Category Archives: Hamburg

Turner

11 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by in EarlyNeuroRehab, Hamburg, North Sea

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Loads of meetings and talks over the past two days. It is good to do ‘normal’ things though I wonder… For example, this morning I bought a coffee in the cafeteria in UL where my office is. It was €1.85. Going up to our meeting, I bought another coffee in the same cafeteria and I paid €1.65. The first was a ‘sit-down’, the other was a ‘take-away’ coffee. No other difference. Then I looked at the prices of stuff on offer. Remember, this is the university, most clients are students.

In case you can’t read it: Can of Coke €1.20; Smoothie €3.45; 7up €1.70; and – talking about water charges – a bottle of water for €1.70. The coke is cheaper in a corner shop, and the water is cheaper in the airport.

Then I bought the paper and got a brilliant Martyn Turner’s 2015 calendar with it for free. For each month, there is a cartoon, with a bit of an explanation underneath.

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Underneath the cartoon, he writes that he was asked once to draw a cartoon for Christian Aid. Apparently, if all the multinational companies operating in Africa were made to pay their taxes their, there would be no need to pay rent. Turner connects this to Apple in Ireland…

Pádraig was good when Pat got back this evening. She told him a few funny stories, things that had happened here in Ireland. And for each of the four stories, she got a gerat smile. So, not only did he understand what Pat was telling him, he also still has his sense of humour.

It is great to be here, to see (or at least speak with:) our daughters, and just to be at home. But it’s also as sad as it can get. There is Pádraig’s room with is stuff. When I was cooking for us tonight, I could here the door to the kitchen being pushed open and a big guy coming in asking what was for dinner and when would it, eventually, be ready… How can he be in Hamburg, in a hospital, in a bed?

Nikolaus

06 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in ABI and early intensive neuro rehab, EarlyNeuroRehab, Hamburg, Uncategorized

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It’s all Martin Luther’s fault. Really. He decided that we should live without saints. Imagine. So he decided to move away from the Heiliger Nikolaus as the one that brought the presents and make that the job of the “Christkind”, baby Jesus, instead. And, apparently, when the Dutch went to the newly discovered continent across the big water, they brought Sinterklaas with them. After a while, he became Santa Claus. And we all know how Coca-Cola transformed him into this big guy in a ridiculous red dress and a white beard.

Today, we used the ‘blue cap’ to close Pádraig’s tracheostomy/cannula completely. He managed really well over several hours. We only put the ‘speech valve’-type top back on before we left in the evening. The fact that he can breath sufficiently well despite the cannula in his trachea, when the cannula is closed off, in my mind doesn’t leave any doubt that he could breath without it in his throat – and probably much better, because he would not have this constant irritation and, in effect, narrowing of his respiratory tract. We’ll keep at it. At least it would be worthwhile to try and see how he would manage without the tracheostomy.

And, with the ‘blue cap’, he finished a full yoghurt.

In the spirit of Advent and Sant Claus, multi-culturalism, and the idea of ‘otherness’, here is an ad from a Hamburg mainstream newspaper advertising the “Große Adventsaktion” during the weekends in Advent.

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Whatever it is, it’s not an add for your traditional German “Weihnachtsmarkt”!

Today’s German Music Tip
G. F. Händel, Tochter Zion – if you want to practice German Christmas songs, here is one, with subtitles:)
What’s hot
Nikolaus
What’s cold
Coca Cola’s Santa Claus
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Wer gutes tun will, muss es verschwenderisch tun. (Martin Luther)

TheGoodNews

18 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by in ABI and early intensive neuro rehab, EarlyNeuroRehab, Hamburg

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You know, sometimes someone asks me ‘what did you write about last night?’ The truth is, in most cases, that I don’t remember. I don’t think it’s old age, but can’t exactly say why it is that almost the moment I finish writing this, it’s gone, disappeared from my memory. It’s like a half dream (remember the early morning half dream?), but a late night half dream. They are even more difficult to hang on to and to remember.

