What a brilliant day it was! We hadn’t planned anything. But then, the weather looked good, it was Saturday – no Pflegedienst, no therapists. So at lunch time, off we went!

First of all: a BIG thank you to all of you who have been trying so so hard to stop this man Ronan from doing the craziest thing anyone could ever do: running 5 marathons in 5 days! To all the others: go to here and donate, donate, donate, Ronan needs to be stopped!

A year ago we went up to the North Sea, Tating (remember Tating?) and St. Peter-Ording. We, that was Pat, a good friend now living in California, and myself. It was a gorgeous day. We went up to the Arche Noah, the restaurant on stilts Pádraig wanted us to buy, when it was sold by the people who had inherited it from my sister and her husband, had a great glass of white wine and a break, before heading back up to Hamburg and the Schön-Klinik where Pádraig was waiting for us.

So when we were sitting on the same terrace of the Arch Noah today, sipping on our white wine and Pádraig eating a lovely ice-cream, we rang our friend in California who couldn’t believe that today, just a year after she had visited him, today Pádraig was enjoying the fine weather with us on the terrace of the Arche Noah.

Sadly, we did not make it to WACKEN – but we passed close by, seeing loads of cars on the motorway. – One year, we’ll make it to WACKEN!

He needs to be stopped! Right here and now!

I mean, is he mad? Does he understand what he is trying to do?

If we gave him lots of money for his fundraising campaign, could we persuade him not do embark on this crazy, crazy week of running five (!) marathons in just five days (!)

So, stop whatever you’re doing and click here to send Ronan as much as you can. Stop him! Nobody can run five marathons in five days!!!

This morning (I’m so sorry I missed that) Padraig’s carer and Pat were about to dress Pádraig. They had an ordinary, one that is not open on the back, t-shirt for him. The carer explained how she had done a special Bobath on how to dress persons like Padraig. So they put his arms in and then were about to pull it over his head. The carer said to Pat how well this other person she is looking after is co-operating and how she is able to lift up her head. It took 5 seconds and there was Pádraig lifting up his head, all by himself, to help – as well if not more as this lady that he heard the carer talk about. What she was able to do, he was. As well, if not better!

Thursday (yesterday) afternoon was “traveling down memory lane” – time. I walked through the city centre and the pedestrian zones there. Had coffee and cake in our favourite café (still the best in Dortmund). And went to Hombruch where I had rented my second apartment which was a serious move up the property ladder – it had central heating and a full bath, costing just 45 euro.

Dortmund’s most famous parrot in Café Kleimann

Café Kleimann – Dortmund’s best city centre Café

Streets with no name in a run-down part of the city centre

Disused tram lines leading into a new playground on Dortmund’s equivalent to O’Connell Street

Not the Cathedral of Cologne, but still an impressive church dedicated to Dortmund’s patron saint, Reinoldus

It’s not Grafton Street – unless you’re a Dortmunder

See the bells going up at the end of the building?

Where a certain young Irish woman once took a German course

The street where I lived

My second apartment in the attic, paying 45 euro monthly rent.

I also visited two good friends, on of whom I had not seen for many years, the other celebrating his birthday.

My sister and brother-in-law drove up to Hamburg this morning to visit Pádraig, so I got a lift which was really nice – and Pádraig was delighted to see them.

Pádraig had a good day, between physio in the morning, the visitors, a few good wholesome meals, a walk in the park and listening to a new CD I got. It’s called “Fliegt, Gedanken fliegt” by Manderley, one if not the most famous folk groups from Dortmund in the late 70s. The only CD they ever made was re-launched a few years back.

It’s Friday. Another week is almost over. Can’t believe how fast time passes by.

I took loads of pictures and met some old friends   – but I’m too tired to write all this down. Pádraig was fine in Hamburg today. Can’t wait to see him tomorrow.

More details and pictures  tomorrow with a bit more time.

Good night!

I think we just got our first readers in Central and South America! It is really mind-blowing what the internet and the web have done. Here I am sitting in a dark and very quiet kitchen in Dublin, writing about Pádraig in Hamburg, and people reading about it almost immediately all over the world. I remember (oh, stop, Papa!) when I was in South America (here it goes again…) I had to book calls to let my parents know how I was (and so what???).

