We had the idea that Pádraig should have shoes. You know the kind of shoes he was wearing until the fell apart, Vans canvass shoes. We had brought his old pair to Hamburg, washed them and then discovered that they really couldn’t be safe. So we went to vans.com and ordered a brand new pair. Should be here in 4-5 days. We didn’t tell him. It’s going to be a surprise.

Speech-Eat-Lift. There were a few surprises for us today too. Wednesday is the day of our weekly meeting with Pádraig’s speech therapist. And guess what: she decided that since Pádraig had managed the 10-12 hours/day speech valve so well, he should try to have it on 24 hours. For about a week if it worked out. And then to see. It was a real highlight, something we would not have expected just some weeks ago, and a real great indication that some things are beginning to move. The speech therapist also decided that it was time for Pádraig to eat something; as on previous days, she arrived with this lovely strawberry ice-cream for him. Watching him eat it almost made me jealous: ice-cream on such a hot day, it must have been heaven. And then she announced that from today on, it was ok for us to give Pádraig something to eat ourselves. Semolina, yoghourts, jelly, anything really smooth and easy to swallow. Can you believe this? On the speech valve day and night, and eating whenever he feels like it? – And here comes the last bit of real good news: we have the ok from everybody, except the Chefarzt, to lift Pádraig out of his bed, into his wheelchair and back; hopefully, he will agree one of these days. Isn’t that great. It’s another bit of progress, I never thought would happen. – What a day this was!

There is a bit of pressure mounting to get Pádraig out into the fresh air. The roses in the famous rose garden are mostly gone by now; not even a strong German rose would be able to survive this intense heat. But he needs to breath fresh air. Smell the grass and the bushes. See the sky. Feel the wind on his skin. Hear the birds singing. Watch the famous Schön Klinik bunnies running away from the human visitors. What it apparently needs to make that happen, is that the right people are there at the right time of the day, when it’s not so hot outside, or a day with a ‘normal’ temperature.

With a bit of luck, his new pairs of vans will have arrived when that day arrives.