A few steps did not work out today, as they do at times. It happens to everyone, all the time. It’s just that sometimes you care about it more than at other times. And some steps are more important than others.

Let’s start with the most annoying. This afternoon, I came back ‘home’ to do my slow 5km jog. I changed and was ready to go, to put on the runners and ‘stroll’ (breathless) through the early Hamburg April afternoon. Only I could not find my runners. Any other week and I would have been happy to have found an excuse not to ‘run’. But I am nervous as it is. Today, the official registration for this Sunday’s marathon arrived. I read somewhere that rest is even more important than the training. Is that true?

Moving on to the most disappointing. Turns out Pádraig’s ‘infection markers’ are slightly up. No clinical sign (yet), but enough to make everybody really cautious about what he should be doing. So it was decided not to continue with the use of the magic speech valve, at least not unsupervised and not today, as there is a chance that some of his saliva could have gone down into his lungs (rather than being swallowed ‘properly’ by Pádraig) – something which could, in the worst case, cause pneumonia. A reminder of this terrible idea of two steps forward, one step back. – And there we were yesterday, over the moon, thinking of all the ‘new’ sensations being re-discovered by Pádraig, smell, taste, air moving through his mouth, his nose, stimulating his brain, making him feel like getting better, being really relaxed with record oxygen levels. Now, we’ll have to wait and see what the coming few days will bring. Fingers crossed.

The best for last. Remember? The wheelchair? Far back? Yes?

Do you believe?

Well, you better do. Because the wheelchair, custom-made, tailored, fitted, and prepared especially and uniquely, by master German health engineers – well, it has arrived. YES! And you won’t be surprised to hear, that it won’t just be a job of sitting Big P into this chair… wayyyy too easy. Therefore, tomorrow he’ll have a fitting session. Like what you get if you buy a suit in Savile Row (not that I would know). Thursday is Labour Day, a public holiday around the world, except Ireland. With a bit of luck (do I still believe in having luck?) he’ll be out and about on Friday.

Pádraig continues to experiments with movements. He is moving his feet when asked. The music therapist today said he thought Pádraig was almost tapping his feet to the music today. He licks on a lollipop and swallows, several times in a row. Swallowing that is so important for him to manage so that he can get rid of the tracheostomy tube sooner rather than later.

Lastly – just heard the news that the two poor Anglo Irish Bankers had been led astray by the Financial Regulator and would, therefore, not go to jail. Most listen to the news again to see whether I missed an important detail…. Did the judge then jail the Regulator instead? — Corrupt bankers go free, sick people are emigrated, young adults in trouble are left on their own devices. When will someone tell the lads: enough is enough. Time to go.

Today’s German Music Tip
Tokio Hotel, Reden (2009?)

Wir wollten nur reden
Und jetzt liegst du hier
Und ich lieg daneben
Reden, Reden

What’s hot
Voice
What’s cold
No voice

The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Gesagt, getan.