German conductor Justus Frantz has reportedly contracted blood poisoning in Russia and has been hospitalized ever since.
The 79-year-old spent two weeks in the intensive care unit of a hospital in St Petersburg, where he has since been discharged but still needs two more weeks of treatment.
"It started with the fact that I found it difficult to walk and every step became a problem for me. I also felt tired all the time. I wanted to teach my son, but I could only do that lying down because I was so weak," Frantz told the Bild mass-circulation newspaper.
The conductor had visited his son Justus Konstantin, 19, who is studying in Russia and lives with his mother.
When he went to the hospital to be examined, he was told that his condition was "life-threatening."
He was taken to the intensive care unit in another hospital with blue lights flashing. There he had to be "virtually resuscitated," Frantz said.
"I was as good as dead as far as the doctors were concerned," Frantz reported. "I hovered between life and death for a fortnight. For me, it felt like the phase between being awake and dreaming. I was monitored around the clock."
He is now feeling better, he said, but still has to stay in hospital for at least another two weeks. Neither he nor his doctors can say how he caught the blood poisoning.