[no subject]

[boba <boba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

     Gary Zimmerman wrote:

     > Bob, be sure to keep us posted.  I'm sure that the people on this
     > list would be very interested in your mom's progress following the
     > surgery. I hope her speech improves as the surgery heals.

     Thanks Gary. I'll try and make regular updates - I speak to my Dad on
     the 'phone most nights and I'm going down to visit her this weekend so
     I'll let you know of any progress.

     Nancy Solomon wrote:

     > In the case of a patient who has had brain surgery
     > (pallidotomy or otherwise), the findings of these studies
     > may not apply.  I would strongly encourage your mother to
     > have a thorough speech evaluation conducted by a
     > speech-language pathologist.  It may be possible to improve
     > her speech, but even if it is not, the speech-language
     > pathologist can help your mother develop alternate methods
     > of communication.  This is so important for her quality of
     > life.  Good luck.

     She saw a speech therapist yesterday and is currently using a letter
     board to spell out words. She has had speech therapy in the past and
     has had good results from a pacer card and also by tapping her hand on
     her leg to time her speech. Unfortunately the effectiveness of these
     techniques has declined as the disease has got worse.

     Communication or the lack of it has been very frustrating for her and
     the rest of my family. We spent last Sunday afternoon sat around her
     bed in the hospital desparately trying to understand what she was
     saying. It was blackly comic at times, she'd say something that we
     would interpret as 'hot cross bun' so we'd spend the next 20 minutes
     feeding her a hot cross bun - it's quite possible she was trying to
     say something else. We even resorted to having her hold my father's
     hand and squeeze once for yes, twice for no but she didn't have that
     level of control.

     Bob Archer  boba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx