When you go into Des Kelly’s in Dublin and ask for a cheap mattress and bed, you have one choice. You might ask for the next best set, and go for that to make you feel a bit better.

Yesterday, we went into Dänisches Bettenlager, a discount store for mattresses and beds, and ask for a cheap set. Turns out they don’t do cheap, they only do ‘günstig’. We found a bed that was ‘worth it’ pretty quickly. Next on our list was a cheap mattress, sorry: one that was worth its money. What happened next was a lesson in intercultural studies and alterity. It took me 30 minutes to understand, at least to a degree, all the different types and qualities of mattresses. We were told that, yes, they had cheap foam mattresses, but under no circumstance would they sell one of these to us. I was too tall, too heavy, and too old to sleep on a simple cheap foam mattress. So we had to keep looking and checking until we finally found the one that struck the fine balance between what was just about acceptable (not to us, but the sales assistant), and what we could afford. When I thought we had everything covered, it turned out that we also needed a flexible ‘Lattenrost’ between the bed and the mattress. We had thought that it could not get much more complicated. Little did we know. A day later, and we are still looking for a bed, Lattenrost, and, above all, for a mattress. We learned that, for Germans, mattresses are extremely important. It seems, that you can sue that shop for selling you inadequate and cheap combinations of Lattenrost, mattress, and bed – if you survive the highly dangerous ordeal to actually sleep on them. And the shops take no risks! We’ll be trying again tomorrow.

Today, Pádraig did have a third pneumothorax – the one we had been told about before but which turned out to be a false alarm. After about 10 hours without the pump producing an artificial vacuum in his lungs, his left lung collapsed again. Now, they started to look into the possibility of performing a procedure called pleurodesis that would artificially glue Pádraig’s lung to his chest cavity. If they do it, he will have to be moved to another Hamburg hospital at least for a day. We are, of course, concerned but are wondering, whether this is really something to worry about, considering the bigger picture. The whole thing could drive you bananas… There doesn’t seem to be an end to the drama.

Two of Pádraig’s friends were again with him today, another one will be joining tomorrow. While Pádraig was pretty relaxed and tired today, I am sure he feels their presence and their deep and never-ending friendship – one of the most valuable things anyone could ever hope for.

Today’s German Music Tip
Juliane Werding, Am Tag als Conny Kramer starb (1972). More than 2 million clicks on Juliane Werding’s performance in the German Hitparade on 19 Feb 1972 – you will recognize the tune. Having watched Juliane performing her number 11 all these years ago, I was instantly ready to take Conny’s place on Juliane’s side, and spent the rest of the day, and night, teaching myself this song written, as I found out years later, by The Band. So Conny Cramer turned out to be Virgil Caine who served on the Danville train… and I had my first identity crisis.

What’s hot
Mattresses 
What’s cold
Pneumothorax of the third kind
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Günstig
Kaltschaummatratze
Den Kopf voll verrückter Ideen

Apparently, E major and E minor are very sad keys. C and G major are happy keys. There are keys for all sorts of emotions. Today, we got our 10-minute-away-from-the-hospital key, with great emotions attached to it. It took a while to get them: first, we had to hand over the money to the ‘Genossen’, covering our shares in the Genossenschaft. Then, we met a lad with a laptop, mobile printer, and smartphone camera, who checked out all windows, doors, and taps; the cellar; as well as the electricity and the water meters (imagine, there is a water meter just for our appartment)! Apart from all those meters and the kitchen sink, the place is very bare. And absolutely unbelievably clean. ‘The way you will have to hand it back when you leave’, said the man responsible for the handover. Then he printed out his report (on his mobile printer), in duplicate copies, asked me to sign it, and, finally, handed over the keys to the front door, the apartment door, the post box, the yard door, and the door to the basement. In triplicates. I put them with the arch lever folder holding all the copies of all the agreements I had signed over the past days – just with the Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft. Once we’ll have the electricity, water, TV, and internet connections all sorted, I’ll need another arch lever folder. Good job we did not have to buy one, we got a Wohnungsbaugenossenschaftsordner handed over with the keys.

