I spent the last five months in the hospital

In January I woke up one day and couldn't move my right arm and leg properly. As I have high blood pressure, and my father had a stroke the exact day seven years ago, I worried that I might have a stroke and went to the emergency room of the local university hospital. My worries were confirmed and I was admitted to the stroke unit, spending the next six weeks in the hospital, including two stays in the intensive care unit because of complications (pneumonia and pulmonary embolism).

In March I was transferred to a rehab clinic where I spent the next three months training to walk and use my right arm again. I made good progress and was discharged home in early June, continuing with physiotherapy and ergotherapy from home. I feel much better now and for example took the train to Berlin last week to visit my mother.

I am very thankful for all the support I got from the doctors, nurses, and therapists at the hospital and rehab clinic, family and friends, and above all from my wife Petra. I am trained as a medical doctor specializing in internal medicine and cancer medicine, and that helped me better understand some of the things that happened to me. I hope to get back to work in September, but it will be much longer until my life is back to where it was before January. When I was feeling better after the first weeks in the hospital, I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do when I would get back home, and what priorities I want to set going forward.