Loads of news tonight.

There was the extravaganza we all would really have liked to join! Looked like a wholelottafun!! Twitter was alive with pictures from the #SongForPádraig and the #AmhrándDo Phádraig. Looking at all the “beautiful people” involved it’ll be the song of songs.

There was the report in the Limerick Leader about the Table Quiz and the background story to it.

And last but not least, Pádraig, the man who gets us all involved in never-heard-before-of extravaganza’s had his own double scare today. Pat went in to him in the morning to be with him for the use of the speech valve and when sitting in his wheelchair. All routine stuff. Only that today routine was not the order of the day. He had a rising temperature and a high heart beat. Enough to skip the speech valve, enough to skip the wheelchair. By midday, the senior doctors had decided not to give him an antibiotic straight away but to give his body a chance to fix itself. So it was good auld paracetamol instead of the heavy ‘guns’. And – it worked. The temperature came down and all his other vital parameters returned to almost normal by late afternoon. Which is when his nurse called a (junior) doctor to check out his cramps. One test followed the next – all returning more or less ok results. The doctor felt with 80% certainty that Pádraig had an epileptic fit. So late tonight they did a CT which luckily did not show any obvious new injuries in his brain. So just before 11pm, we got the phone call to say that we could go to sleep without worry. The doctor will give him an anti epileptic drug tonight and tomorrow we will have a conversation with a senior doctor to find out more about the ‘seizure’ and the medication they propose to give to Pádraig. – To be honest, I find it hard to believe that Pádraig did, in fact, have an epileptic fit,  almost 12 months after the accident, and I would it find even more difficult to accept that he should start taking medicine, possibly for the rest of his life, that would quite dramatically interfere with his health and state of mind. We’ll see tomorrow, I am sure!!!

Yesterday, Pádraig received a be-lated birthday package with a great gift: a Happiness Kit. I had never come across a Happiness Kit before. I wonder what the customs people thought when they read the description on the envelope!? It probably made them smile! What a nice idea! Luckily, the ‘piece of string’ is 50m long – so nothing will fall apart here!

Today, I couldn’t believe my luck: Germany’s Father’s Day was just over when Ireland’s Father’s Day was coming up. Two Father’s Days in such close succession – any father’s dream! So today – Irish Father’s Day -, I didn’t get up. I stayed in bed, in anticipation of my lovely family bringing in my nicely buttered toast, hot dark coffee, and a soft boiled egg. I must have dozed off. When lunch time was coming up, I decided it was time to get up, just face up to the real world (and not to feel too bitter about it), to recognise that I had missed breakfast, and to make sure that I was not going to miss lunch as well.

Someone in our family – and, unfortunately, I don’t remember who it was – once asked why we couldn’t be just like any other family, just a normal family, like everybody else? I was asking that myself this morning: why could we not just be like everybody else? Surely, in any family all over Ireland today fathers were treated to breakfast in bed, right? Why do we have to be different???

Pádraig sat out in his wheelchair today. Mightn’t sound like anything special, but it is. Very special. Because it’s Sunday and it takes the initiative and the time of the nurse in charge of him to organise the transfer and get him out of bed – which hadn’t happened for a long time on a Sunday. (During the week and on most Saturday’s it’s still the therapists who are moving him into the wheelchair, something we hope to be able to do ourselves some day soon, just to give them a hand.) It was great and encouraging, he needs to sit up as much as possible for a dozen different reasons.

He also was on the speech valve. And here comes his present for Father’s Day: he made sounds and we believe that they were purposeful, several times! The first time when Pat was trying to teach him the ‘A’; the second time when he was on the phone to his aunt who asked him to say something; and the third time when the nurse tried to get him to say ‘A’ in German – her name starts with an ‘A’ 🙂 He also continues to successfully answer the simple yes/no questions – not always, but now over several days.

Just a reminder that TOMORROW at 8pm will be the meeting in the Conradh to get everybody together who would like to take part in the next round of the recording of Amhrán do Phádraig / Song for Pádraig.