We arrived 5 weeks ago today. At that time, I decided to start writing this blog every day for a few minutes to describe and follow Pádraig’s way from the acute hospital to early rehabilitation. Having got some experience of an US-based hospital, then an inside into the Irish healthcare system, and now living it in Germany – I wanted to share the experiences in with German neuro rehab facility, the like of which there are 3 beds in Ireland. (Little did I know how long writing this would take me, and how tired and exhausted I would be in the evening when I was writing it.)

Pádraig got new visitors from Ireland. Two of his friends arrived today! You will remember that there are only 2 visitors allowed at a time on Pádraig’s ward. Today, we were in there with 5 people simultaneously at times, and were still warmly welcomed. This was exactly what he liked: chat, a crowd, and some good stories. While nothing in life is certain, we are certain now that his opening of eyes and squeezing hands is no coincident or reflex. It is clearly in response to family and friends arriving, and an acknowledgment of their presence. How very much joy the smallest of things can bring!

Today’s German Music Tip
Andreas Bourani, Nur in meinem Kopf  (Mai, 2011)
What’s hot
Awareness, Keys
What’s coldd
Formulare
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Es ist so wie es ist.

Most times, we don’t like the idea of something coming to an end. The end means change, and change is often difficult to manage. People really change only in response to a crisis, they change because they have to. So do systems.

Christmas Market in Tönning

Today is different. Today we have a good this-is-the-end story, at least this is what they want to make us believe. Today is the end of the bailout programme for Ireland. But Noonan warns: “We can’t go mad again!” (RTE news). (I wonder whether there is a connection with a punch line in the recent This is the End movie: “They’re partying like there’s no tomorrow. And they might be right.” (This is the End, June 2013).)

“While Athens burned and strikes paralyzed Lisbon, Dublin remained calm enough for politicians to take a different tack: stealth, deference and diplomacy in cozy chats over drinks in Victorian bars. There were Sunday afternoon crisis phone calls, successful efforts to charm the Germans who would ultimately decide the nation’s fate”, wrote Dara Doyle, Joe Brennan and Brendan Greeley for Bloomberg on 13 Dec., last Friday. – Drinks in Victorian bars, this is how it’s being done.

Among all the celebrations and sense of achievements, there is also a sense that it’s not all over yet.

• Ireland exits bailout with warnings of more austerity (Bangkok Post)
• Few cheers as Ireland’s rescue ends (CNN Money)
• Irish bailout exit ‘not end of the road’ (Sky News)
• Ireland faces more austerity as bailout era ends (ABC News)
• Bailout exit does not mark end of Ireland’s financial crisis (The Guardian)

And this is the reality: In 2008, Ireland’s national debt was €79.6b, 44.2% of GDP, and €17,889 per capita. Last year, it was €192.4b, 117.4% of GDP, and €41,941 per capita. Listening to the news over the past week, it’s clear, as incredible as it might sound,  that for many many people the party is not yet over. –  “They’re partying like there’s no tomorrow. And they might be right.” (This is the End, June 2013) – There is not even a sense of wrong-doing. They still think it is alright. And it’s still official government policy to charge virtually no tax to multi-nationals in Ireland – while even their own shareholders are complaining about companies that apparently are sitting on $170b of cash.

Tönning’s old warehouse converted into a giant Christmas calendar

I have had enough – not so much of bankers, builders, and politicians; failed health systems, and a lack of care for the most vulnerable in society – I got over those some time ago (and have lost ‘faith’ and hope). I have had enough of beeping machines, long hollow corridors, rubber tubes, needles, bandages, and beds you can move into any kind of direction. I am ready to see the end of this. So, as the church year comes to an end, Christmas is nigh, and 2013 is just a few weeks to go, the time has come for an end and a new beginning.

This is the end is also a song by The Doors. Jim Morrison once said that “Everytime I hear that song, it means something else to me”, and “I really don’t know. I think it’s sufficiently complex and universal in its imagery that it could be almost anything you want it to be.” I want it to be the end of suffering for Pádraig, and his return to a meaningful life with his family and friends. – This week again, he will be visited by some of his friends, and they will notice how much more alert Pádraig is and how well he reacts to his friends being around him, supporting him, providing him company. This is the end, and a new beginning.