A few things happened today. We got the papers ready to register An Saol as a nonprofit charity. With a bit of luck, the paperwork should be filed with the CRO this Friday. Didn’t hear about the apartment yet.

On the corridor today, Pádraig’s doctor told me that he will be transferred tomorrow week to the UKE and be operated on Thursday. It’s good to have a bit of notice. It’s also good to get this done before December. Hopefully, this will be his last big operation, and the New Year will truly be a year of new beginnings.

Just thought about the idea of ‘good news’. Although sometimes I wonder whether the world isn’t just one big disaster with seriously limited people on the helm – by how many trillion did the G20 announce will they grow the world economy, already functioning mostly on loans and borrowing? – I have realised that every day, there are good news all around us. It’s the stuff that those songs are all about, trying to give you hope, trying to keep you upbeat, trying to make you see the ordinary things every day that are so incredibly beautiful: nature, the sun and the moon, and, first and foremost, people.

And it does not matter whether they are healthy or whether they are sick. Whether they are independent or wether they need our help.

http://www.amhrandophadraig.com

LonDon

02 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Hamburg, Uncategorized

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In London, for a second time this year.

This time it’s our annual conference which we are holding for the first time outside of Ireland, at University College London. It’s a bit of an adventure.

Internet connections are, again, pretty basic and it’s difficult to write this – not only because it is very late, but also because of the internet. It comes and goes. The event will go over two days and it’ll be off and back to Hamburg very early on Wednesday morning.

Briefly: Pádraig is doing fine. He was awake today for a long time, sitting outside, using the ‘bike’ – the works. I am sure he is, as we are, anxiously awaiting news from our ‘Genossen’ who will tell us this coming week whether we were the lucky ones to get one of the new apartments or not.

Tonight, I had a conversation with one of the people attending who told me about ‘the secret’, a book that apparently has changed many people’s lives for the better. I haven’t heard about it, but will check it out. Who knows…

Here are two German songs I came across over the past few days. In today’s world, they are almost racist. In the 50s and 60s that thought would never have crossed anybody’s mind.

Vico Torriani – Du Schwarzer Zigeuner (1953)

Conny Froboess – Zwei kleine Italiener (1962)
Großer Streit um ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’ wrote the German paper Das Handelsblatt in April – this song was the 1962 German entry to the Eurovision Song Contest and now GEMA, in an attempt to protect the rights of the singer and writer and publisher, was trying to get YouTube to remove it from their site. Luckily (for us) they failed. But it gave the song a whole new life and great publicity! It was the first time that the topic of “Gastarbeiter” was raised as a social issue.

Good night!

Lost

31 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by in EarlyNeuroRehab, Hamburg

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images1Sometimes. Sometimes the days are so full that at the end of the day I wonder, in all honesty, whether it was just one, or whether it was two days that just past. There are so many people, so many places, so many things, that I wonder, sometimes, how they all could have possibly fit in to the one 24 hours that just past.

Pádraig was almost back to where he had been before the infection. Heartbeat, temperature, oxygen, all back to (almost) normal level. It’s really reassuring that the nurse who is looking after him these days really knows him well and knows us. Life could be much easier if we could rely on everybody as well as we can rely on her.

We had two visits today. One from a residence who wanted to see whether Pádraig could be admitted. He could. The other visit was from a Carer who wanted to see whether he could take Pádraig on when he leaves the hospital in January and moves in with us. He could. Now we just have to see how things are going to work out.

Pat got back today. How brilliant is that!? It’s when she is away that I realise how much I want to tell her every day, ask her, get her opinion, share with her what is going on. There’ll be another few weeks and then the travel back and forth will slow down a little.

imagesIt’s Halloween night today. In Hamburg. Talk about globalisation. It’s also Friday night. Maria was on her way to the Oireachtas tonight when I talked to her. Life goes on. Although I still wonder how this is possible.