Today’s (German) Music Tip
Loudon Wainwright (Fufus’ Father), Father and Son (1998) – not a German music tip today, simply because I could not find a song for Father’s Day in German. There are a few in English, this is one I didn’t know before. I like the lyrics, it’s a song that in many ways is very close to reality without being too ‘sweet’.
What’s hot
Father’s Day
What’s cold
Waiting for breakfast in bed ’til lunch time
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Da kannst’e lange drauf warten!

Blue sky. Sun. Time to go to the beach. Only that Hamburg – despite being Europe’s second biggest seaport – is not beside the sea. So what do Hamburgers do? They get a few tons of sand and strategically place them on the banks of the river Elbe. Sounds ok until you think again and realize what happens if you create a beach on the banks of the river leading into Europe’s second biggest sea port: It gets cramped – huge container ships fight over space with weekend beach goers. The overall effect is, as one of my family members said, that you feel like going on an excursion into Dublin port and decide to take out your togs and throw yourself into the water. Definitely something you would not do in Dublin – what what’s the choice for poor Hamburgers?

Today I discovered that some underground operation is active in the Schoen-Klinik putting Irish flags onto all sorts of hospital equipment. They do their work very discreetly, but if you look closely you’ll find the tricolor in all sort of unexpected places. The picture here is just one example, showing his beds braking system! Seems those underground Irish have infiltrated the hospital to considerable depth, not stopping at anything – even a bed’s braking system!!!

Padraig today was again twice on the speech valve, once in the morning, the second time in the afternoon. He was, again, off the added oxygen – and he was doing fine! When I arrived today I had to admire the work of his nurse who had really made a huge (and successful) effort to make him feel really really comfortable in his bed. Here was someone that had been doing their work with a lot of dedication and professionalism! The same nurse had also already arranged for Padraig being taken out of the bed and into his wheelchair tomorrow, Sunday. I think this could be a first, and it’s certainly so very very kind to think about it and to make this happen!

Seachtain, the Irish language supplement to the Independent, had another story about the brave Women Mini Marathon runners with a fantastic picture, on 11 June.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally – for this day next week, i.e. 20 Friday, the O’Malley Clan has organized a pub quiz for Padraig. It’ll take place in the clan’s stronghold in Crokers Murroe.

 

I am sitting in Pádraig’s room and thinking how we ended up in Hamburg, Germany? –  Granada, Spain – maybe; Florence, Italy – yes; but Hamburg, Germany??

Then I thought, at least the Germans are good soccer players, and went off to check the odds of Germany winning the world cup. No better place than Paddy Power. So I went and checked it.

 

Only to find out that the hospital network had decided to block Paddy Power as an ‘inappropriate’ site. = No betting in the Schön-Klinik. Thinking about it, I realised why – There are entire wards for people with addiction problems. They should not be able to do online gambling, at least not from the hospital groun

Pádraig is doing well physically – speech valve twice a day with virtually no complications, wheelchair for a couple of hours, and viva-la-MotoMEd for 3.6km. He is also on the physic’s list for tomorrow, Saturday – which is really great! There have been no major developments since his yes/no communication, but we hope for much more to come. The excursion into the famous Rosengarten cannot be that far away now: wheelchair has arrived, he is stable, can breathe without additional oxygen, and the weather could not be better.

Seems that the Amhrán do Phádraig project is gaining some significant momentum. Check the project out here. And go and join the project meeting next Monday to take part in the recording!

Pádraig’s friends in the Open Sea Swimming world are planning a swim in support of the Caring for Pádraig fund. Visit their website and note the date of the swim. Could be the biggest sea swim this year!

If you are living in the Limerick area, join the O’Malley Clan (Pádraig’s gran was an o”Malley) for their fundraiser on 20 June at 9pm in Crokers Pub, Murroe, Co. Limerick.

So much for today. See you tomorrow.

Endless discussions tonight on whether the second goal Croatia had to concede was legit because there were different views on whether the referee was right when he decided to award penalty to the Brazilians. I would have thought that the third goal would have put an end to that discussion, but it went on the whole night. Goals are important.s

When i looked for interesting stuff around goals, i found a number of ‘kluge Sprüche’.

Here is another one:

Pádraig had the speech valve twice today, each time for longer than two house. And he sat in the wheelchair for more than four hours! These days, every day there is a noticeable and clear improvement – long may this continue.

