E : I didn't see anything either. I couldn't close my eyes. I : Mhm. E : Because of that, I always had ointment in my eyes and then I couldn't see anything. I only ever saw everything through a - how should I put it? - through a film or a curtain. I : Mhm. E : I didn't know the people either, only by sight, but only by the voices. I knew, now the same nurse is here as yesterday. I really only recognised all the nurses by their voices. I : Mhm. Okay. Were there situations where you felt helpless? E : Yes. I : Could you tell me a bit more about how that made you feel? E : There's nothing you can do. You can't do anything anymore. You're dependent on breathing and that they set the machines correctly. The worst thing is that you can't talk. You can't communicate. For example: you have shortness of breath. She comes in and asks what's wrong. Then she goes through her routine. She asks if you're in pain. What else can you do but maybe shake your head a little until she knows what's wrong. It's so exhausting. I mean, they can't see it on me. But I felt like I was short of breath. According to the machine, everything was okay. But it was just like an inner panic and they can't take it away from you. They can't help you because they don't know what's wrong with you. It's so exhausting to try to tell them or somehow communicate what's wrong. And sometimes you were so tired that you couldn't even communicate it, so that at some point you thought, well, now it's just the way it is.