Today’s German Music Tip
Wolf Mahn, Deserteure (1983). I had completely forgotten about Deserteure – one of the most popular songs with German students during the cold war (“Die roten Flecken aug meinem Hemd sind Wein und nicht Blut”)
What’s hot
Can’t wait for the key to the apartment. Visitors. 60% discount on Hamburg Hotel.
What’s cold
Rubber tubes, beeps, band aids.
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Wir stoppen das Rad der Geschichte
Du und ich, Hand in Hand
Wir flüchten vor Fahnen und laufen über
Ins Niemandsland
– Denn wir sind Deserteure… (Wolf Mahn)

I had to look it up: candor (or ‘candour’). Having lived and worked in Ireland for more than 27 years, I don’t recall to have come across this word ever before. I might just not remember it. It’s also late and it has been a very long day… For those of you who, like myself, cannott remember to have come across the word before – it means openness, honesty, sincerity. Duty of Candor, at least in the U.K., has come to describe the concept that a public authority should not seek to win the litigation at all costs but to assist the court in reaching the correct result and thereby to improve standards in public administration. A solicitor’s firm describes the concept on their webpage as follows: the contractual duty of candor in Healthcare will be an enforceable duty on providers to be open and honest with patients or their families when things go wrong ensuring they receive prompt information about their medical problems.”

Ms Justice Mary Irvine was quoted by The Irish Times on 29 November as saying that “she rarely made remarks about the conduct of a defendant in defending a case but this was the second case before her this week where the HSE had delayed in admitting liability, causing additional stress and fear for the children and families involved”. The ‘delay’ she was referring to lasted 5 years!

According to the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), “Doctors have a duty of advocacy as laid out in the Medical Council Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners.  (…) Advocacy is “to promote the patient’s best interests within a disjointed system of which sections often have competing priorities”. (…) Advocacy is about navigating patients through the health system or representing patients, particularly vulnerable patients and speaking out on their behalf. (…) It’s about “assisting patients in their contacts with the HSE and other health professionals” and acting as “mediator, supporter”. ”

Now, there are significant delays in getting early intensive rehab for patients with brain injuries in Ireland. Waiting times for a 3-months stay in the one and only National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) are about a year. This is intolerable and the consequences for patients are dire. Where are the health professionals speaking out against this situation? Where is the Advocacy doctors and consultants have a duty to exercise on behalf of their patients? How can injuries and damage to patients be tolerated because of lack of appropriate care? Where is the duty of candor doctors and consultants should exercise when working with patients? In my experience, doctors often close ranks and, instead of being the patients’ advocate, accept the prevalent lack of resources and treatment facilities, instead of campaigning for change.

When this practice comes out in the open, people are shocked and judges quite frank, like Ms Justice Mary Irvine was in late November.

Pádraig’s condition has not changed that much over the past days. However, he is definitely more aware and awake these days. I reacts to people arriving at his bedside and talking to him by squeezing their hand and opening his eyes. He is still in a coma, but showing very definite signs of regaining a small bit of his consciousness. Today, the nurses had moved up the back end of his bed, so that he was almost in a sitting position – great stuff for his circulation and lungs. Talking about his lungs: we were told that they will start trying to reduce the artificial vacuum on his left lung most likely on Monday, and then try to wean him off this tube, hoping that his lung will stay inflated.

Monday will also be the day we will receive the keys to our new ‘home’ in Hamburg. The place will be empty – but freshly renovated. We started to think about where we’ll get lamps, curtains, beds, … As much as I like our little Ferrari-red KIA, the thought of not having to get into this thoroughbred-like racing machine, for one or even a few days, is extremely attractive. Can’t wait, to be honest.

