When you google ‘principles’, you get something like “The six principles of…” or “The ten principles of…”. I have no idea how many principles I would like to see as the guiding ones for the care of young people with severe brain injury, but I know that some are definitely needed. So I am going to give it a go and just start, not knowing where it will end up. I’ll do it over time and would be more than happy to hear from you about what you think:

What should be the guiding principles for the care of young people with severe brain injury?

Give me some ideas. I will start putting them together from tomorrow.

This weekend was, like other weekends, quiet. Pádraig is getting used to having the speech valve for most of the day now. Not only is his body dealing really well with the extra effort he has to make with the speech valve (great oxygen levels with no need for extra oxygen and no need for suctioning, really relaxed heart beat), but he also makes a real effort to get his voice back again. At the moment there is a lot of guess work necessary to ‘understand’ him, and we can’t really be sure about what he is ‘saying’, but we have now doubt that he is trying to say things at times. It is a question of time, for him to get used again to have a voice and be able to use it, and for us to understand better what he is trying to communicate.

Communication, however, continues to work when he is using his tongue and feet movement (right foot/tongue movement = yes, left foot/tongue movement = no). A sure sign that he is really there is that I have observed a very clear threshold with him for stupid questions. We keep telling him that the questions we are asking are just for practice and that they are all pretty obvious – but there are questions he just does just not engage with, like the one I asked him today (to get a ‘yes’ response): “Am I here?” I suppose, at that stage I wasn’t really sure myself to which degree I was there; and he probably thought “well, if he has to ask questions like that, he’ll have to think about the answer himself!”

10k Swords. The second race in the Dublin race series leading up to the Dublin City Marathon on 27 October, in 98 days. I didn’t make it but know that at least one very good friend of Pádraig’s, who is preparing for October (although she doesn’t know it yet:), took part and did really well!

Leinster Open Sea Swimming are organising a “Swim for Pádraig Schäler (Caring for Pádraig fund)” – the original date had to be changed. The swim will now take place on Saturday 9th August on Killiney Beach. The men’s race will start at 12.01pm and the ladies at 1.00pm. The course will be set at around 1,400 metres. The really good news is that the “Swim for Pádraig” swim will now count as a qualifier for the 95th Dublin City Liffey Swim on 13 September (see current calendar here).

Today’s Music Tip
Glashaus, Wenn das Liebe ist.
What’s hot
Principles
What’s cold
Temperatures of up to 36 degrees in Hamburg
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Wo ein Wille ist, ist auch ein Weg.