Well, they did it – and I just got the first picture of the two master champions, immediately after they swam, for the first time in their lives, ever, a full mile in a competition.
Irene, Lynn and Melaine Nocher. They both finished in under 52 minutes. (Melanie did not swim in this competition!
Don’t they look so happy?
Thank you for your enthusiasm, perseverance, and support for Pádraig.
Before you ask – Melanie is an Irish swimmer who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women’s 100 metro backstroke.
In this picture, she is the one not wearing a swim suit!
Coming back to Hamburg was as strange as arriving in Dublin the other day. Aer Lingus changed their schedule to Hamburg from 01 April. They are leaving now at 06:50am which meant I had to get up really early, following a really late night, trying to get everything together and ready before leaving again after just a few days. I was (and am☺) still half asleep when I made my way to the airport and on to a packed plane.
When I got into the hospital and into his room, Pádraig had a new gadget. It’s called ‘Bewegungstherapie für Arme und Beine’ and is a massive kind of cycle 
without wheels. He’ll be using it regularly now we were told – which is great as it will keep his legs mobile as well as his joints moving. He’ll also be getting more speech therapy since the secretions in his lungs are down, and he is swallowing much better than before – which makes it safer for the therapists to fit a speech valve to his tracheostomy. I might have mentioned before that from next week we’ll have a regular meeting with the physio and OT; we’ll also have a meeting with the speech therapist. As the therapies are happening in the morning to a large extend, when we are not here, it is important to stay in touch with the therapists, just to understand a bit better what they are doing with Pádraig and how well he cooperates. It’ll also make it easier for us to support the work of the therapists when they are not with Pádraig in the afternoon during our visits.
His favourite doctor is also back again. Pádraig was so delighted to see her that he moved his arm and toes, and not just for her but 
also for his nurse who had not seen any of this before. All of this is really good because the more people see Pádraig moving the better: because he is showing to everyone that he is making progress. Again, nothing dramatic, but slow and steady progress. We heard that the stockings for his legs (and the thrombosis) will finally arrive on Monday.
AND, today his doctor took him off the oxygen altogether from just after noon. Brilliant. Amazingly, he was doing really well. It’s really important that he manages without the oxygen, even for some hours, in order to make it to the rose garden one day!
Snámh Phádraig is just around the corner and I am sure those who are going to do it are getting both, really nervous and really excited.
Tired. Will take an ‘early’ night today and hope to get back into form tomorrow.
Today’s German Music Tip
Tem Bendzko, Am seidenen Faden (2013). Deutscher Musikpreis, Echo, 2014.
“Jeder Atemzug hängt am seidenen Faden.”
What’s hot
Speaking Valve
What’s cold
Winter
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Heiter bis wolkig.
Twitter: @forPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Hospi-Tales 
That all sounds very positive, Reinhard. It must have been lovely to put your feet on irish soil and meet up with the girls. Although the letter was a disappointment to you, keep focussed on the positive, and just imagine what that visitor to Pádraig in Hamburg will learn and bring back to the powers that be, regarding the fantastic care and treatment available to Pádraig. In the few days you were away, Pádraig has obviously made great strides in the right direction. He is working hard to show you how much he appreciates everything you are doing for him. Try talk to him about the governmental response. I do believe that something good will come out of the visit. Keep up the great attitude! Allow the swimmers in the coming days to share their energy with you. You don’t need to fight all the time. I’m not a swimmer but I do include you in my prayers, and remind the pupils of Coláiste Eoin to do the same. Breathe in all our strength and positivity. Love to Pádraig from all here.
What a nice an encouraging few lines, Aileen! You are right, it’s so much better to focus on the positive! There is so much energy, so much positivity, so much ‘can do’ – that it creates a huge powerful wave that is carrying us all with it. On Pádraig is right on top of it! I am a want-to-be swimmer, I have tried, and I know how hard and how much fun it is what the swimmers are doing for Pádraig. Thank you so much for including Pádraig and us in your prayers and for encouraging the pupils of Coláiste Eoin to do so too! – Reinhard
Hello, Reinhard. I note your name has entered my autocorrect. An honour! I endorse everything Aileen (and her great cakes) said. If you were still around, which I think you’re not, you would be very welcome here for coffee. With best wishes, Louise.
Hello Louise – I would have loved that coffee, but left at dawn (as one does) on Friday. I am still trying to understand why most planes have to leave Ireland in the middle of the night… – Reinhard
Have all of you there in prayer every day for a full recovery of your son! He’s on his way don’t doubt for a moment that he will come all the way.
In thirty years as a Registered Nurse I have seen remarkable miraculous things with a young man who was in a coma for two years wake up and within a year regained his speech and 95% cognitive functioning.
I promise you I will pray every day until your son is completely healed and back to you safe and sound. God bless you!
Little Brother Michael