Today’s German Music Tip
Udo Lindenberg, König von Scheißegalen (2013). This is one of my all-time favorites, you might want to follow the lyrics to appreciate it. Udo lives in the Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg which we pass every day on the way to the Schön-Klinik.
What’s hot
Duty of Candour and Advocay.
What’s cold
Compliance with the status quo.
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
König von Scheißegalen

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

The English word of the year 2013, if you believe the Oxford English Dictionary, is “Selfie”. The News were full of reports about a ‘selfie with Obama and a flirty Dane‘ at Nelson Mandela’s funeral, pointing out the lack of respect and self-centeredness of some of the world’s most powerful and famous politicians.

Ich hab’ ein zärtliches Gefühl
für jeden Nichtsnutz, jeden Kerl
der frei herumzieht ohne Ziel
der niemands Knechts ist, niemands Herr

The Germans are much more serious and solemn about their words of the year. Since 1971, the “Gesellschaft für Deutsche Sprache” has declared the ‘German word of the Year’. There were some gems, like ‘Konspirative Wohnung’ (1978), ‘Rasterfahndung’ (1980), ‘Heißer Herbst’ (1983), ‘Besserwessi’ (1991), or ‘Wutbürger’ (2010). Today, on Friday 13th, they declared the German word of the year 2013: ‘GroKo’. – I’ll let you figure out what that means.

Ich hab’ ein zärtliches Gefühl
für den, der seinen Mund auftut
der Gesten gegenüber kühl
und brüllt, wenn’s ihm danach zumut’

Today’s Friday 13th was our lucky day. Pádraig got a visit from a good Irish friend, Maria is back in town, and Pádraig seemed to be quite awake and aware during the day. The best thing we heard today was that yesterday’s news, that his lungs had collapsed for a third time, turned out to be what the German’s call an ‘Ente’ – it had not happened  at a all, but the news had spread anyhow. At the end it turned out to have been just a mix-up.

Ich hab’ ein zärtliches Gefühl
für jede Frau, für jeden Mann
für jeden Menschen, wenn er nur
vollkommen wehrlos lieben kann

I assume everybody followed the news about another few big mixups at Nelson Mandela’s funeral: First Enda bids farewell to ‘Nadiba‘, then Thamsanqa Jantjie turns out to be the fake of the year at Nelson Mandela’s funeral. Friday 13th, 2013, will be a day we’ll remember.

Today’s German Music Tip
Hermann van Veen, Ich habe ein zärtliches Gefühl (1978).
What’s hot
Getting ready for getting the keys of our Hamburg base on Monday
What’s cold
Getting mixed up about 3rd pneumothorax that never happened
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
GroKo

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

Today, I officially signed up to become a ‘Genosse’ (‘comrade’ for those non-German speakers and ignoramus about the history of class struggle). For some reason, they didn’t want Pat. Maybe they know something about her I don’t? Anyway, the funny thing was that as a pre-requisite to join the movement, I had to sign up for 52 membership shares, 52 being the number of square metros (here, auto-correct assumed me to be Cuban?) of our new home away from home, just a 10-minute walk or so away from the clínica. Everything has its price.

Genossen: our new house!

Thinking about my other fellow-Genossen, I looked up the German version of a famous song starting with “Wacht auf…”, literally: ‘wake up’. I played it for Pádraig to see whether he would catch on to the lyrics. But he was very relaxed today, not in fighting spirit and not very awake. All in all, there hasn’t been much of a change since yesterday, with the exception of a lot of the ‘markers’ we are watching all the time: his oxygen saturation was close to 100% (after being close to 90 yesterday), his heart rate was down, and so was his temperature. All good. – We asked the nurse whether anything noteworthy had happened while we had been away. No, she said, same as yesterday. On our way out we asked a doctor, whether all was ok. She called us into her office and told us that when they had stopped the ‘vacuum’ to see whether Pádraig’s left lung was going to stay as it should, the lung had collapsed again – a third time in little more than a week. They will try again in a few days time…

My rucksack doubled in size, with the rental agreement and a special arch lever folder for the hundreds of pages about how to properly air your apartment (I had to sign that one), the ‘Hausordnung’ (had to sign that one too), the constitution of the Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft, and all sorts of other really important stuff. The nice lady in the office told me to take it home and to read it ‘in aller Ruhe’. Good job she gave me this folder to file it all away, ‘in aller Ruhe’. I realized that I had forgotten all about what Germany was like.

