My Visit to Paul 17th April by Peter Briggs

When I went to see Paul on Friday morning he was sitting up in a chair looking much better than on Thursday and I helped him get his right arm moving. As this is really improving I took off his gloves and we got going trying to use a biro. He can hold it quite well and I started off playing noughts and crosses to help him get the feel of creating lines and circles. This went fairly well so I started to get him to write his name. This proved quite a challenge but he was able to form the individual letters in a very rudimentary way, but with practice I am sure will improve very quickly. He was very keen to get it right and was good at crossing out letters he was not satisfied with. I can see a strong determination in him. He can read, and with both arms now in action he can pick things up off the bed and put them down so I would urge friends to start to write notes to him and send photos etc. He indicated that was not interested in books but wanted to read newspapers. For anyone visiting there are lots of buses from Feldkirch to Rankwiel, no. 67 goes right up to the hospital and takes the scenic route over the escarpment via Gosin. The buses are excellent (3 euros return) but you can walk along the main road, it took me one and a half hours. This is good exercise after sitting in the hospital for several hours.

Regards, Peter Briggs 4/19/09