Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, is what Einstein once said. He obviously was not talking about practice.

Today was practice day. The speech therapist gave me another hands-on session in how to switch Pádraig to the speech valve in the morning. I must be close to graduation on this one, but not quite yet there. Neither Pádraig nor myself are anywhere near as nervous as we used to be some weeks ago. The suctioning went fine as did the switch over. When the therapist asked him to say ‘Ahhh’, he reacted quite well. When she asked him to put his lips out and to say ‘oooohhh’ there was a bit less of a reaction, until she asked him to pretend he was giving a kiss (like he does to Pat, I added), which is when a big smile appeared on his face (still no ‘ooohhh’, though:). After just a short lunch break, we had another double session with the physio and the OT who showed me how to life Pádraig out of the bed and into the wheelchair using a special lift. Another hour on the speech valve. Back into bed. Off on the MOTOMed-viva2 for about three quarters of an hour.

A long very active day after which I feel exhausted, I can only imagine how intense the day must have been for Pádraig. And he was doing so well. He started off in the morning with just a little additional oxygen, by the time he was finished on the ‘bike’ in the evening, there was no more need for it. This just shows you how much he gains from sitting out, using the speech valve, and ‘cycling’.

Today’s (German) Music Tip
Die Bandbreite, Was ist los in diesem Land (2010). A new kind of a protest song from a group I hadn’t heard of before. Even if you mightn’t agree with all the sing about, even if it is quite a bit controversial, it makes you think. And that is always good.
What’s hot
Exercise
What’s cold
Complacency
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Übung macht den Meister