Have you listened to the very first and still a little ‘raw’ version of Dream Boat? Maitiú wrote the song based on a story he read, and dedicated the song to Pádraig. Now, he is organising a session with all of Pádraig’s friends who can do a least a little. I really like the song and was humming away this afternoon when ‘it floated like a dream’!

It’s incredibly late, and I will have to get up in a few hours to catch the early morning plane to Hamburg. – So, here is to dreams that turn into goals, and then into achievements, here is to Pádraig!

PS: One of my favourite saying is: The Titanic was built by experts, the Arc by amateurs 🙂

Today’s (German) Music Tip
Los Ramblers, El Rock Del Mundial (1962). Not a German music tip tonight – but I thought the recording of the first ever ‘soccer song’ would be fitting for the day that’s in it.
What’s hot
Goals
What’s cold
Apathy
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Wo ein Wille ist, da ist auch ein Weg!

Another long day in Dublin, trying to squeeze two days into one. My head is still turning and I am trying to get it sorted at least a little bit. It’s probably too late today to expect a more clarity. But I think I made some progress on An Saol. I talked to three different ‘parties’ and all were really really supportive. Follow ups in three weeks time, or so. We’ll keep the momentum going.

Twitter was alive with news about the Song. Check out this Facebook site! It’s really incredible!!!

There have also been some significant news about Pádraig: he is moving his tongue to the left, and to the right, when asked. And – when Pat saw some blue stuff in his mouth, she thought it was some kind of medicine. Turned out that it was a die that the speech therapist had used to check whether Pádraig is swallowing correctly, or whether some of the saliva is going down his windpipe. She checked it over two days – and found absolutely no die going down his windpipe. Subsequently, he will be able to use the speech valve twice a day, a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon. Absolutely fabulous news, and another step towards getting rid of the tracheostomy.

Have to go and rise with the sun tomorrow morning:)

I still don’t like being on a plane. You know, the push when the engines kick in? Your head bends back and this big piece of metal lifts you up in the air. You look down and slowly people disappear, cars get tiny, buildings turn into Lego estates. What used to be exciting now feels like the trip into the unknown. Cape Cod on my mind.

Loads of news: there are plans on the way to record a few songs and poems on a CD and then use that CD for a big fundraising push. The plans are just coming together and they already sounds amazing – different musicians and singers, different languages and a the involvement of many people who want to contribute. Work on the first song, Dream Boat, will begin tomorrow and hopefully be completed over the coming weeks. – The other bit of news is that I have started to talk to more people about An Saol, and so far they have all been enthusiastic about it. I had a long conversation with the NAI today, and will have three more meetings tomorrow. I think that it’s no longer a question of whether I should do this or not. It’s definitely a go.

Pádraig was exhausted today – but it’s not surprising: he sat out for four hours in the wheelchair and used the speech valve for two hours. Temperatures in Hamburg today reached 30oC, beyond what would feel comfortable. The day in the rose garden can’t be that far away anymore. Feeling, seeing, smelling something different from the hospital air will be really motivating for Pádraig!

Tired from the flight and a very full day of work. Time to call it a day!

 

It was another thunder and lightning day in Hamburg, and the second day of Pentecost: Pfingstmontag, a public holiday. As yesterday, the day started of grant, it was hot, a blue sky persuaded thousands of people to grab there barbies and make it to the parks, lakes, rivers, and canals of Hamburg. By 6pm, the skies had opened and what had started like a glorious day became a total washout. – Sounds like life.

Pádraig had two big changes today in his care: one of the therapists is passing on the baton to a colleague (Pádraig will see her from time to time), and one of his nurses is leaving the hospital altogether to work in home care. It is a strange feeling to have been in hospital for such a long time that you don’t just see staff going on holidays and coming back, but that you see people you have started to appreciate and like, leave altogether. Pádraig sat out in the wheelchair today, which is always great! He is doing so well when he is sitting up, his breathing gets better, and he is so much more able to ‘work’ with the speech valve (another 2 hours today).

80 years ago this June, a duck had his first appearance in the movies. 1934 was a difficult year for many, in Germany big changes were happening. The short film, in which the duck still only played a supporting role, has a moral: there is no food if you don’t want to work for it. Imagine a movie like this today. Even more interesting is the ‘localised’, translated and dubbed, version of the movie (link below).

