"Fuck fear": Corona patient was in a coma for days with delusions - clear words to demonstrators

Jost Schlegtendal has survived the corona infection. 28 tough days in the hospital are behind him. Now the lawyer tells about it. 

• The lawyer Jost Schlegtendal fell ill with Covid-19 at the beginning of March .
• The course of his coronavirus infection was so bad that he had to be ventilated .
• Now he is healthy again and wants to enlighten his fellow human beings.
• Here you will find the basic facts about the corona virus and the corona news from Germany. We also offer you the current number of cases in Germany on a map. The following recommendations for corona protective measures are currently available.
  
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Murnau - At first he believed in an infection , in a worse cold. After 28 days in the Murnau accident clinic, twelve of them in a coma, Jost Schlegtendal (66) knows that the coronavirus struck him. The Murnau lawyer, who is committed to the SPD, was the first patient in the UKM intensive care unit to hang on the ventilator . As the first severely affected person in the district, he now speaks publicly. About his agony. About delusions. About his life - and about his goal: to enlighten and remind the region.

In the intensive care unit at the UKM: nurses fed him and brushed his teeth

The most important question: What is your life like after Corona ?

Schlegtendal: I've been out of the hospital for three weeks now, working half a day, sometimes in the afternoon. After two months I drove a car again. I get physiotherapy. I was very lucky. Only the muscles have gone.

Will consequential damage remain?

When it was time to say goodbye, we said: We will release you healthy. I was sitting in a lung apparatus. After that, I was told: everything is fine. Apart from sore muscles, I don't feel anything. I can go for walks. I was lucky to have such experts. I was a danger to them. I was the first, I was infectious . Nevertheless, they came to my bed, held my hand, fed me, brushed my teeth. That was great.

At the beginning of the coronavirus infection, the patient thinks: only one infection

You were the first intensive care patient in the UKM. Did you have any symptoms at first ?

Not at all. I was at a campaign event on March 7th and I got really cold. I thought I got an infection . That dragged on for two weeks. I was getting more and more weak. I had no sore throat , no fever , no cough , no loss of taste . I didn't have Corona, I thought.

Who sent you to the hospital?

My ex-wife called me and made me a snail. Go to the doctor, she said. Two days later I was at my family doctor. She examined me and - thank goodness - took an X-ray. Even as a layperson, I have seen that something is wrong with the lung.

Corona patient in the intensive care unit in the UKM: The memory stops when the test result is positive

Then you went straight to the accident clinic?

Yes, they did a CT there. The report says: The CT indicates a Sars CoV2 infection  . You took a smear , two days later the message came: positive . From there I don't know much anymore. From my WhatsApp history, I know that I wrote to my son Jan. He and my daughter had to go straight to quarantine .

He wanted to speak, but it didn't work

So you don't remember the moment of the bad news?

Exactly. I know I wasn't feeling well. I had a headache and didn't want to have any contact with my children. I was in a bad mood.

Were you afraid

With the exception of the delusion, I was never afraid. Even when I woke up and couldn't speak. You can panic there. I always listened to the doctors.

Days in intensive care: delusions in a coma

Delusion?

Yes after I woke up from a coma. I only know what happened before from stories. Two days after I was brought in, at 3:00 in the night, the oxygen was so low that the sister didn't know what to do. She has informed doctors. At three the staff took me to the intensive care unit . Then I completely miss twelve days. Good Friday I was awake again. During that time I had delusions. The story was: I went from Italy to South America on an infirmary, on a ship. Everywhere my children try to get me off the ship. The doctors don't let me down because I'm so sick. The ship continues. Left and right of me were cross-sectional patients. I heard voices. Of course, none of this has happened. I had other things in mind. But I better not say that. Not nice things.

Infected in a restaurant

Your first memory after waking up?

That I was artificially ventilated . With the result that I could not speak. You want to say something, but nothing comes out. You lie there like a toddler. These are my first memories. My first glass of water was like champagne - the biggest ever. As soon as I had the mug in my hand, I didn't give it away. I was so thirsty.

When did you remove the ventilator ?

On Saturday. A nurse came in, said something to me. I didn't answer at first. Then she said: Lord, Schlegtendal, you can talk. It worked again. Half an hour later I asked her where the ship was. There she says: why ship? You are in Murnau. That was the best news ever.

UKM Corona patient knows where he got infected

How long have you been in the UKM?

28 days.

Do you know where you got infected?

During a phone call, I found out that six people in a pub that I was in mid-March got sick. Four cured it with a high fever at home, another was in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on the Intensive , worse than mine. But he also survived. Only then was it clear to me that I got Corona there. I always assumed an infection .

Healthy lifestyle, no previous illnesses

Do you have previous illnesses ?

I am 66, but I have no previous illnesses . They checked the heart, the liver, the kidney, the lungs - nothing. I don’t take a single pill, I don’t smoke, and I’ve done sports all my life. I played tennis for 50 years, play golf, go to the gym. I thought: Even if I get caught, it can't be that bad. My concern is to state: it can affect any of you.

How critical was your situation?

In retrospect, I was told that the first two days were critical. After that no more. And: I shouldn't have come three days later. I live alone. Imagine that I was found days later. Then it could have been that it was. But I was in the hospital in time. I owe that to my ex-wife, my family doctor and the clinic.

UKM patient now says: "I am a face for Corona"

Now thousands are demonstrating in big cities against the restrictions. Hundreds even in Murnau. What do you think of the protest?

I was annoyed by these demonstrations . In Stuttgart I heard a protester say: I want the virus , I want to make antibodies . Then I thought: I was on the intensive care unit . Do you think my kids say, great, dad can make antibodies . They were so scared not to see their father anymore. Then I have to listen to something like that. I can't say anything about the Murnauer. Corona is impersonal for most. Many of the dead are older people in the home, you don't know them. But I have been living in Murnau for 30 years, I work here, I have three children, you can do something with me. I am a face for Corona to say to people: keep your distance, wear the protective masks.

"It's not over yet"

Do you understand the demonstrators ?

You have to make a tradeoff: life has absolute priority. But I understand those affected by the restrictions. We in the law firm also have fewer visitors. There are innkeepers who I support indirectly and get food. It has to be opened, I can see that too. But keep your distance , it's not over yet. That is my creed. I didn't think that far myself in mid-March.

At the weekend thousands want to take to the streets again ...

It annoys me. I would love to go up there and tell my story. Saving lives has absolute priority. But what's so bad about keeping your distance and wearing a mask ?

How do you handle the past weeks?

I talk a lot. I have to tell everyone my story.