Dear readers,
for the first time in my life I have decided to share something very private and personal that happened to me in 2020 and changed my life forever. The reason why I have taken the decision to share my experiences with you all is that this information may help people deal with similar experiences and also because I strongly believe that these issues need to be addressed and talked about more often in our society. I am going to tell my story in a series of posts, as it is quite a long one and it would be impossible to publish it all in one go. In this first instalment I`ll just give you a first general introduction and I will then publish an article every two or three days. Due to the very private nature of the subject, comments have been disabled.
It all started one day at the end of February 2020 in my office, the moment I believe to be the point of no return in this long story. I was getting things ready for a conference I would attend the week after and I was looking forward to my holiday trips, first to London then to Italy. Corona was not much of a problem: the only problem for me was that I risked to have to be quarantined for two weeks in Italy in case someone resulted positive at the hotel where I would be staying, and that was out of the question: I had to come back home and to my work.
On that day my boss was in a meeting in the lab opposite my office and before leaving she popped in to say hello. She just told me that she was going to cancel her participation to the conference but she did not have to mention the reason why: I could see she was worried about something and I knew that it was about the Corona epidemic. I thought about it for a moment and hesitated, while she she was talking to a colleague outside my office. After a few seconds, maybe a little over a minute, she slowly started down the stairs. Had she stayed there longer, I would have possibly called her back in to ask her if she could have cancelled for me, too. I just don`t know, but I might have very well done it. Once she had left, my decision was clear: I was going to the conference. I had already asked the conference staff about a possible cancellation, but they told me that I would not get any refund from them if I cancelled, as Frankfurt Oder was not a risk area for Corona, so I thought I might as well go. In the worst case, I would arrive there and then decide if to take part, as I would receive the usual refund after the conference from my employer. On Wednesday 4th March I left for Frankfurt an der Oder.
Had I decided to cancel and stayed at home, probably nothing would have happened. I surely would have cancelled my holidays in London and Italy, as I actually did a few days after I came back from the conference. However, little did I know at the time that attending that conference would have triggered a series of life-changing events and conditions that will influence and determine my daily life for the years to come. In the next part, you will learn about the onset of my condition and the very first developments.
