Surviving No Speak Week
It's been quite an interesting week or so. The surgery I had on my vocal chords was (as predicted) a piece of cake. It was way harder to not talk for a week than it was painful. My forms of communication included but were not limited to: messages on my whiteboard, whistling, clapping, facial expressions, and texting. My whiteboard quickly became an extension of myself. The tricky part was writing/texting fast enough to keep up with the conversations.
Caught in action.
Going out in public during no speak week was a little nerve wracking. On Christmas Eve I ventured out into the wilderness that is the Short Pump Mall with my best friend, Jay. I received looks of confusion, complete skepticism, and sympathy when salespeople would try to talk to me. Luckily Jay was quick to act as my interpreter and communicator. We also put the whiteboard to good use playing hangman and tic-tac-toe while waiting for gift wrapping. We ended up having a great time finishing our last minute Christmas shopping despite my silence.
On other occasions, I felt embarrassed having to type my thoughts into a phone (those messages usually began with "Forgive me, but I'm unable to speak...) for salespeople to read, or when running into people I knew. But I appreciated it so much when those people didn't make a big deal of it.
Quiet accomplishments:
At home, I was pleasantly impressed with how quickly my parents and brother learned my "whistle language." I felt like R2D2 in human form.
I also successfully FaceTimed with my trusty whiteboard which was pretty funny.
Got out of paying a toll (wrong turn) communicating via whiteboard and very desperate facial expressions.
As far as what shows I watched:
The OA - This is on Netflix, and just Season 1 is out. Several people recommended this show. It's super weird, a little sinister, and very intriguing - perfect ingredients for a great story if you ask me! But if you ask my mom, she thought the show was weird as hell, and was glad when it was over.
Revenge - This is also on Netflix, and is an older series. Totally a chick show with tons of backstabbing and drama - it was as though Perez Hilton wrote the script. There's quite a few theatric "reminders" of why it is a bad idea to lie or cheat on your significant other, ha! My mom and I aggressively plowed through the first season.
Movies - I haven't gotten to movies just yet, but someone (thank you SS!) was kind enough to send some for me to watch. But since I can only speak "as needed" for the next week or two - I have a feeling I'll be watching them!
So how about my actual new voice? It's weird to say it's my "new" voice because it's sort of technically my "old" voice. I suppose a more accurate phrase would be my "real voice." I held out until the afternoon of freedom day (the first day I was allowed to talk) because I was nervous by what it would sound like! But it's a lot softer, and higher than the raspy tone I had pre-op! I forgot how girly my voice really is. The quality of my voice will continue to improve over the next couple of weeks as my vocal chords fully heal.
Everyone wanted to know what my first words would be. I'm sure this will shock the grand total of nobody, but those words ended up being, "The Bruins won last night." :)
