Today was amazing
There was a bit of a delay, but today Pádraig had an opportunity to call you. Using his voice for the first time in a long time, it was not quite clear who he was calling, but it must have been in response to this shout of ‘Pádraig, Pádraig, Pádraig’ traveling on Sunday night from a very cold and dark beach in Bray all across the way to Hamburg.
We had made an appointment with his speech therapist for this morning. When she unblocked the tube, Pádraig struggled a bit with 
the new and probably irritating sensation in his throat. Once he got used to it a little, the therapist blocked the tube so that Pádraig had to breathe through his mouth and nose. Again, a whole new sensation after so many months. The amazing thing is that he was able to do this, struggling first, but then relaxing a bit and taking the air in through his mouth and nose, and breathing it out the same way. This is when we heard his voice, not articulating clearly, not ‘real’ speech, but it was as if he was trying to tell us something, as if he was trying to speak. Of course, we don’t know whether that was really the case, but that is how it sounded. It was amazing for us, and it must have been even more amazing for him. I think he was saying to all who went on this mad adventure over the weekend “you’re an amazing, crazy and mad bunch of people. I heard you on Sunday night!”
As if that was not enough, a really caring nurse asked the therapists today about how to use the exercise ‘bike’ – and then, she got him going on this gadget for about an hour. Some time this week, she’ll show us how it works.
And we got word that the super-dooper custom-made rocket don’t-stop-us-now-cause-we’re-having-a-good-time wheelchair will be beamed down to Eilbek from the universal special assembly station up in the solar orbit stelar system early next week. We can’t wait!
Remember the rose garden? Well, it won’t be long now!
The Dublin Women’s Mini Marathon will take place on 02 June, Bank Holiday Monday, and there will be a sizable contingent of Pádraig’s friends joining the marathon to raise funds. We’ll have more details on that soon. But in the meantime, please remember to sign up for the event, because the deadline for signing up is approaching soon: Friday, 18 April, is the last day! Sign up here. So far, 36 brave runners have signed up on the Facebook page – but in order to be allowed to run, you will also have to register on the race’s official website.
Was nützt den alles Weinen, unser Schreien, unser Klagen,
Wenn wir das, was wir zwar meinen, doch vor lauter Angst nicht sagen.
Jedes nicht gesagte Wort, jene Eiszeit der Gefühle,
Nimmt uns nur die Kraft für uns’re Träume, uns’re Ziele.
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Da fackeln wir nicht lange…
Twitter: @forPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Hospi-Tales 
Amazing!
He and the therapists ‘just’ have to keep going… and we ‘just’ need to be really patient! How small things (in the ‘normal’ course of life) have become so huge.
So exciting!!
(I know you get spring earlier than us, but does the rose garden really look like that now?! I’ve had 1 daff, a mini-iris, 5 crocuses, and little bits of perennial greens starting. It SNOWED early this morning. 😦 I’m so excited for the Rose Garden date! 🙂
Exciting it is, Diane. – In relation to the rose garden, well, it will look like this some time soon, but the picture is showing the rose garden as it looks now. Plenty of daffodils around and some other early flowers but roses are still on the way. (As is this dam wheelchair:) – Reinhard
Ag súil go mór le guth Phádraig a chloisint arís ag craoladh ar na meáin. Go n-éirí libh go léir. Beannachtaí na Cásca oraibh.
besos y abrazos, de todos nosotros