Birgit has done sports all her life and eats a healthy, fat-free diet. None of the main causes of strokes – smoking, obesity, high blood pressure – apply to them. And yet the doctors at the university clinic in Riga make exactly this diagnosis: Birgit has suffered a stroke. Neither the doctors in Riga nor those in the Magdeburg University Hospital can find out why.
A sudden turning point in the lives of the Drongs
The The Drongs’ lives change completely: Birgit, now 65, can suddenly barely speak, she can neither read, write nor do math. At least she’s moving around the house again, says Bernd. But in strange places she loses her bearings. Her husband Bernd has given up all honorary positions – except for the chairmanship of the bowling club – in order to be there for her. “It wasn’t a problem for me to decide: I’m there for my wife,” says Bernd.
That wasn’t a problem for me to decide: I’m there for my wife.
Bernd Drong stroke relative
Fight for therapies and rehabilitation measures
In addition This also includes cooking and cleaning; for Bernd these are new challenges. In addition, submitting applications to nursing and health insurance companies, fighting for approval for therapies, for rehabilitation measures, writing objections because too many things are rejected – that’s his everyday life now.
Birgit and he find new ways to communicate with each other. Now all it takes is a few glances, a point of the finger, and Bernd understands what Birgit wants or wants to say. Nevertheless: There is hardly anything left of the free, happy life before August 1, 2023. In everything, every move, every thought, Birgit’s stroke and her remaining disabilities play the main role.
Bernd Drong is coping with these new tasks, although he sometimes misses the exchange with outsiders about his and Birgit’s new everyday life. He hasn’t yet been able to decide whether to join a self-help group.
Stroke patient guides help those affected
Bernd Drong has decided to master his new life with Birgit himself for the time being. Then the postman rings: The health insurance company has rejected the application for a rehabilitation treatment. Bernd sits down at the kitchen table and writes: the next contradiction.