Anyhow. Pádraig’s OT got really excited today, and so did Pat and I. The OT gave him some simple sums, 2*4=8, 3+8=4, …. and asked Pádraig whether they were correct. And Pádraig indicated ‘yes’ (like for the first sum) and ‘no’ (like for the second). Sure, they weren’t very complicated, but, hey, here is someone with a ‘low level of consciousness’ doing sums!!! How cool is that?

The building work is progressing well: blocks and bricks should all be finished within the next few days. The roof comes next. You can recognise the wall of Pádraig’s new rooms.

Met with a few different people today to discuss An Saol, even looked at an office. Will work on action plan, organise meeting for the week of 14 September, and then start doing. With your help!

Today’s German Music Tip
BAP, Du kanns zaubere. Den Typ, den kriegst wirklich nicht mehr hin… Das es jetzt oder nie mit uns zwei passiert… For me, it’s the best love song ever. 33 years old.
What’s hot
Sums
What’s cold
Ignorance
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Ich mag Wolfgang. (Varoufakis about Schäuble in Der Spiegel)

An  Saol  Living your life with a severe acquired brain injury

25 years ago, we were the happiest family in the world.

It was a freewheelin’ feeling’, things were just right.

25 months ago, we had all arrived on Cape Cod.

It was then that we embarked on our Odyssee, with Pádraig at the helm.

Right from the beginning, we were never alone. The crew actually grew over time, and it is still growing.

When we thought, we had lost our boat and were about to sink, his friends started to swim around the entire coast of Ireland, they were true heroes full of energy, enthusiasm, and solidarity. They were carrying our hopes. They met at huge concerts, table quizzes, special events, cake sales and races. They built a Dreamboat that is now carrying all of us along when we are tired and about to drown. They wrote, recited, and recorded poems and songs for Pádraig, we are all singing at the top of our voices as well as in our minds and in our hearts to fight the sirens.

The Odyssee is continuing but we are looking at the last legs of this journey that will bring Pádraig back home to where we started almost two years ago.

Today, Pádraig and his OT had another brilliant day together. She could not believe how well he managed to move individual fingers. – That is what is needed, a contagious enthusiasm that carries everybody along. A belief and an energy where standards don’t matter because standards are just accepted average, text book stuff. What Pádraig has achieved and is doing is way beyond that.

Tuesdays have been travel days for the past few weeks. In the pre-Ryanair age – though who remembers that, honestly? – I would have felt like a jet-setter. There would have been sufficient legroom, some nice drinks, and the most exquisite food, served by stewardesses who would have done their utmost to make this a  real pleasant experience.

Today, flights are more like bus trips in South America: squashed, hot, overcrowded, and affordable. Travelling through the night and arriving when everybody else has been asleep for hours.

It’s a special day.

25 months to the day since Pádraig was struck by Mr Couto’s van.

One month for each year of his life.

And you’ll say, tomorrow will be another day, not doubt. Better, I hope. Don’t be sad and if you are, don’t show it.

There are days like these. For me, it wasn’t a good day. It’ll pass like all days. That’s the good thing, even about bad days. They’ll all pass.

For Pádraig, I think it wasn’t too bad a day. He is beginning to warm up to his new speech therapist (or is it the other way round?) – they seem to be getting on much better with each other. During his physio, we tried out the Vojta table again which is working out really well. Having a firm base, rather than working on the bed, which is quite soft, make a huge difference, both for Pádraig, and for the person working with him. Pádraig’s physio is teaching me some exercises to do with Pádraig – and it is really ‘with’, it’s like doing them together.

25 months. One month for each of his year of his life.

Today’s German Music Tip
KC Rebell feat. Summer Cem, ► AUGENBLICK ◄. A bit on the violent side for my taste, but there you are… 
What’s hot
Stories
What’s cold
Silence
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Das hat alles seine Ordnung so.

An  Saol  Live your Life , An Saol eile

Imagine there was as much outrage about the treatment of old people in our society as there is about the abuse of young children. After all, both are dependent and often equally helpless.

Imagine there was as much outrage about the treatment, about the abuse of persons with severe acquired brain injury. Because leaving someone lying in a bed without the appropriate care, without badly needed therapies, allowing them to acquire additional injuries, is abuse.

