Ich bin ein [Texas-Born] Berliner

It’s been over two months since I’ve provided you an update on Paul’s situation, but to be honest that was intentional.  For a time, things were changing frequently enough that posting timely updates would have revealed more transient details than were necessary or appropriate.  He left the rehabilitation center after two or three weeks and returned to his home on Wilhelmsaue and was reunited there with Maxe.  The nursing staff renewed their regular visits five times a day and they would walk and care for Maxe while they were checking on Paul.  This was a return to the status quo ante prior to his hospitalization for the broken collar bone.  All of us were encouraged that he might be able to maintain that living situation since it means so much to him to have Maxe by his side.

Paul has suffered for some time with a disequilibrium that was the cause of his falling and breaking the bone for which he was hospitalized and that difficulty maintaining his balance persisted during this time at home.  The terrain of his apartment is somewhat treacherous for someone who isn’t steady on his feet, so he needed assistance moving from his bed to his chair and elsewhere in his apartment.  In addition his ability to carry on a conversation continued to deteriorate, despite the fact that his intellectual functioning remains good.

A few weeks ago however he became delirious due to having become dehydrated so it was necessary for him to be re-hospitalized.    At this point it became apparent that if he were to live in his apartment with Maxe, he was going to have to have a live-in nurse.  To hire a registered nurse to live with him in his home full time would have been prohibitively expensive, so a plan was devised whereby Paul would have a live-in attendant and regular visits by a registered nurse.  Before that plan could be ruled upon, it was necessary for Paul to be released from the hospital since the immediate crisis (his dehydration) had been resolved.  Therefore Paul was transferred to a nursing home for the elderly until the doctors and Paul’s court-appointed guardian could meet to decide about the proposed plan.

Yesterday, I received news that Paul will remain at that home “for the time being.”  My correspondent told me that he had visited Paul in the nursing home where he spends a good deal of his day in the bed but that he enjoys having visitors, despite his difficulty in communicating.  Maxe, I am told, has been placed with a family in Wilmersdorf.

While the phrase “for the time being” seems to offer some hope that some other living arrangement may be in the future, I also think there is a possibility that this arrangement will become Paul’s permanent home going forward.  I have been informed that he is still able to read, though he is not able to write of course, so he can receive letters and cards if you wish to communicate with him.  His address, should you wish to visit or write him, is Haus Friedenshöhe, Sigismundkorso 68-70, D-13465 Berlin.