Holy Cow! Happy Easter! Hallelujah!

The word is out....

Isabel has her first words out....

After 20 months, the spring thaw has come and the paralysis has begun to lift from Isabel's vocal cords.

When a nurse or family member deflates the cuff that surrounds Isabel's trach, air can pass over her vocal cords and she can speak quietly and hoarsely. Some days go better than others. As Isabel says on her letterboard: "The problem is not my brain! I haven’t spoken out-loud for nearly 20 months, and I need to learn to speak in a new way."

This procedure of cuff deflation happens once a day for approximately 20 minutes. Each day, Isabel greets whomever is with her by saying out-loud:

"Hello (name).... How are you?"

Isabel's Speech and Language Pathologist suggested she start with H words as we exhale when we say words starting with H. This exhalation is necessary to speak if you use a ventilator to help you breathe.

During Isabel's second day of speaking, the Respiratory Therapist first introduced the idea of repetitive H words. Mum looked at us and without suggestion from anyone solemnly said out-loud:

Hee Haw
Hen House
Harvest Home

And thus ended the Respiratory Therapist's first lesson of life on the farm!

The next day, as Mum slid from chair to raised physiotherapy mat in her first one person assisted transfer (rather than two or three person assist), Mum's physio said a loud "Holy Hannah! Isabel ~ that's great!" Mum followed with an out-loud "Holy Cow!" ~ a surprise to all of us as we did not know that her cuff was deflated enough for her to speak in that manner.

And so the H words continue during that designated 20 minutes each day when Isabel's ventilator cuff is deflated. The rest of the day Mum continues to use her letterboard, however we have High Hopes that her time of speaking will lengthen each week.

A nurse suggested that she would help Isabel write a poem of H words that could be placed on her bulletin board for her daily speech trial. Here it is:


A Poem for the Letter H

Hello! How are you?
Hip Hip Hooray!
Holy Cow! Holy Hannah!
Hot-dog!

Hen House Harvest Home HollyHock Hobby Horse Hee Haw

Hot House Halloween Haunted House

Ho Ho Ho!

Help! Helicopter HandHeld Handkerchief

Harvey Hank Harry Hazel Henry Helen Harriet Harold

Heaven and He**

Whole Hearted Hope

Hallelujah! Happy Easter!



Holy Cow! Happy Easter! Hallelujah! Indeed!

Mum ~ we are so proud of your dogged persistence to learn to speak again!