It was a woman on RTÉ this morning who made the first point about old people. The second point follows on logically, doesn’t it?

You already know that we did not make it to Tating this weekend. There were weather warnings being published every other hour. So today, we went again for a walk around the block. Only on the other side of the street.

I had seen the shop before but had never been close enough to actually see the exhibits in the store window. It’s a shop selling ‘fun t-shirts’.

So here are some funny Germans t-shirts.

Ich bin dick. Du bist hässlich. Ich kann abnehmen. Was machst Du?

Bei der Arbeit gebe ich immer 100%…

Das war’s

Wenn man keine Ahnung hat, einfach mal die Fresse halten

It’s difficult to translate jokes, if not impossible, and won’t try it here. My two favourites were the one about being overweight (Ich bin dick. Du bist hässlich. Ich kann abnehmen. Was machst du?) and the one about know-alls (Wenn man keine Ahnung hat, einfach mal die Fresse halten). They both made me laugh, for different reasons.

It’s good to have a routine. It re-assures, it’s predictable. That’s why I like it. But where is the fun in that? So, next time, I’ll walk a different way again, and if it’s just on the other side of the street. Who knows, I might discover more fun things.

This afternoon Pádraig did what we had been doing every year, except for the last two years: we watched the really exciting, beautiful final of the Tour de France. A nice, relaxing end of a good day.

Lastly, and I almost forgot to mention it, today is Mick Jagger’s 72nd birthday (check out Wild Horses)  and the second anniversary of J. J. Cale’s fatal plane accident (check out this long and brilliant video recording with Leon Russel)

Today’s German Music Tip
Max Mutzke, Welt hinter Glas. This song was posted just over a month ago. Though it didn’t become an instant hit, the Germans commenting on it think it’s an “Ohrwurm”. It’s not bad, neither the typical, unbearable, mainstream German Schlager, nor rap.
What’s hot
Wild Horses
What’s cold
No music
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Selten so gelacht!

An  Saol  Live your Life , An Saol eile

In Germany, there is one way of doing things. A right way. And a wrong way. There are loads of laws and regulations, contracts, signs, warnings, police, bureaucrats, and little green and red men in traffic lights to help you find out what is right and what is wrong. That’s why life in Germany is so easy. And that’s why the country is so well off.

That is also why I screwed the handle of our pot back on the right way, the way it was when we got it. It was easy. And pretty obvious the way the handle had to go on.

Unfortunately, the handle always became loose again after a day or two, no matter how hard I tried.

Then, just a few days ago, Pádraig’s helper, who is from Poland and who has thick glasses, decided to do some good. He organised himself a screwdriver and screwed the handle back on to the pot.

Only that he did it upside down..

I was going to talk to him about this – I like things being done properly. The way they are supposed to be done. And there is only one way of doing things right, which is easy in the case of handles to be screwed on to a pot – unless you have thick glasses,  I thought.

Then I noticed that, for a few days now, the handle didn’t get loose anymore. Upside Down works!

I’ll leave it up to you to get the lesson….

Last night, Pádraig had a few uninvited visitors: almost a dozen wasps had somehow ‘invaded’ his room. Pat managed to get most of them during the night and I got the remainder in the morning. Really strange, this wasp business. Pádraig himself was well today. He continued to make sounds when he wanted to – for example when his uncle from America rang. He’s also doing really well with his three meals a day.

We had planned to go up to Tating either today or tomorrow, just for the day and with Pádraig, but the weather is incredible with loads of wind and more rain, as well as thunder. So we took a walk around the block instead…

Today’s German Music Tip
Deichkind, So`ne Musik. Wirklich – so’ne Musik!!!
What’s hot
Up
What’s cold
Down
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Na hörnsema, wenn das jeeda machen wüade – wokämenwadahinn?

An  Saol  Live your Life , An Saol eile

Well, talk about stuff happening.

Last night, Pat had a bad night, because it was her turn with Pádraig and, no matter what she tried, he didn’t sleep and, “worse”, he didn’t keep quiet. I put “worse” within quotes because Pádraig making all those sounds on one hand prevented Pat from having a quiet night’s sleep; on the other hand, well on the other hand, we would give a kingdom if Pádraig started to use his voice again.