I remember when I heard of Pádraig’s accident, when the reality slowly sunk in, I thought of Auden’s poem “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone…’ the world had just stopped turning, for me. For me. For the rest of the world not much had changed.

There are friends and family for whom the world hasn’t stopped. They deal with the reality of what has happened much better. And they take me along.

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.”

The reality is: there is no secure future. Never. The reality is: we all walk Into the Wild.

Fair

27 Saturday Sep 2014

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Yesterday at lunch time, I thought I wouldn’t go. Last night I still had my doubts. But then, late at night, we decided that I would get up at 4:45 and get that train to Düsseldorf to visit REHAB-CARE, according to the organisers the world’s largest fair on rehabilitation. So I went, a bit reluctantly.

German trains being what they are, fast and reliable (mostly), I got there so early that the fair was still closed. You could see what was going on even at the central station, and certainly on the tram going out to the congress center where the fair was taking place. I had not see as many wheelchairs in one place in my life.

There were long queues at the entrance and when the gates opened hundreds of people poured into the six huge exhibition halls. It was incredible. Everything from electronic eye trackers to bathroom equipment, from architects and specialised builders, to car conversion engineers, from accounting software to rehab furniture, from facilities to interest groups, stand-up beds, stand-up wheelchairs, racing wheelchairs, holiday homes and boats for people who need special furniture and access – you name it.

Here is a short video of just one corner of one hall to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

In between, I was talking to Pat who had staid back with Pádraig. He has been doing ok and has almost recovered from whatever happened to him yesterday. He is still in the hospital’s main ICU, most likely because they don’t move people around the hospital over the weekend, unless they really have to. He’s ok in the ICU but it’s deja vu all over again. Staff don’t know him (so they suction him for no reason, just because they do), they don’t know us so some are quite officious, play it all by the book, don’t account for the fact that we have been there for the best part of a year. What can you do? – Hopefully, it’ll be back to 2L on Monday morning.

I’ve put together a few pictures from today. The first one has nothing got to do with the fair, it’s of the main door of Starbuck’s in Düsseldorf’s Central Train Station. It’s really funny: they don’t really open, except for one day a week (!) – but then really long hours, as one coffee-seeking by-passer remarked.

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Here is a small selection of the incredible amount and variety of stuff available. Cars, wheelchairs, gadgets. There doesn’t seem to be anything, good German engineering wouldn’t be able to make.

Getting home really late. Tired. Loads of ideas and impressions. An Saol, here we come! Can’t wait to see Pádraig tomorrow!

Trust

09 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in EarlyNeuroRehab, Hamburg, Uncategorized

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How easy life would be, if everybody was just like me. – Sounds like the first line of a poem, or, maybe, a song, right? I said that once to a colleague after a long and stressful conversation at work. Second line: If everybody was just like me there would be – no nasty discussions, or surprises, no cold aggression, in disguise. Life would be easy. For me. Then I said: on second thought, better leave things as they are and get on with people. They add colour to life and to the world with all their different moods, characters, and whatever else. It’s a little bit harder, and sometimes you have to bite your tongue, but: that’s life.

TrustI’ve been thinking about this conversation (and the first lines of this song) because never in my life before have I been so dependent on so many different people in such a short space of time. Literally putting my son’s life into their hands. I question what friends are doing, how colleagues react, and wonder whether I can depend on what they are telling me – usually about some really inconsequential nonsense. And here we are trusting complete strangers with our child’s life.

trust meTomorrow will be another one of these days of utter and complete trust as Pádraig will have yet another operation on his chest and lung. The third within the space of a little more than one week. Again, all routine stuff. They are going to remove encapsulated fluids and other ‘stuff’ from his lung that doesn’t belong there, and then, as a precaution and preventative measure, they are going to perform a pleurodesis, carrying out a thoractomy (opening the chest), followed by a pleurectomy (taking out outer pleural lining), so that the lung will adhere to the chest wall during healing.

All a bit complicated. If it works out as planned, it’ll help Pádraig to concentrate again on early rehab activities. We all hope, pray, and think that it will.

