The northern coast of Germany is, largely, a national park. They must have got a special dispensation today. Or, they might not have been aware that noise can pollute the air as badly as smoke emissions.

We went up to St. Peter-Ording Bad today, to go for a walk through the dunes up as close to the North Sea as we could. Up to the restaurant Pádraig wanted me to buy some years ago. The one that his aunt and her husband ran for more than 20 years.

The famous restaurant chain “Gosch” managed to get a license to set up business right on the dike a few years ago, with a shop owned by the town’s mayor in the annex. In the summer, they organise life music right in front of their premises. Not so bad, if they managed to control the level of the sound a little. Today, we could hear it right up to the sea front, about a mile. So much for the famous national park, protection of nature, and a Helene Fischer tribute band entertaining the masses.

We’re still tired from the journey, but recovering. Pádraig likes it up here and tomorrow we’ll start visiting the auld haunts, places where we have spent summer day together for decades.

For me, the North is full of ghosts. My mother, my father, my sister, her husband – all present though all long gone. It would have been my mother’s 95th birthday today, a day we often celebrated up here with “Kaffee und Kuchen” and a big BBQ in the evening. With our kids coming up to wish her well. All past. All present.

First thing this morning, a car check.

I became clear immediately that half the back right hand tyre had disappeared.

So it was ‘just’ a matter of buying a new tyre – which turned out to be much more complicated than anticipated. In the end, someone really nice drove us an hour East, where a tyre chop, out in the middle of nowhere with one foot in The Netherlands, had the required size.

We made it to our destination – but now, I’m so tired, I’ll have to go to sleep…

We said good-bye and thank you this morning to Pádraig’s nurses and therapists and doctors. We had a tremendous time in Burgau. My head is still spinning with all the new stuff and ideas we encountered. So much to digest…

We left, I think, just after 2pm and expected to arrive in Münster at around 8 to interrupt our journey to the North Sea.

We arrived just after midnight, following traffic jams caused by cars broken down in ad                                                                                                                                                       roadwork spots, blocking lanes, and accidents that were so bad that the police closed the whole motorway. Drivers and other accident professional can no ew

And then, about 20km from our guesthouse, a huge bang, so loud that we thought a tyres must have blown out. But it wasn’t a tyre.

We made it to the Gästehaus. Really slow. Just about to go to sleep now. We’re completely exhausted. Will check the car tomorrow morning…

And we’ll stick with the ‘Rettungsgasse” – something through and through German!

Don’t you know I’m still standing better than I ever did, looking like a true survivor.

I can’t resist the rhythm of this song. Each time I hear it, it makes me dance. In a kinda funny way. Try it yourself. Listen to it. And if you want to watch the most wonderful weird amazing and strange video while listening to the song, choose this version.

Pádraig has been (still) standing a lot over the past years. Because standing is one of the most important activities for human beings. Ultimately, it keeps us alive. Looking at it the other way ’round: if you don’t stand and instead just stay in bed, long enough, you’ll die. It might take 7 years or so. But you’ll most definitely die. It’s that simple.

The other day, Pádraig and I were standing. Looking like a true survivor, he was.

And then, for the first time, Pádraig stood again, this time all by himself. He had some help and support to do so, we were close by to assist when it was necessary, and he just managed for a short while – but he did it. He stood there without any of us helping or assisting him. Nobody to lean on.

Pretty spectacular.

You know the day destroys the night, night divides the day – Break on through to the other side... is not only a song by The Doors. It describes what research is all about: opening Doors and breaking through to the other side.

The pictures below show an ‘old hat’, apparently, at least that is what the coolest of the cool researchers would call it: 256 electrodes connecting to the brain to produce a high density EEG. Although it’s an ‘old hat’ (for some), it’s the only one being used in a German clinical environment, I’ve been told. It is  that expensive and it is that specialised. It allows an analysis of how consistently the brain reacts to instructions, not just demonstrating brain function but also serving as a first step to the tuning of a computer that would then be able to interpret different brain signals corresponding to commands, such as ‘on’ or ‘off’ or ‘right’ and ‘left’ and ‘stop’ and ‘go’.

It’s an ‘old hat’ because the researchers, those ‘way out there’, are disposing of ‘hats’ altogether, implanting electrodes directly onto the cortex, connecting with ‘machines’ via bluetooth. – Rings a bell? To me it sounds like as if I’d seen the movie!

The other machine, the one with the black ‘saucer’ in the photo on the left, allows the  measurement of what is called “Motor-Evoked Potentials”. It checks whether the connections between the brain and the ‘extremities’, such as the fingers on each hand, are still functioning. Because if they do, and a patient cannot control one of these extremities, then researchers know that at least there is a potential to ‘revive’ or re-charge these connections.  The “MEP” can also help to show how functions originally located in one part of the brain are now active in another part of the brain, e.g. in the case where the original location was injured and the brain ‘re-wired’ itself.