There are several different version of this traditional song I mentioned earlier on youtube. It’s sometimes also referred to as “Die Internationale”. Most of them hover around the 300 hit mark, just two got above 18,000 hits. Compare that to yesterday’s recommendation, “Lieder”, that already has 6.8 million hits, after just a couple of months. Not sure what it is. What makes a ‘hit’, what makes a ‘miss’.

I am sure, “Wacht auf” will become a hit in 2014. It has got a great opening line and a powerful rhythm. I’ll just keep playing it to Pádraig.

Today’s German Music Tip
Unknown (original lyrics by Eugène Pottier), Die Internationale (“Wacht auf…”) (1871).
What’s hot
Visitors coming tomorrow. Irish. Andrew being interviewed on TnaG.
What’s cold
Long, dark evenings, starting at 3pm.
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Wacht auf!

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

I guess most people think of Frank Sinatra when they think of the song “The Best Is Yet to Come”. Well, for those of you who don’t get that excited about auld blue eyes, there is an alternative: The Scorpions, one of Germany’s finest music groups, have a song with that title too. “And the best is yet to come. I know, you know that we’ve only just begun, through the highs and lows. And how can I live without you, you’re such a part of me and you’ve always been the one keeping me forever young – And the best is yet to come.”

While the best IS yet to come, today was pretty good. Having been out house hunting for the early afternoon, I went to see Pádraig a bit later than usual. On my way in, a doctor told me that in the morning, his left lung had collapsed again – and they didn’t quite understand how and why that was happening. As a result, the drainage producing a vacuum to allow his lung to expand again, had not been removed and will stay there for another five days. So, I walked in to Pádraig to tell him about the apartments I had seen. I looked like as if he was asleep. But then, when I called him and started to talk to him, he first opened his right eye (which is closed most of the time ‘normally’) and then also his ‘good’ left eye. When I took his hand and was telling him about my house hunting adventures, he was with me like never before. It was amazing and really emotional. When I told the doctor, he said that he had been quite awake when the Oberärztin had visited earlier in the morning. For the first time, I felt like as if Christmas was getting very near.

Another nice thing happened yesterday that we had been asking for for months: Pádraig  got a visit from a dentist who will get him something like a mouth/teeth guard. And here, we did not even ask for it. Frau Doctor Oberärztin organized it all on her own initiative as she had observed that Pádraig was still grinding his teeth from time to time – and we wouldn’t want him to wake up with bad or damaged teeth!

We have seen people, their needs and their bodies, being neglected because they were not ‘awake’, because they were in a state where, as one doctor once told us, in the past they would have sent them to a  ‘home for the incurables’. In an article in the London Independent, Liz Hunt reported last year that “they may languish for up to six months in the general ward to which they were first admitted.” – Pádraig was there for almost four months, and we have seen a patient kept on an acute ward for more than two years. “As a result”, she writes, “more than 80 per cent of (these) patients are undernourished when they are eventually admitted to a rehabilitation unit. They are usually constipated, suffering muscular contractures, and have been lying looking up at a ceiling. ‘It is not surprising that the brain is not functioning properly under these circumstances. We get the nutrition right, then their bowels and bladders,’ Dr Andrews says.” – Dr Keith Andrews being the director of medical and research services at the Royal Hospital and Home in Putney, London. We may add, that we have come across patients with dropped feet and whose shoulder blades had been dislocated by ‘accident’. While there are 20 beds for mid- to long-term coma patients just in Putney, similar to the number of these beds in the Schön-Klinik, there are 3 (!) in the whole of Ireland, with a waiting time of approximately a year – which, putting it very mildly, at least borders on neglect.

Take my hand, the best is yet to come
Oh can you feel it in the air
It’s in your heart and everywhere
We got to keep that dream alive

Today’s German Music Tip
Aki Bosse, Die schönste Zeit (2013). This is the most up-to-date entry in the ‘German Music Tips’! with some really cool:) one-liners. Check out these, for example:
“Es war 1994 und wir wussten nicht wohin. Also gingen wir in dein Bett.
“Und Berlin war wie New York, ein meilenweit entfernter Ort.”
“Dein erstes Tattoo war dann der Refrain: “It’s better to burn out then to fade away – my my, hey hey”.”
What’s hot
Dentists in ICU and What is yet to come
What’s cold
Pneumothorax
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
“Was wir nicht können
ist irgendwas wiederholen
wir können nicht zurück
und warum sollten wir auch?”
(Aki Bosse, Die schönste Zeit)

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

A shadow of myself.