Here is today’s most re-tweeted tweet (from Caoimhe): “@KantanMT @VistaTECglobal@medialocate @AlchemyAPI @welocalize@Kilgray @CNGL @translationswp@LocWorld Comhghairdeas! Fantastic @ForPadraig”

And here is a picture of the man who called me some months ago asking whether it would be alright to organise a fundraiser for Pádraig. Thank you!

Today’s German Music Tip
Die kluge kleine Henne (1934) – Donal Duck’s first movie appearance
What’s hot
Duck
What’s cold
Lightning
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Frohes Pfingstfest! (Immer noch)

This morning, 49 days after Easter Sunday, was one of those mornings when you get everything ready to go to a park, preferably beside a lake or the sea, with a bit of shade. You’d take a blanket and picnic basket with you, some sunscreen, and you’d cycle out to that park with a couple of friends and family, looking forward to a great day. It’s Pentecost not just today, but also tomorrow – at least in Germany! It’s the day the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles. It’s also the Jewish (and much older) feast of Schawuot.

If it was the Holy Spirit who came down on Hamburg this afternoon, he came with thunder and lightning, and a massive downpour. Rather than sitting on their blankets, people used them as emergency covers until they had reached their cars. Literally thousands of people were sent running across the parks of Hamburg with their kids under one, and their picnic utensils under the other arm. Just after 3pm, the sky was so dark that it looked like the apocalypse was neigh. And then it started, the Donnerwetter, the Gewitter of massive proportions. – By the way, is there a word for ‘Gewitter’ in English?

Luckily, Pádraig was left unaffected by what was going on outside. He had a great weekend with four really nice friends from Dublin over for a visit. To be able to hear the familiar voices from home, to feel that his old friends are still with him and will continue to visit him, must be such a big reassurance for him. To know that so many people are thinking of him and visiting him, telling him of what is going on back in Dublin, remembering great times they had together, and making plans for better times ahead. Laughs and life.

This being the weekend, staff did not manage to sit him into the wheelchair, but he was back on the speech valve, and this time for about two hours. For Pádraig, this is like training. Using muscles he hasn’t used for a long time. Getting back to some degree of normality.

Today, I also got an email from an old colleague and friend, organiser of Localization World, who said that the fundraiser they organised, the Mountain Flag Challenge, managed to raise more than 10,000 euro, and that about 33 hiker made it to the top of the Djouce. It was a fantastic initiative and a great initiative! Thank you to all who put so much work into the organisation of the event, those who so generously contributed, and those who made it up to the mountain! He also sent a few more images that really show off the beauty of Wicklow!

Today’s German Music Tip
Johann Strauss II, Unter Blitz und Donner
What’s hot
Thunder and Pentecost
What’s cold
A quiet day in the park
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Frohes Pfingstfest!

There have been four great friends here in Hamburg from across the sea from Ireland this weekend. They have taken some of their precious time they so badly need for their studies to buy a plane ticket and book into accommodation here to see Pádraig. Each time we meet, I feel that Pádraig, despite his accident, and despite the way he is at the moment, has been such a lucky person, having friends that others could only dream of.

He was off the oxygen again today, and two hours on the speech valve. For him, it’s like training his important muscles again.

So, they made it up to the ‘fortified height’, Dioghais or Djouce. The Mountain Flag Challenge today brought a group of people led by my friends from Kantan MT up into the wilderness of the Wicklow Mountains. When they talked to me some months ago and said that they had this idea of raising funds for ‘Caring for Pádraig’, I said that I was taken really back, that I could not believe their generosity, but that I also felt it very difficult to deal with such a situation. I said to my friends that it is, in a way, so much easier to give than to accept help, that these were very difficult times but that I did not want to become a victim that people would feel pity for. That so far it had mostly been Pádraig’s friends organising the fundraising. The answer was that they wanted to help. I told Pádraig today what my friends and colleagues had been doing today. I am sure he understood and probably felt a bit like myself. Helpless, but on the way out of it! – Here are the pictures from today’s trek up the Djouce, in what looks like typical Irish weather, a bit of sun and plenty of fog.

Thank you to all who prepared, supported, and, above all, got up this morning to climb the Djouce, Caring for Pádraig!