‘Gonzalo’ sounds mediterranean, or at least Spanish-speaking and from the Caribbean, maybe. Warm, anyway. Well, this Gonzalo was a storm which hit Europe and caused the first snow fall in the south of Germany.

Who would ever have thought last year that Pádraig would still be in hospital today? When snow starts falling? Who would ever have thought that there would be another cycle, that we would start doing again what we did last year? Looking for carers and therapists (outside of the hospital setting this time), and looking for a place to live (this time with Pádraig). If all works according to plan, there might even be another few trips to IKEA on the cards. In the “it-couldn’t-be-a-smaller-car-than-this” Picanto.

Pádraig’s doctor and then his senior doctor both talked to me about Pádraig’s slight setback of yesterday today, which coincided with yet another doctor going ahead with a scheduled procedure (changing the catheter) while the one of the former was planning to try out a less invasive method again as we had agreed. My father would have said “wenn man nicht alles selbst macht…” – you really have to do it all yourself if you want to be sure that things are done as they should. Why, why can we not did it all ourselves?

The truth is – we can’t.

So Pádraig is on an antibiotic, the first time in three and a half months. He is on a higher dose of an anti-seizure drug again (as one of the side effects of the antibiotic is an increased risk of seizure). He got a fever (which has thankfully come back down today). His heart rate went up considerably (also down again). And his oxygen levels went down to a point were he needed additional oxygen for the first time in a long time, if only for short periods.

Wenn man nicht alles selbst macht.

If you’re living near Rhode, Co. Offaly, and want your kids to have a great fun-filled Halloween afternoon, please support the Kiddies Disco organised in support of Pádraig for tomorrow afternoon by Andrea Stone and her family and friends.

They are doing an unbelievable job for someone who shared a hospital stay with their son and nephew last year. We are so happy that Arthur has fully recovered in the meantime and is back in college in his final year, and also out and about again with his fabulous band Ruaile Buaile. Listen to them playing This is the Life.

And you’re singing the songs
Thinking this is the life
And you wake up in the morning and your head feels twice the size
Where you gonna go? Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna sleep tonight?

You’re singing the songs thinking this is the life. This is the life… Thinking… Singing the song…

This coming weekend is the weekend of the Oireachtas, probably the biggest and most important date in the Irish language calendar. This year, there will be a table where Pádraig’s friends will pre-launch (and sell) the Dreamboat CD with music, songs, and poetry they recorded over long days, nights, weeks, and months for him. I haven’t heard it yet, but I’m sure it will become Christmas No. 1. It’ll take over the charts in a storm as Gonzalo took over the South of Germany. I know that because we will make it happen! We will.

Today’s German Music Tip
Heintje, Ich bau Dir ein Schloss (1969) – How could I have forgotten about Heintje? He was my mother’s superstar and I (like many other boys of my age) were just going to turn out as ‘lieb’ as he did. Watch the ‘Kleinbahn’ – it could be the one in the Westfalenpark in Dortmund that we were allowed to board on really really special occasions. It was an expensive special treat. Can you imagine?
What’s hot
Taking life by storm
What’s cold
Trying to do it by yourself
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Mensch, haste noch alle Tassen im Schrank?