When I first told my in-laws to be, ‘some’ time ago, that in Germany we had a time table at every bus stop and that it is for that bus stop only, nobody would believe me. Germans. Sure, how would a poor bus driver manage to get a bus to a bust stop at a set time each and every day, when the traffic is different from day to day? 25+ years later, here is the proof. And in the meantime, the time tables have got even better: they don’t just show the time for that particular bus stop anymore, they also show what the fee is going to be from that bus stop to any of the remaining bus stops down the route. Incredible.

Wednesday morning is our time to meet Pádraig’s Speech Therapist. This is the person who is working with Pádraig – not yet on his speech but on his swallowing, his breathing through mouth and nose, his use of the speech valve, and eventually on the removal of the tracheostomy, the tube in the anterior aspect of his neck through which he has been breathing for the past months.

To all of our delight, Pádraig was doing really well today. There were much less secretions, he tolerated the transition to breathing out through his mouth really well, the speech therapist even closed the valve altogether for a short time and he managed to breathe not just out, but also in through his mouth. The best thing of all was that he swallowed at regular intervals and quite effectively – meaning that there was little or no saliva moving down his trachea into his lung which could lead to infections. We were so happy to see how well managed, and to hear that confirmed by the specialist therapist. Brilliant!

Another really nice thing today was that staff had decided to dress Pádraig using one of the T-shirts his friends had brought over to Hamburg over the past weeks and months. It doesn’t sound like much, but it brought a sense of ‘normality’ into his room and to himself, into a situation that is anything but ‘normal’.

One disappointment today was that “Vorsprung durch Technik” might work for cars, but isn’t yet for wheelchairs – well, not yet anyway. Having measured Pádraig and having built the high tech tailored wheelchair for months, it turns out that it is too narrow, that the back is too short, and the headrest is to far out. Looking at this from another perspective (and someone actually said this to us): Pádraig is unlike any other patient they ever had. – No surprises here! And in many more ways than his proportions and size, I might add.

On the other hand, this is really small stuff that will be easily fixed. It’s great that he is going to get a brilliant, fitted wheelchair, and it is important that the technicians get it right. To balance it out, the physios are trying to locate an ‘interim’ chair, which is really nice of them.

Can’t believe that it was 20 years today that Riverdance was first performed as an interval act.

Today’s German Music Tip
Rossau – Fahrplanauskunft Deutsche Bahn. Great recording of someone trying to talk to a nice lady from the Deutsche Bahn asking her for information on train services to Rossau. A classic. Not a song. But a classic.

What’s hot
Wheelchairs
What’s cold
Wheelchair fitting

The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Boa eh!