Donna,

Congratulation on your anniversaries and your wonderful outlook. You are certainly an inspiration to me.

sometimes i wish i was, i live alone so dont have to talk to anyone. my voice is definitely warblier than it was a year ago.
as an aside i am having a few problems with my isp and payments not going through as quick as they should so e-mailed help desk and said " i would just call you but am speech impaired and you wouldnt understand me " ( particularly when the call centres tend to be in a foreign country ) , late today someone rang from there and surprise surprise he said he couldnt understand me ! had an e-mail about 10 mins later

Well this is exactly what I was asking about and stating in my other posts, you may have a speech impediment because of the cancer BUT you are never silenced because of the internet/computer! And with all the other technology you can always have a "voice" to speak. Ron does quite well his big issue is the letter "L" he will try and try and it upsets him. I tell him he is just fine that he is doing very good. We went to a memorial service Saturday and he went around during dinner time and mingled with a bunch of his old buddy's and everbody he talked to understood him.

It is a great strategy to have alternative words...ie.....my problem with saddle became horse chair. There are definitely words I cannot say - and sometimes I know it as soon as they are out of my mouth so I quickly find an alternative. Tell him there is absolutely no point in repeating the word the person didn't understand the first time. I'm STILL learning That lesson!!

Donna

Alex and I have lots of alternative words for cancer. Wanna hear some???

sure i'm game throw em out there karen

should have known someone would call my bluff Suez. You know darn well that the minute I do, the words will be deleted leaving us with a post that looks like the following.

Alex uses ... most often, whereas I like ...... Of course there is always ...... or .... . When we are really mad ..... works or ... and ......... shocks my mother.

Come to think of it, it is just like Pandora's issue - we have to cast about for different words - although they are not as satisfying

U silly girl! lol

Donna,
Thank GOD for this site! It's helped me learn to "keep on keeping on" despite my challenges- the most vexing (lately) of which is my inability to speak clearly-or be understood AT ALL sometimes.
I wasn't exactly a silver tongued devil, but when I began losing my eyesight (yet ANOTHER challenge) I was asked to read some books for the blind-which I gladly did-and now am convinced that helping the deaf in some fashion is going to prove to be my "bright side". I've never faced a challenge that didn't (eventually) have a bright side.
You're very eloquent-don't let the "do-do" get you down. Most of mine's in my head, anyway. :-)

Thank you so much for your honest, thoughtful, and detailed reply. Yes I can imagine the face up close and personal, like the "close talker" on the Seinfeld series or the dogs with the little heads and huge eyes and nose, perhaps?
Anywho, I am grateful for your honesty and willingness to share.