Today’s German Music Tip
Die Ärzte, Männer sind Schweine (1998). This is not the UKE Männergesangsverein, but what the Germans call a ‘Punk’ Band…
What’s hot
Visit to Pádraig – a nurse today said that she had not experienced anything like it in her whole long career.
What’s cold
Care-less-ness
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Blind vertrauen
 

11, 12, 13, 14, 15

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Hamburg

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The nurse was so amazed when I told her that today was a magic date: the 11th of the 12th of the year 13 that she asked me what I had done at 14:15. I told her that this was the exact time I got a very important phone call, after our internet had been down for hours, together with the telephone line.

131211 UBahnWhich country would have its biggest port 130km from the sea (it’s also Europe’s 2nd, and the world 15th biggest port)? Which city would run its commuter trains high up in the sky on bridges and call them ‘U-Bahn’ (Underground)? Which city could afford to build a ‘Philharmonie’ that initially was estimated to cost €77m; than €114m at the time of signing the contract; than €575m in 2012; and is now estimated to cost 789m – never mind the 7-year delay in its completion (now estimated for 2017)?

I found out how mad things really are here, when I started to look for apartments to rent. Rents are high, apartments are thin on the ground, everybody seems to be looking for the smaller variety (like us), and – wait – most are offered via estate agencies that charge a commission of 2.3 times the monthly rent for literally herding dozens of apartment-seeking desperados. They ask everybody for ALL of their personal information, salaries, jobs, family, where they went to school, where their parents went to school, and what they had for breakfast.

Yesterday, I looked at an apartment that was offered by a Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft (one of these words only Germans can come up with), who are like co-ops, owned by 131211 Forbacher11their members. At least the rent is re-invested and not wasted on the owner’s yacht. Their rents are a bit more reasonable and, above all, they don’t charge a commission. The apartment was ideal (apart from being on the ground floor): it was small but ok (hall, bathroom, kitchen, living room, bed room) and it was just 10 minutes walk from the hospital, I knew I had no hope when I saw several locals going for the ‘kill’. They said they would not contact ‘rejects’, but the lucky ‘winner’ would hear from them by Friday. I decided to put everything on one card: I wrote an email saying why we were so desperately looking for a place close to the hospital. I thought, it would make a difference – either way. Today, I tried to ring them several times, no reply. Then, unbelievably, they rang me and asked was I still interested! Two hours later, we had arranged a meeting for tomorrow to sign the rental agreement. We will have to become Wohnungsbaugenossenschaftsmitglieder and buy some shares (which are refundable), but that is probably a good thing to do anyway.

I went in to tell Pádraig about the good news, and I think he understood. Although he wasn’t as alert as yesterday, he was doing fine. Still not really awake, but reacting; still on the respirator but breathing ok; still free from antibiotics. I played a few songs to him that a friend of his had brought in: all ‘modern’ songs, all in Irish. I can almost sing along by now. They remind me each time I’m playing them of how much Pádraig loves Irish and Ireland. I am convinced that he will have the staff on the ward speak Irish by the time he leaves: they are already asking what the colorful Irish poster on the wall says (his friends has prepared in Cope Cod for him). The tube creating the vacuum in his lungs will be there for another few days before they will try to first shut if off and then, hopefully, remove it.

The Hamburg Metropolitan Area has about the same number of inhabitants as the whole of the Republic. It’s the biggest of the non-capital cities in the European Union. It’s a crazy, expensive, and overcrowded place. But there are people here with a big heart – maybe it was the date and the time that did the trick, 11-12-13 at 14h15?

Today’s German Music Tip
Adel Tawil, Lieder (Sep 2013). His title track from his first album got 6.7m hits on youtube in no time.
What’s hot
An apartment in walking distance
What’s cold
Huge Commissions by auctioneers
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Wohnungsbaugenossenschaftsmitglied

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
web: http://www.caringforPadraig.org