Christine,
You know that you are still in my thoughts and prayers everyday, and will be especially on Monday. Ron always had a white board with him in the hospital. It can be easily erased, etc. They will probably "cap" the trach at some point so you can try to talk. To tell you the truth, it was more frustrating for Ron because he still wasn't very easily understood, so he mainly used the white board. After his last surgery in Feb, he came home with the trach. That entailed quite a bit of work, between keeping that clear, feeding the PEG, keeping a schedule of all meds, etc. It was a lot. I ended up making a weekly spreadsheet on the computer and printed out quite a few weeks worth and we would cross things off as they were done, or wrote times of meds, etc. It really helped us remember everything. Please accept all the help that you can. I know you are strong and independant, but you need people who care about you right now. I wish I was closer, I would be honored to help you out. You are amazing and you will continue to be, I have no doubt.
Love,
Lori