Look Who's Talking!

Linda had a trial run with the Passy-Muir valve today, and she was able to talk for 15 minutes! The speech therapist kept her going, asking her questions about her house, and her dog, and stuff that she likes to do, etc. It was SO NICE to hear her speaking! They said they'll try it for a little longer every day, and soon she'll be talking like a champ and using the valve all the time that she's awake.

Right now her voice is very rusty, and it was a lot of effort to speak. So, she was out for a nap after the 15 minutes. But she was so happy to just be able to talk out loud. I actually got pretty teary, I was so excited for her. And PROUD of her! What a big step this is!

The valve works by allowing air to go in through it, but not go out. So, when she breathes out, the air passes the trach and goes up through her vocal chords and out her mouth, just like normal speech. So, if she wanted to, she could talk on the phone or into a microphone, and it would sound just like anyone else.

While the valve was on her trach, they used a nasal cannula to deliver oxygen to her. So, the oxygen wasn't going into the trach, it was going up her nose. Her saturation was excellent the whole time, which bodes well for her getting off of the trach entirely, hopefully soon. Yay!

AMAZING NEWS!!!! I believe Linda remembered something today from yesterday. I may be reading too much into this, so I'll tell you all what happened and you can decide what you think.

Yesterday, one of the respiratory therapists came in to do the regular trach cares, and she didn't like the placement of Linda's pulse oximeter or "pulse ox." She took the old one off of her Linda's finger, and put a new one on her ear lobe. The therapist and I chatted a bit, because I'd never seen one on an ear lobe before, and she explained all the places you can put them.

Today, the same respiratory therapist came in to check on the supplies in Linda's room. As she walked in front of Linda, Linda looked at her, blinked a couple of times, then slowly moved to point to her earlobe and the pulse ox. I said, "Yes, Linda, she's the person who put your pulse ox on your earlobe, you do remember that?" She smiled and nodded her head.

I really do think she remembered her from yesterday! If so, that's the first time I've seen that happen. Hopefully we'll see more of that. Keep praying, your prayers are working!

Meanwhile, back in lung news... Later today they're planning to do a procedure called a thoracentesis. They'll use ultrasound to find pockets of fluid that are outside of her lungs, but inside her chest cavity. Then, they'll use a local anesthetic, and insert a needle or catheter and draw out that fluid. The doctor said that this will allow her lungs to inflate more fully, so she can breathe better and cough more efficiently. Hopefully, this will help resolve her aspiration pneumonia more quickly, since her lungs are causing her so much trouble right now.

Linda asked me to read out loud to her today from a book called Spontaneous Evolution. We read two chapters, and it's pretty interesting so far. That's the first time she's asked for a read-aloud, and she seemed pretty on track with paying attention. We even "discussed" it a bit, through her notes. I thought that was a tremendous bit of fun, and something she just wouldn't have been up for even a week ago.

The only weird, downer bit of news today is that last night she had a period of abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation, or "afib." They're saying that it's not really a big deal, and they've added a medication to help keep it under control. I just don't like adding new problems at this stage of the game.