Tag Archives: Hamm Kliniken

"REHA"!

Finding my bearings. It’s a bit like bootcamp

Share Button

I and one other newbie were met at the station in Heide(Holst.) and chauffeured to the clinic. Check-in and first introductions. Everybody is very friendly and all is running smoothly.

First thing Friday, blood etc tests, and consultation with a doctor to establish a plan of action.

Had my first neck- and shoulder massage by a super nice masseuse. Later, she will also have a go at the area around my scars, which feels very tight.

Today introduction to the back exercise sessions, and used the fitness room and the swimming pool (swimming felt a little weird, but good), before the zoom course mentioned earlier.

And then I expect yet another good night’s sleep – it is completely quiet and pitch dark here :-).

By the way: Let’s get the Corona rules out of the way: Everyone wears masks everywhere and at ALL times except in one’s own room, while eating, and while in the pool. Even in the clinic’s café we have to put the masks back on between sips of coffee, even if we sit meters away from the next person. Luckily, so far, we have a lovely Indian summer and are able to use the terrace outside the café. Visitors are not allowed anywhere in the clinic. We self-test every morning and keep a record, signed, and they trust us be truthful (considering the vulnerability of some people here I doubt anybody would be stupid enough to not be). Every Friday, we hand in the recorded results and pick up new tests for the week.

Mealtimes have been split into two shifts and organised so that only two people sit at each four-person table at the same time, and diagonally across from each other, and at the other shift, the next two people sit at the other seats. Sounds complicated, but it works really smoothly. It does mean that everyone has one designated seat throughout, which kind of limits the number of people one gets a chance to talk to, but on the other hand, people leave and new people arrive three times a week anyway, which is not conducive to making permanent friends. There are group activities, and in addition “extracurricular” activities that we can sign up for if our busy (I’m not kidding) schedules permit, such as qi gong, pilates, yoga, and walks.

A couple of photos from my walks in the area and in the garden surrounding the clinic.

Here some from a quick morning walk around the garden on a misty Saturday morning:

And here it becomes really obvious that Lightroom is not the best software for post-processing of Fujifilm photos. Grainy, wormy …. It is conventional wisdom but my brain is still a bit too fuzzy to even think about learning the software (Capture One) that everybody recommends.

"REHA"!

On my way

Share Button

Armed with a negative PCR test from yesterday, I am excited to be on my way to Sankt Peter-Ording for my “Reha”. My “main” suitcase was sent on its merry way on Monday. I can relatively comfortably lift the smaller suitcase with the things I prefer to keep with me in my chronic mistrust of the German courrier services.

Three weeks have been booked, but I have heard and read so many good things about Hamm Klinik Nordfriesland that I am already hoping to stay for one more week. My sickness insurance approved maximum four weeks, so it is up to the medical team there to decide. I am not quite sure which criteria I will have to fulfill.

I am not very familiar with the concept of Rehabilitation. I remember that when my brother and I were children, in Denmark in the 1950s and -60s, there was talk of our mother going on “rekreation” after two (unrelated) major surgeries. I can’t remember if she actually went. Back then, I think the idea was that housewives needed rest directly after leaving hospital in order not to be expected back in the kitchen immediately. Our father was never like that , but he did work 24-hour shifts, so that could have been a reason our mother preferred to stay at home. In those days, in the suburbs, there were housewives all around who I am sure stepped in to help, and my brother and I were used to going in and out of our neighbour’s house in any case.

Here in Germany, these days, it does not seem to be about rest as much as about getting active (which is why I am going). I got through and over surgery very well and could have gone to the relevant therapists as an outpatient in Berlin, but whenever I mentioned that to people – medical as well as non-medical – everybody said – nonsense, you have had a traumatic experience and a very stressful time, and been through major surgery, so go, and enjoy it. When people put it that way, it makes sense, and it seems to be fairly standard after major surgery.

In the meantime, I have been trying to walk a lot, and as usual, Gabi Fastner has been coming to the rescue, just like she has done since the beginning of Corona, during the stressful couple of months this summer, and also as much as I have been able to do after surgery. At this stage, I am almost able to do almost all of her exercises.

For me, at the clinic, I am expecting the focus to be on regaining strength and mobility with pysiotherapy, gymnastics, swimming. Being close to the sea, I am of course also planning on doing a lot of walking.

Naturally, I am bringing my (to me still relatively new) camera and hope to become more familiar with it. Incidentally, before I knew I would be here at this particular time, I signed up for this on-line course, and am very much looking forward to it. James Prochnik is a great teacher. It starts the day after tomorrow, so I hope the Wi-Fi at the clinic does not fail.

When I discussed this with my gynecologist, I said I did not think that I need psychological help. She did not comment, but added it to the list. That is the only thing that makes me a bit nervous. I suspect psychologists have an uncanny ability to make one cry, and I would hope that I have “been there, done that”. We’ll see. The general advice is to go with the flow and do whatever they suggest, at least initially, and I have been looking forward to this like a child to Christmas.

The first time I was at the Waddensea (Wattenmeer) was also in Sankt Peter-Ording, and I fell in love with the region then. I have been back to other spots there, most notably several of the islands, a number of times, and more islands are on my list. I don’t think it ever occurred to me to go back to Sankt Peter-Ording, and I definitely had not imagined these circumstances, but I am very happy to be on my way there now.

The flat Fujifilm fumbler

And so life goes on …

Share Button

…….. trying to balance … welll, just about everything.

Like balancing the awareness that cancer can recur, and that a certain amount of vigilance and “listening to your body” is called for, with trying not to think “so is this cancer or corona?” every time a physical ache or pain manifests itself. And to not be too impatient with the discomforts from the scars (but they ARE exhausting).

And the fear of the hormone blockers which the hospital recommends that I take with the realisation that not everybody gets those dreaded side effects. Something I will discuss with my gynecologist in the coming week.

And the need to get out and walk, visit cafés and meet friends for meals, but not overdo those so that I have to lie low for a couple of days in order to recover from the resulting fatigue (I was stupid enough to do that once in the first week back from hospital and once in the second week). Now that I am entering the third week back from hospital, I hope I have learned the lesson.

And with the rising awareness of the role that nutrition and exercise plays, educating myself (mostly on the nutrition side since I can’t do that much in the exercise department yet) and preparing healthy meals while allowing myself the occasional slip-up and not becoming a complete fanatic.

And taking care of the mental aches and pains with the help of guided meditations (I find myself using almost exclusively this channel) and about to learn more about qi gong (mostly this channel), instead of entering the spiral of negative thinking which I have always been prone to do.

And to not fly into a fit of rage just because to many people, THINKING has become so last millennium. Like the business with the ironing board. Until now, I have always put it away between uses, but it is quite heavy, so I should – OBVIOUSLY or so I thought – not really be lifting it, and given the fact that in summer I use it much more frequently, I left it out, FOR A REASON. So I came home the other day to find that my cleaning help had not only flattened it (??) but even moved it to another room (??). Let us just say that I am glad I followed my self-imposed rule to always sleep on it before sending a message written in anger. But seriously: WHAT. THE. F%§$!?.

No progress with the “Reha”. It is again a matter of two bureaucracies clashing. I have written twice to the clinic I am hoping to go to, Hamm Klinik Nordfriesland, asking them for a cost estimate for my sickness insurance, but they are not responding at all.

And finally, hoping to get back in photography mode.

After I sold my old and very heavy Canon gear and bought a much lighter Fujifilm camera and a couple of lenses, between diagnosis and surgery, as a distraction, I tried to watch some tutorials about the use of that camera (Fuji is a very different system), but was discouraged to find that my brainfog was such that I could not get my head around anything they were talking about. As in – even with camera in hand – NOTHING. This was scary, since this is not my first time around trying to juggle aperture, shutter speed, ISO …..

Since then, I have not had the courage to even look at the camera, and I guess the constant discomfort from the scars also distracted me, and I have been wondering whether I would ever get back in photography mode.

This worried me slightly since – what on earth would I do then – in the age of pandemics, avoiding crowds and rooms full of people, and without a dog? It is easy enough to enjoy the summer without having a hobby, but a long, dark winter is looming …..

So yesterday, I finally plucked up the courage to watch Michael the Maven’s excellent tutorial again, and again with camera in hand, and bingo – it all made sense, or at least as much sense as it could for a technical klutz such as myself. The rest is practise, practise, practise.