neurorehabilitationFromTheTrenches

Here is my aforementioned interview, with Birgit. Apologies, to Birgit in particular, for my tardiness. Without further ado: Me: Hello Birgit Birgit: Hello Declan Me: Can you describe the events that led you to here? Birgit: Oh, at the moment? or the situation? Me: ..The situation Birgit:  I had a daughter in 2007, that's 11 years ago. She is the only child I have. Well, I started to get the symptoms of Parkinsons. Me: oh. Birgit: Yes, well, before, I had some symptoms but I never had any idea that I could have Parkinsons, because I'm too young. Me: Can you describe the symptoms? Birgit: Well, if I look back, 11 years. I couldn't sew or walk for a very long time; the muscles were tight. Also, I got grey hair. I didn't like the situation I was in, 11 years ago, before I was diagnosed. Then, in 2007 I was diagnosed with Parkinsons. Me: How old were you, in 2007, when you were told? Birgit: I was 33. It was the birthday of my sister so I know the date...

The irony of me, of all people, writing this guide to walking is not lost on me. With that said, I want to share some wisdom I have picked up, when it comes to walking from A to B. I think the important thing to try to remember when it comes to walking is how complex it is. Even without the balance and coordination problems that I have, there's still the orchestra of muscles and brain to consider. Fortunately, for ableds , there is no need, beyond toddlerhood, to consider any of this; it just works. What I have learned of late, is that walking is little more than controlled falling. If I cast my memory back to my premorbid self, I took for granted that I was moving along mindlessly. Now that I'm trying to relearn to walk, I was hoping that, one day, I'd find myself ambling along, absentmindedly; then I'd be cured. But now I realise that I will have to brave up. Toddlers have the advantage, over me, of being able to topple over relatively comfortably, not to mention ...

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 G ehbock 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 real...

As weeks in my life go, this has been highly irregular. My first week, of two weeks, in Autonomie Therapiezentrum, Aschaffenburg has ended, so here follows the lowdown on my stay, so far, in Aschaffenburg: I'm living Partridgesque in an hotel, The Olive Inn, a mere 500 meters from the Therapie zentrum . I have to taxi it to and from my therapies daily. To get here Claire and I took the train from Hamburg, it took around 4 hours last Saturday. After we spent the first night of my epic hotel dwelling together, we went through the actions I would later require, for example, getting with my wheelchair outside to wait for a taxi and safely returning to my room. We (she) also fixed a safety handle on the wall near the toilet. As soon as Claire was satisfied that I was in no imminent danger, she was free to return to Hamburg on the train, until Friday when she would return to check on me and do some weekend training. She has just left for Hamburg for the second time, after a very eventf...

I'd like to thank Cathal for submitting the first, of many, I hope, guest articles by an Irish author. Guest Blogger: Cathal McCoy WeWell. How are yis? Ah, I’m not too bad. All’s quiet . Sure I’ll head on here, make a start on this blog. Declan introduced the idea of me doing one of these a right wee while back. I said ‘I would, aye’, and relegated it to the part of the memory where most people keep promises they’re fairly sure will never be called upon. For any readers outside of Dec’s family & friends – I hear this blog is fairly big in Asia – something very similar happened to me as happened to Declan. ‘Very similar’ could’ve even been in all caps there such was their similarity, but that would seem very shouty and common, unbecoming of such a respectable blog. I was hit by a car (‘hit and run’ driver) while on my hols nearly 7 years before Declan’s accident. #Dec[Car emoji][...

This summer is expected to match last summer, in terms of heat. This is sadly a reminder of the global warming that we are experiencing. This past week was pretty eventful. On Wednesday I received a visit from my father and brother, Jim & Jimmy. After they had arrived we went on a mission with a rental car. 3 months ago, I smashed my tv screen with a basketball during a balance exercise. It was still usable because the speakers still worked and I had learned how to navigate blindly to the Youtube app in order to get my music going to accompany me on the Gehbarren, and since Claire and I don't watch that much TV, it wasn't that urgent to replace. Since Jimmy and Da were going to be here with a rental car, why not use that opportunity? They would leave on the Friday so I figured why not utilise the car as much as possible? So then I thought, since the weather was reasonably nice, why not make our way to the Billtalstadion, which is the local football (soccer) pitch and runni...

This past weekend, I smashed my mileage record on the trike, which now stands at 24K with only 3 breaks in total. It was glorious weather here on Sunday when we had planned our cycle. We planned to, so did, cycle along the Vierlanden-Bahn-Radweg . The Radweg (think greenway, in the Irish context) allowed us to travel, pretty much, undisturbed to our destination, 12K, during which we had one break at a park bench en route, which was located just before a much more suitable stopping place, which we would avail of on the way back. After an initial 2k of zig-zagging, attempting to get on the Radweg, we were on a very smooth, picturesque cycling route with ample tree cover from the sun. We met, and were overtaken by, a countable number of fellow cyclists, especially e-cyclists; they are the most annoying cyclists to be passed out by. OK, I might not be going very fast, but at least I'm trying. Good luck to them in all honesty. Technology has enabled them to push on toward the end,...