Blogs about Medical, Health & Recovery

After months of illness, searching, and not knowing what was wrong, Floortje Dessing decided something had to change. Her body felt depleted, her energy gone. Recovery, she realised, would take more than rest alone. She chose distance, structure and medical support, and travelled to Park Igls — a place built around the body and the process of recovery. In her own words, she describes how far she had to go before she could begin, slowly, to find her way back.Floortje: “It must have been almost six months ago when I first started feeling unwell. I felt increasingly drained. Unexplained pain throughout my body, constant exhaustion, no energy at all. The excitement I normally feel when setting off on a long journey had disappeared. Not long after that, working became impossible too. My body and mind simply stopped cooperating.In the months that followed, I searched endlessly for answers. What was wrong with me? I started with my GP, who referred me to various specialists. Nothing came of it. After that, I turned to alternative medicine. I visited doctors and therapists who hoped to say something about my constitution — anything that might explain why I felt so awful.One day I would be lying on a massage table while someone moved their hands across my legs and abdomen, trying to restore my energy. The next day, my body was being analysed by a machine that claimed, via crystals, to detect what was wrong. I went to physiotherapists, massage therapists, breathing specialists. Every morning I did yoga, faithfully — until even that became too much. I simply didn’t have the energy anymore. Nothing helped. I only felt worse.Three months later, a diagnosis finally came: severe adhesions in my intestines. After major surgery and two weeks in hospital, I began to feel better, slowly. What a relief. At the same time, I realised how much damage those months had done — quite apart from the operation itself. I felt like a deflated balloon. No energy, significant muscle loss, underweight, stiff. In the weeks that followed, I spent a lot of time in bed recovering. I did start going outside more often, just to walk. That was about all I could manage. But being at home, with only physiotherapy in between, wasn’t enough.I knew I needed to go somewhere where I could work on my recovery properly. Away from home. Without distractions. A retreat. Not too far from the Netherlands. With solid medical guidance. In nature — ideally in the mountains.”