Hospital survival, part II

It has been a grueling period. I've been sleeping on an uncomfortable wooden chair in a nasty hospital since Thursday. I wasn't fully aware of the lack of professionalism in the public medical field in Greece or why my father needed a relative round the clock to take care of him. I thought all that I had heard was a bit of an exaggeration but today held some surprises.

My father's IV solution finished during the night and the nurse chastised me for not paying attention and telling him to come change it. Doesn't the staff know how long an IV takes to empty and to come check it themselves? What are they here for? I was told to keep an eye on it from now on. Also, I have to repeatedly ask:

• for pain medication as they forget or ignore my requests and my father is in utter agony,
• to empty my father's catheter when it's near bursting,
• for clean sheets because they don't bother to change them (today I changed them myself)
• and to fix the air conditioner because it is 42 C/108 F in Athens and it doesn't work!

The other surprise is that one person adamantly refused to take the fakelaki. She seemed genuinely concerned with my father's well being. Her colleagues also said no with their mouths while pocketing envelopes with their hands. She was applauded by the other people in the room because we've all been abused by this system. She is the only one in 4 days to behave honorably with out receiving any extra money. God bless her and have mercy on the rest of us.