That’s what he did today. He is, clearly, becoming more aware of his voice, and he is learning how to use it.

Then, and we “blame” his OT for this one, he is now clearly helping when we put a cup into his hand and support him bringing it up to his mouth. Even better, because he is bringing the cup up to his mouth himself, he is more aware that liquid is about to enter his mouth, which in turn makes it much easier for him to swallow.

If proof was needed that therapy is more than just an expensive largely useless maintenance programme, here is (yet another) proof to the contrary.

Here is to progress!

Dreamboaters never give up because they know that even little signs are signs of things to come as long as you believe in your own strength!

Today’s German Music Tip
Roland Kaiser, Warum hast du nicht nein gesagt (feat. Maite Kelly). In case you ever wondered why rap is so popular in Germany, listen to this more ‘traditional’ German “Schlager”. Oh mein Gott! They are blaming each other for not having said ‘no’ to you-know-what.
What’s hot
Voice
What’s cold
Silence
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
I thought, a “Bild” says more than a thousand words. Here is the first of a few pictures from Germany’s worst, but most widely read newspaper, the “Bild-Zeitung” on what is “typisch Deutsch”

An  Saol  Live your Life , An Saol eile

Pat came across a few really witty designs in a Spanish newspaper. Luckily, I found them on the web because by the time I wanted to take a picture of that paper, it had magically disappeared.

I haven’t followed closely Spanish politics in recent times but from the little I know there are very significant changes on the way. ‘Podemos’ does not just mean ‘yes, we can’, it also became the name of a new party. And they have come up with a very smart way to promote ‘revolution’ – with love at the centre (I had to look twice before I saw it).

Thursdays in Dublin are getting-up-early-days. Ryanair leaves Dublin for Bremen at 6.10am. Today, however, it was pure luxury. A good friend had offered to give me a lift up to the airport, so I did not have to worry about getting busses. So much more relaxed, less stressful!

Pádraig just had home made spaghetti with home made pesto. Although he seemed to be as tired as I feel, I finished a full portion – not a huge portion, but a good portion. And he enjoyed it. His day has been pretty full: physio and speech therapy, MOTOMed, and a long walk in the park.. Looks like an early night for all of us tonight.

In Dublin, I went through the Irish Times of the last weekend. There was a long report there about a young man who had been awarded around 10m euro on top of approximately 5m euro he had received earlier in a case of medical negligence that left him with a severe acquired brain injury. 15 million euro. That is what the court decided and the parties agreed will be necessary to look after this man for the rest of his life. Also were told to listen to today’s Brendan O’Connor Show. He discussed the lack of funding with the mother of someone who had suffered a brain injury at birth. Well worth listening to.

The monthly cost of a nursing home plus an hour or two of therapy a week for their sons and daughters is around 8,000 euro, or less than 100,000 euro a year, for the families we know, a cost that is in most cases paid for by the HSE. If that young man in his thirties (if I remember correctly) lived another 40 years, lets say, his total cost for the nursing home would be 40 x 100k, or 4 million euro.

That is about a *quarter* of what the court felt was necessary to look after someone with a severe acquired brain injury in its opinion, an opinion backed up by many expert reports! How can that be? – Also, unlike many health professionals in charge of our health system, the court did not feel that this amount (that will have to be recovered from either the tax payers of by insurance companies recovering this money via our policies) represented a bad return on investment and should therefore not be ‘wasted’ on a hopeless case.

I wonder whether anyone sees the sad, terrible irony in this judgement when comparing its outcome to the ‘normal’ limited and inadequate treatment of persons with brain injuries in nursing homes?

Another week is almost over. Block-laying should have started today! It’s all downhill from here onwards – in the German, freewheeling way of looking at the world:)

Today’s German Music Tip
Matthias Schweighöfer, Fliegen. A song about making anything possible.
What’s hot
Yes, we can. Courts acknowledging the need of persons with severe ABI.
What’s cold
Lack of therapy
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Wenn Unrecht zu Recht wird, wird Widerstand zur Pflicht. (Berthold Brecht)

An  Saol  Live your Life , An Saol eile