Brunner (Betroffener und Angehöriger, Partner)

At the age of 29, Mr. Brunner was diagnosed with a slow-growing brain tumor, which generally has a good prognosis following surgical removal. Looking back, he had already been suffering from epileptic seizures for several years, which had frequently manifested as brief “absences.” These absences were likely caused by the tumor. On the recommendation of his treatment team, he decided to undergo surgical removal of the tumor. Complications arose during the procedure: surgery-related vascular damage led to a severe stroke.

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Mr Brunner was unable to move when he arrived at the rehabilitation center

Mr Brunner spent three months in rehabilitation. At the start, he was completely unable to move and had lost sensation in certain parts of his body. During his stay, he focused primarily on regaining his motor skills. Step by step, he regained his mobility and sensation. It was particularly important to him that the rehabilitation centre was close to his home.

TRANSCRIPT

And then I – they sent me to (Place_2) or to (Canton_1); they also have a place there – a neuro-rehab centre – and they referred me there. I actually said I’d like to go to (Place_3); I’d been to (Place_3) and wanted to go back home for a bit. I wanted to be around people who knew me, yes. And so I went to (Reha_1) – what was then (Reha_1), though it’s called something else now. I ended up spending three months in rehab. And yes, when I arrived there, I couldn’t do anything at all. I could stand, but I couldn’t walk; I couldn’t do anything with my arms – I couldn’t move them, couldn’t touch anything, so nothing worked. It got better and better afterwards – movement came back in my leg first of all. My foot was very, um, well, it was a drop foot, yes. I could stand, I could walk. And afterwards, just when you were thinking, ‘Yes, this is – this is going to be difficult’, it – my right arm hadn’t improved, but then suddenly – I could move it and I suddenly had the sensation back as well. So really after about four or five weeks, which seems relatively late to me. I: The sensation? E1: The sensation and the movement in my fingers came back slowly. Relatively late; you couldn’t really expect that. Yes, and that’s the – I benefited a great deal during those three months at (Reha_1). (26-30) --- For me, what I benefited from most and what was most important to me personally was the physiotherapy. Because I always said that the most important thing for me is that I want to be able to move. For me, that came before memory, yes. And that’s why it was the most important thing. Speech therapy – that was – that was also something I had, which I enjoyed doing. Occupational therapy – there I realised again that my motor skills were fine and said: ‘Yes, I can figure that out for myself; that’s – I don’t need occupational therapy for that.’ Yes. Yes, I definitely found it – I thought it was good that I had that. And what I also had was neuro- um, psychology, yes. I was also very happy with the support there – I had the timetables in rehab.

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