Taa taa ta taaaa tata, tata ta taa ta ta… I couldn’t get rid of this melody. It got stuck in my head and it was replaying, and replaying, and replaying. No way it would ever leave me alone. I turned on the radio, listened to a different kind of music. I tried chewing gum, the movement of my mouth and my teeth molding the gum would clear my head. I opened the window and stuck my head out at 120km/h. But once I settled back into my seat, looking out onto the A23, there it was again, very soft at first and then with all its whistles and bells: Taa taa ta taaaa tata, tata ta taa ta ta…

Where will it all end?

Yesterday, Pat and I went to the beach in St. Peter-Ording, just a few kilometers (or miles:) from here. And there, the Germans showed their real face: Although security had safely cordoned of the foot-bridge leading out towards the beach and the sea, they were climbing across the barrier, tearing it down in the process. Lenin once said about the Germans that if they were to start a revolution on a platform in a train station, they would buy platform-tickets (Bahnsteigkarten) to get there. Well, Lenin – guess what: Germany and the Germans have changed. Next thing will be that they’re going to ignore the little red man in the traffic lights. The end of the world as we know it. Anarchy!

A new nurse today. Turns out she has been in the hospital for less time than us. In a way, it’s re-assuring that not all is perfect in perfect-land. While she is not (yet) anywhere close to Pádraig’s favourite nurse, she is good, caring, and concerned. When she had turned Pádraig, she explained to me that she is putting pressure under his feet so that he doesn’t loose the feeling – think about it: after a long period not putting pressure on your feet, they might completely ‘forget’ what it feels like standing up with pressure on your feet. She also called in the Stationsarzt (like the ‘sister’ on a ward, only that here it’s a doctor) to explain to me that a slight movement around his temple where the bone plate was put in again is nothing to worry about; and that they had switched of the ‘under-pressure’ on the drainage in his lungs: all seemed to be good. Tomorrow, they will take another X-ray just to be sure to be sure, and then they will remove the tube. That will, hopefully, be the end of this little blip on Pádraig’s road to recovery.

There it is again: Taa taa ta taaaa tata, tata ta taa ta ta… Now I remember the song:
“Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end. We’d sing and dance forever and a day. We’d live the life we choose, we’d fight and never lose, for we were young and sure to have our way…” And then the last verse: “Through the door there came familiar laughter. I saw your face and heard you call my name. Oh my friend we’re older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same.” –

Today’s German Music Tip
Klaus Lage, 1000 und 1 Nacht (Zoom!) (1984) – There is also a really good live version of the song on youtube that has unfortunately been cut off at the end.
What’s hot
Getting up after a fall, falling again and getting up again, …
What’s cold
Bahnsteigkarten
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
…und es hat ZOOM gemacht!

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

Today is the second of advent and, as it happens, the 33rd anniversary of John Lennon’s death. I know, I won’t ask the ‘where-were-you-when-you-heard-the-news?’ question… most of Pádraig’s friends weren’t even born then. Pat and I were in Spain, studying in Salamanca, laying the foundations of something long lasting without realizing it, having the year of our lives.

When I first heard about the Schön-Klinik , I thought: what a name for a hospital (‘schön’ meaning: nice, beautiful, pretty)! Then, a few days ago, I talk to somebody around the reception area of the hospital who told me a bit about the history and the background of the Schön-Klinik. It’s an incredible story. To cut it short: The Schön-Klinik was founded in 1985, is headquartered in the south of Germany, on the very ‘schön’ Chiemsee, and comprises 16 hospitals across Germany. It employs 8,500 people, treated 88,000 patients in 2012 (in the whole of Ireland: 603,911), and had revenues of 591 million euro in the same year. I kept the most amazing fact to last: It’s named after its owner: Dieter Schön and his family!