I have never come across any of this before, although I was told today that at least the MEP is now part of standard procedures in neurological treatments, and especially in the case of an acquired brain injury.

What could be shown with these kind of devices and examinations is that it would give (near to) ground certainty in the company of experienced assessors to which extend the brain is rewiring itself.

What a difference a cup makes!

It’s the Karen Coombes Cup, designed by the ‘mother’ of the F.O.T.T. It couldn’t be simpler and more effective. The cup itself is transparent and has measuring units so you know exactly how much liquid it holds. The top fits neatly into the cup and has a wide rim which makes it easy for the lips to close around it. A narrow ‘cut’ allows small-ish, manageable portions of water to get out, and a hole on the opposite side makes sure that as water comes out air flows into the cup, avoiding a vacuum that would hold the water back.

It makes drinking water much much easier for Pádraig, and it takes him less time to drink, too.

Its a design that proves that small details can have a big impact.

It’s an electric wheelchair. But it doesn’t just drive you wherever you want to go.

It also puts you into a standing position.

And then it drives you around standing up.

Wherever you want.

Check it out.

It was one of these moments when I felt a knot in my stomach thinking what a difference it would make to Pádraig not just in very basic physical terms but mentally. Meeting people on his feet. It was truly unbelievable seeing him moving up and down the corridor on his feet. If there was one piece of equipment that would really change his life right now. This would be it.

We’ll have to figure out how to get one of these wheels for him…

In other news today: it started off with a second session with the eye therapist. Then there was a session with someone trying out a specially designed cup for drinking (really simple but ingenious), and there was another session with a neuropsychologist.

My head is still spinning.

What do we need to do to make these kind of services available to those who need them and who are prepared to take maximum advantage of them?

What do we need to do to convince people and society that someone who suffered a catastrophic accident deserves all the support they can get?

It looked like one of those big three-wheeled motorbikes at first.

When I got closer, it was indeed one of those big three-wheeled motorbikes. But – it was  carrying a wheel chair. You might have to zoom in to the pictures to see the wheelchair, its, so neat. You might remember that cool, snazzy black merc one of the young spinal injury clients in Pforzheim had (which automatically collected her wheelchair from beside the drivers seat and stored it safely in the boot). But this bike, and more than the bike, the two people on it, impressed me even more. Wow.

I left Burgau on Saturday late afternoon to get to Stuttgart airport, flew back to Dublin, grabbed a few backs we hadn’t been able to take with us on the plane, put them into the car and got the ferry in Dublin Port at 2am. Drove to Folkestone to get onto the train to ‘cross’ the Channel, drove through France, and arrived safely an hour or two after midnight. – And the only real traffic jam happened about 100 km before my destination at midnight. 12km of stop and go. What do all them Germans do on a Sunday night on the motorway?

Anyhow, I made it. We now have Pádraig’s car here, so we’ll be able to move around easier.

I forgot to take a picture of the original fork, so you’ll just have to trust me that is was a perfectly straight, normal fork before Uri Geller got his hands on it – if you’re my age you’ll know who I’m talking about.

To be completely honest, it wasn’t Uri, it was an OT who produced this fork. And she didn’t do it just to show that she could, she did it as a demonstration of how everyday utensils can easily be adapted to suit different needs. And it doesn’t need to cost the earth.

On Monday, Pádraig will be trying out a slightly more sophisticated piece of equipment, and I can’t wait to see whether it will work for him. Each time I went to those fairs where they show off those electric wheelchairs that allow you to stand up and move while you are standing, there was a question about his height. Like the Lokomat or the Geo, they are not made for people who are taller than 2m. In the meantime, we’ve found out that both the Lokomat and the Geo do work. Hoping that on Monday we’ll discover the same for one of these wheelchairs or  wheel-stands.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if it did?

“Blasmusik” is the right answer to the question “which kind of music would you associate with Bavaria?”.

Every year, the Therapy Centre in Burgau invites their staff and present and former clients to its “Sommerfest”. There is plenty of food and drink, together with music and craic. There are people coming from near and far who spent some time here in Burgau following an illness or accident. It’s a brilliant way to get everybody together for a day, to stay in touch with old friends and to make new ones. Organising this must be an enormous effort, but it’s certainly worthwhile.

Pádraig skipped some of his usual hospital-type meals and had a feast of Bratwurst, Radler and Kuchen and Torte.

He also went on the Geo robotic walking machine to beat his own personal record with 1868 steps, I’d say way above what most of us here would have been able to do.

Earlier, I had prepared Pádraig for the day.

I talked to him about what was going to happen and not only did he seem to be very happy about it, he also opened both of his eyes and smiled while listening to the plan for the day.

Finally, and for the record, another first: I place towels beside Pádraig to wash him and position them underneath his arms and shoulders, pushing them slightly underneath his body. When I was about to do this today, he lifted up his left arm to allow me to do this. Another first.

All in all a great day in Burgau!