I've Been Busy

Hello. I've a lot to cover, since I'm a week late, so I'll get cracking. Firstly, and foremostly, I've tried a couple of different walking aids since Aschaffenburg with varying degrees of success. During my time in Aschaffenburg, I had ordered a 4-pronged cane, meanwhile I got busy practicing with a cane that Autonomie provided me with. When I got home to Bergedorf, I continued training with a 4-pronged, while secretly waiting for, what I considered to be, my salvation; a zimmerframe, or Gehbock, as I've come to know it. In theory, a zimmerframe should have done what I had hoped it would, namely, the 4 legs would provide ample security while its lightweight nature would mean that I could move it along comfortably. It didn't work quite like that, sadly. The Gehbock has the stability, and does offer security. However, the speed at which I have to move, to avoid toppling over, renders the whole exercise pretty useless. Back to the 4-pronged then. After realising, and accepting that my safety was the chief concern with any walking aid, I started to view the 4-pronged as a one handed Gehbock. As it lacked the restriction of space into which, I could step, it was faster (not by much), and I could more easily take it with me on the Dreirad.

The next thing that I have to report is that I have received approval for a Schwerbehindertenausweis, which is a disability ID; it comes with some benefits, which I will outline in a future blog article.

I have located an audio clip of my third interview. It's longer than the others, which is why it has taken so long to be published. The problem was that, because of its length, I couldn't simply email it to my mother for transcription. I halfheartedly tried to come up with a method of splitting the audio clip, and sending it in two parts. I finally decided to hang on to it and use the task as neuropsychology when I got around to it. Months passed, and, of course I forgot all about its existence. I found it, quite by accident, a few weekends ago. The interviewee is called Birgit, still a young lady, she has been living with Parkinsons disease since her early 30s. That will arrive in the coming weeks, even though I started trying to transcribe it already, and it's no fun at all.

Finally, I have begun my back-to-work rehab with the help of Salo-AG. Salo-AG are an organisation which, in my case, is paid for by the pension board; they attempt to slowly reintroduce the subject, me, in this case, to working for a living. This will involve an internship in, possibly, another company, before I return to Eon. All the while, I will continue to receive a percentage of my monthly salary, from the pension board. Go socialism! It started with an initial meeting with my coach, who called around for the first weekly meeting. Salo hours are 8am to 3pm, during which time, I must be available, while I work on a timetabled, weekly list of homework assignments. After the first week, I can say I absolutely feel as though I had a very productive week. In the future, I will have access to Salo’s suite of computer based neuropsychological training, which may form part of my homework going forward.

That was only my second blog post in July, I will aim to get to 4 for this month.