Today, when we went to see Pádraig, he seemed to be very tired. We watched the Lat Late Toy Show with him – which didn’t seem to make much of an impression. The doctors were saying that they didn’t quite understand why his breathing and oxygen saturation is not better than it is. He is still on a respirator and should get more than enough oxygen, yet his oxygen saturation is just about ok. The pneumothorax seems to be fixed and his left lung is back were it used to be. They have left the drainage and ‘under-pressure’ going over the weekend and will probably try to reduce the under-pressure over the coming days before taking the drainage out, if all goes according to plan. One of the doctors showed and explained to us a recent CT which, he said, did not show too much damage in the regions where it provided a good image. They are still planning to do an MRT to get a better idea of areas that the CT doesn’t show very well. – When we left tonight, Pádraig had kind of woken up: both of his eyes were open and he seemed to follow our conversation, and to react with squeezing our hands.

Over the coming two weeks, there will be a few friends visiting. It’ll be great for Pádraig to get all the news from home!

Today’s German Music Tip
Herbert Grönemeyer, Bochum (1984/2012) – I’m not from Bochum, but from Dortmund, just beside Bochum, but this could be a song about my home town (was it not for the VFL Bochum:)
What’s hot
Bell X1, Kodaline, The Coronas sending their best wishes to Pádraig
What’s cold
rain, rain, rain on the motorway
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Witzwort, Quickborn, Welt – All names of villages we pass every day.

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

Once I thought I saw you in a crowded hazy bar, dancing on the light from star to star. Far across the moonbeam I know that’s who you are, I saw your brown eyes turning once to fire. You are like a hurricane, there’s calm in your eye. And I’m gettin’ blown away to somewhere safer where the feeling stays. I want to love you but I’m getting blown away.

He was there!

Last night, in Dublin’s Conradh na Gaeilge club, a small crowd (100?, 200?) got together and connected across a thousand miles with Pádraig. When I looked at the Facebook page, the pictures and the video from the night, I had to think of Neil Young’s song from 1975, Like a Hurricane, and thought it would be a nice intro to today’s blog. Pádraig was right there in the middle, with his friends, bigger and taller than ever before, telling them to hang in there with him, to keep up the good spirit, to have fun and to make the world go spinning ’round. I will be back (with a bit of a German/Austrian accent:).

The fundraiser organized by his friends managed to raise an astonishing €4,277.70. Incredible! (The money will contribute to the cost of his transport to Germany and other ongoing expenses. More details on the evolving site: http://www.caringforPadraig.org).

Corrugated-iron-sheet-storms lodged sheets into trees on B202 between Tönning and Garding.

At the same time, Pat and I were driving through a hurricane, Xaver was his name. Good thing was that there was little traffic. Bad thing was that lots of roads were closed, including a stretch between Tönning and Garding, just about 10 km from Tating where we stay. This morning, we found out why when we looked it up in the local newspaper: the wind had lifted off the roofs from garages and sheds, and corrugated iron sheets had  been sent flying through the air like magic carpets. They cut off bushes and were lodged cut into trees – being caught in this storm of flying corrugated iron sheets would not have been nice…

We got home, eventually, and woke up this morning to inspect the damage at Pádraig’s favourite restaurant – built on stilts, and about a mile into the sea. My sister and her husband had owned this for more than 25 years, and when it was sold  a few years ago, Pádraig wanted me to by and run it. I did try, but (perhaps luckily) did not succeed. Although – it’s a magic place and completely out of this world!

Das war eine Nacht! Wilhelm! Nun überstehe ich alles.

Today’s German Music Tip
Die Toten Hosen, Freunde (2005) Check out the lyrics hier.
What’s hot
What a night!
What’s cold
Corrugated-iron-sheet-storms
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Das war eine Nacht! Wilhelm! Nun überstehe ich alles. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Die Leiden des jungen Werther.)

Twitter: @forPadraig
web: http://www.caringforPadraig.org
If you have videos or pictures of Pádraig you would like to share, please email them to me and I’ll upload them to the website.