Learning to talk again

I have had some significant losses on this journey-the ability to walk and to use my hands, no more cooking (my passion), no more photography (my other passion)-but the loss that I'm now facing is the most devastating one yet.  Those of you who know me know how much I like to talk...in this regard, I am my mother's daughter.  Now the muscles needed for talking are failing, my mouth, tongue and muscles supporting the vocal cords are all affected.  Consequently, it is very difficult to understand me and I don't talk on the phone any more.  I love to get newsy e-mails from friends and family, as long as they know that I am unable to reply.

Three years ago, I completed a long and tedious task and I'm very grateful that I did.  I recorded 1,610 sentences for an American group that was beta-testing a program called "Model Talker".  Now my voice has been put in to a communication machine for me.  Now I face another long and arduous process, to become proficient.  They put a little dot on my glasses and when I move my head, the mouse moves.  When I have typed what I want to say with my head mouse, the machine will speak what I have written, in my voice.  I can save favorite words and phrases to save myself some time.  I'm just starting to learn now, I think it might take quite a while.