The Phone Call

1/27/2014.  It was a Sunday last year.  It was the morning and I was doing stuff around the house or playing with Hannah, I don’t remember exactly.  Then my phone rang.  I had to look at it for a minute…the caller ID said Dina.  I wasn’t sure what was going on.  Lo and behold it was her.  She had been using a valve (Passy Muir) on and off that attached to the end of the trachea tube.  This was a one way valve.  Air went in through the valve but out through your natural airways.  It was difficult to get used to after getting assistance for so long but it was intended to help build up respiratory function and use your voice, albeit a weak voice.  I don’t remember the date but I remember the first time I heard her voice with this valve on I cried.  It didn’t really sound like her but at least she was talking.  This phone call was no different.  I stood in my kitchen crying after hanging up.  It didn’t sound like her and I had trouble hearing her at times but it was the first time I got a phone call from her in about 6 weeks.  It was amazing.  I remember being so excited that I sent out a mass text message to friends and family to share the news.  It’s very strange to think of how much has changed in the year since that moment but it was a happy moment that I will always look back on despite everything that has happened since.