“I can do what I want and plan my days better, that is freedom” – Interview with Linda about her story
I enter Linda’s apartment and am greeted by many beautiful decorative angels in the apartment. The angels feel appropriate in context, as Linda’s story is truly a story filled with guardian angels.
Linda was struck by uncontrolled sepsis, which left her in a life-threatening condition in just a few days. Before all this happened, Linda did not know what sepsis was or that it could progress so quickly. “It can take hours before it becomes serious,” she says. She spent seven months in hospitals, starting from the emergency care in Sollefteå, then at the Karolinska Hospital and the burn unit at Uppsala Hospital, and later in Sundsvall Hospital. Linda says she has had fibromyalgia for 15 years and initially interpreted her symptoms as a usual “flare-up” of fibromyalgia. However, her symptoms worsened, the fever reached life-threatening levels, the pain in her body became unbearable, and Linda began vomiting uncontrollably. After a week, Linda ended up in the emergency department. She remembers the journey there, not really knowing where she was, even though she had been there many times. In the emergency department in Sollefteå, it was discovered that she had sepsis. Sepsis is a serious infection that causes the body’s immune system to overreact and damage its own organs, which can be life-threatening. Linda’s heart, kidneys, liver, and brain were severely affected and began to fail. She spent a long time in the hospital, where at times it was uncertain whether she would survive. Linda says she is lyrical about the care, feeling treated like royalty the entire time. As a result of the illness, Linda had to have both her fingers and legs amputated.
I have met Linda twice before in different contexts and was impressed by how positive and happy she is. I ask her what she has done to maintain her spirits. “I am a warrior; hardships don’t bother me, they just irritate me,” says Linda. She also says that, of course, she has her dark moments as well. She deals with them by talking to her closest loved ones. “My father said the other day when I was sad, ‘But Linda, what if they had had to amputate from the wrists?’ Then I thought that it actually could have been worse.”
It was a major change—from being used to doing everything on my own to becoming dependent on help from others. “I like to fix things myself. It’s been that way since I was little—Linda can do it herself! I always want to keep developing,” says Linda. Already while in the hospital, Linda received help with applying for personal assistance. Personal Assistance became Linda’s choice among the support companies. Previously, Linda knew nothing about personal assistance. At first, when Linda returned home, she had home care. She believes the home care service worked well, but that personal assistance gave her a completely different kind of freedom. “I can do what I want and plan my days better—that is freedom,” says Linda. She also says it was important to have assistants so that her husband and parents could be just that, and not her caregivers. I ask Linda what makes a good assistant. She replies that, for her, a good personal assistant is someone who is responsible and positive. She also expects an open and honest relationship. It is important to her that the personal assistant is someone close to her, yet still takes their work seriously.
Before all of this happened, Linda worked as an instructor for guide dogs for people with visual impairments and blind individuals. In the future, Linda hopes to work with dogs in some way. Traces of Linda’s four-legged friends can be seen throughout her apartment, and it is clear that she is passionate about dogs. “Dogs are my life, and of course I’m sad that things aren’t the same as before I got sick,” she says. With Linda’s stubbornness and zest for life, I have no doubt that her wish to work with dogs again will come true—it’s not a question of if, but when.
Malin Lindberg