wish that I wasn't still sick-ish but I am. Before all of this started I could easily stay up to 11pm and wake up at 6am with energy, ready to get my day started. These last few weeks, I've been going to bed about 8:30 pm (or earlier) and struggling to wrench myself out of bed at 6:30am.

Anyhow, I am going back to Takuda today for my second appointment. Fingers crossed that I find some kind of a resolution to my current health woes and then maybe just maybe I'll be able to start drinking coffee again. I miss coffee. A lot.