Romanian obese journalist writes about his experience as a fat patient (part II) Part II of the translation, part I is here, I apologize for the slow pace of the posts. The man I used to be! ... Friends started to avoid me or I began to avoid them. The one thing they say is "Oh, you really gained weight!". It's like there's nothing else remarkable in my life. Or worse, they looked past me, pretend not to notice all the weight I gained lately. Our embarrassments shake and link together like in a (name of a popular kid's game where kids would hold hands and another one would try to run through and break the hold). I am increasingly more isolated. Like an island. The size helps. Women avoid me like I'm leper. All of them. They make fun of me. They taint me (not accurate) with their false compassion. Or whip me outright: "Come on, rolled outta here!" You have no idea how much that hurts. It's pure humiliation, maximum concentration. Some of them may secretly envy me because I have breasts bigger than theirs. But most of them simply do not like obese people. I do not like fat people in general, either. Especially fat women. The truth is that now I run away from them as well. Obesity is the number one enemy of potency. The desire, the calling, the sexual satisfaction, they all take of driven by fat. They're replaced by all kinds of self esteem problems, indifference, self hate and the darkest depression. And the diseases, which leave nothing untouched from neurons to skin on the soles. They come and they never leave . Even my ex-wife was disgusted. I caught her cheating on me and my marriage went to hell. After the divorce I said this is it, I must drop the belly. And I dropped it. Now it almost reached the knees. I can barely carry it anymore. I achieved this all by myself. And it only took me 3 years. Septic marketplace Being at "Parhon", the obese ward was surprisingly good. It is a national institute after all. If I would've been in a filthy hospital, I'd have a better story, I'd have things to criticize. But I don't regret it. The "Parhon" was warm, clean, non-stop hot water and good food. All you had to do was get a plate. If you brought one from home, good. I did not know that. I thought that you only need to bring your own pills (a poke at the fact that even when you're in a hospital under medical care and your insurance covers it, you're still sent to buy your own pills/basic medical supplies). Lucky me, there was a woman in the cafeteria selling plastic bowls. I bought two. Got a discount. Whatever you need in the hospital, there is someone to sell it to you. One day a woman was selling sphygmomanometers. The next someone came with blood glucose measuring devices. Another one someone with socks. Yet another one with panties as big as Santa's sack. Then a man threw a bunch of books on my bed. Only cheesy novels. I said thanks, but no, I have high blood sugar. Someone else was selling crosswords and pens. What can I say, it was good commercial commotion. It breaks the monotony of a white and aseptic hospital. It made it feel alive. The prices were good too. As the Red Dragon (big asian market). I got away without bribing I do not know anyone who was hospitalized and did not give money to doctors and the nurses. They need to make a living as well! And they can't do so with 1000 RON a month (medical staff, doctors included are underpaid in Romania). I was too embarrassed to try to sneak money in nurses pocket. They'd think I was trying to feel/grope them. No fattie would do that. They are acutely aware of their condition and shy, but who knows what an underpaid nurse might think. I kept a 10 RON banknote on the nightstand the whole week. Face up and face down. Nobody reached to take it. Nobody asked for money. And nobody knew I was a journalist out to get a story. Dr. Constantin Dumitrache says that's how it is in his ward: nobody will ask for money to treat you or to change your underwear. Unbelievable, but true. If you want to give someone a gift, he won't guarantee that his employees won't take it. But it's uncoditional. They'd be fired instantly, like a fattie caught with food from home hidden under the mattress. The professor is firm with both staff and patients. In his waiting room everyone only whispers, as if attending a wake. And so they should. I liked it there. I'd really like to go back sometime. You got people fat with the TV There were no TVs in the rooms. TVs make you fat. You watch soap operas and stuff yourself with junk instead taking a walk through the park if you're bored. Well, we do not have many parks in Bucharest, but that's a whole different story. The Mayor's a doctor, he won't end his term without checking the city's lungs. I feel like screaming: you got people fat with the TVs! And with the computers. Nobody knows better than me how many years I have been glued to the computer even when I had nothing to write. The first thing I did in the morning was to turn on the computer. It's like a drug. Keeps you glued to the chair day and night. When you're sitting, invisible flasks distil meat into fat. If you want to get fat, you should not make any effort. Professor Dumitrache told me that overeating and sedentary lifestyle have become a way of life worldwide. As a result of globalization, food uniformly. Everyone eats food concentrates and processed. This is called globesity: obesity as a chronic global epidemic. There is absolutely no chance of it being eradicated. Frankly, it scared me. He said even the human species itself, as it stands, is in danger. Everyone needs to understand how bad the good they stuff themselves with is, the wrong food in the wrong amounts.  We, Romanians, got bad habits because of the Turks. Damn Turks! Stefan the Great (romanian ruler in the 15th century that fought the Turks) did well to slay them. They used to take our cattle and sheep, leave us with the pigs. In the subseqeunt hundreds of years, we got used with fat foods.