Rehabilitation Diary – My Time in Almuñécar

I’m now in the first of three weeks at the rehabilitation center. It’s been a great week – the staff here are incredibly kind and professional. On the very first day, I met with a physiotherapist, a doctor, and a speech therapist. The physiotherapist tested my physical abilities for about 45–60 minutes, followed by a medical consultation, and finally, the speech therapist evaluated my language and speech.

There are six of us patients and around 5–6 staff members. All of us except one have brain injuries – the exception being someone with a spinal injury.

I still have some difficulties with speech, which is why I work daily with a speech therapist. I’ve had up to five speech therapy sessions per day, and two physiotherapy sessions. By the evening, I’m completely exhausted.

Last weekend, Ole and I took the bus to Almuñécar. At one point we split up – Ingrid and I were curious about the town’s history, while Ole wanted to enjoy some birdwatching and relax at a café. We decided to walk along the coastline instead of waiting for a delayed bus – probably around 4 km – but there was a strong headwind the whole way.

On Sunday, we went east along the coast. The path eventually ended and we just sat on the sand, watching surfers in the distance.

February 14th – Valentine’s Day

Today, I ran on the beach with Mikael and Jörgen. I ran like crazy, then did some Indian steps and side steps. Afterwards, I had speech therapy, starting with a guessing game involving different characters and words.

There was also a lecture today about “brain food,” presented by Anna Sjöholm, Paolo, and Anna-Karin. I’m skeptical about the scientific backing for some of these dietary supplements – maybe there’s some evidence for CoQ10 – but overall, it seemed quite weak. Still, I might ask Anna for the publication list to take a closer look.

Before arriving, I bought two bracelets for Ingrid – one Spanish, the other green with a symbolic charm. I gave them to her for Valentine’s Day and planned to write her a letter to make her happy.

Later, Mikael trained me on the stairs and trampoline, then it was back to speech therapy. Both the speech therapist and physiotherapist are tough, but in a good way. Paolo even put me on the cross trainer so I had to work really hard!

This morning, I tried to do my laundry for Pura, and finally, clean clothes arrived the next day.

February 15th–17th

On the 15th, I unpacked and hung up my clean clothes – even Ingrid’s underwear. I read an article about a health center in Blekinge where management hires expensive temporary doctors, while employed doctors want higher pay for less work. The debate continues about whether overtime should be compensated.

Mikael, Jörgen, and I went for another light beach run, followed by Indian steps and hopping. Mikael encourages me to train outside on my own, and I agree – I feel ready.

In speech therapy, we’ve been doing ”word rush” – today’s theme was animals. On the 16th, we continued with reading exercises and explaining words to each other. I did a few rounds of Tabata, then Paolo handed over to Cecilia for a lecture on brain food. Again, mostly weak evidence – I still stand by Q10 for mitochondrial diseases like MELAS. For MIDD, the evidence is weaker, but it seems to work.

Then I had a challenging crossword with Cecilia and wrote this diary entry.

On the 17th, we worked with words again, followed by an easy crossword and more Tabata training. The speech therapist and I read an article about insects in Swedish cuisine – a steak made from insects. Later I met Mikael and Jörgen again. I trained by lifting tires, balancing on the lawn, and learning how to shift directions. Then, I practiced prepositions and talked about my three favorite conversation topics.

Ingrid worked through lunch while I ate. Paolo spoke about “Calima” – Sahara sandstorms reaching the coast.

February 20th–23rd

Over the weekend, I walked a lot – around 30,000 steps! But on Monday I was extremely tired and couldn’t write sentences properly during speech therapy. Later, I joined Mikael and Jörgen for hill running, which nearly made me collapse from exhaustion. I spent the afternoon resting on the balcony and met the speech therapist again – she was freezing cold.

On the 21st, we did more word explanation exercises and read a (possibly fake) article titled ”Biospray removes bacterial deposits.” Mikael then had me jump on the trampoline – backwards, sideways – and count out loud while writing with my hand. After more grammar work, Ingrid and I had lunch at a restaurant, and later I just needed to rest.

On the 22nd, we discussed an article about physical activity at work, which suggested that those in physically demanding jobs aren’t necessarily more fit. The research argued that fitness improves more from activity outside of work. Then more word games, trampoline training, and high-knee jumps – which I still don’t quite dare to do.

For lunch, I bought a baguette, cheese, salami, Coke, and three mini bottles of cava – saved one for Ingrid for the evening. I wonder how she’s doing in Granada?

On the 23rd, more intense trampoline jumping – jumping wide-legged, back and forth, and counting up to 100. Mikael really pushed me, but I managed.