Recommendations for text to speech iphone apps?

[ShadowCharms]

Hi everyone,

I've booked surgery next month with Dr. Haben, and I'm trying to prepare for not being able to speak for a few months. Does anyone have any recommendations for iPhone apps that I could use to talk to other people while I can't speak?

[Laura_7]

You could have a look here:
http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/text-to-speech-apps-for-ipad


hugs

[Dena]

I have Text to Speech on my phone but I ended up not using it. I went to the drug store and purchased several 7x5 inch notebooks  and had about 5 cheap pens with me. It worked better when I was chatting with people on the airplane or when I was ordering food at a fast food stand on the trip. After surgery they give you a pad and a surgical marking pen but you will need something soon.

My hands are so big, I have problems entering data on a pocket sized screen so paper and pen just worked better for me.  Besides that, I have a record of all that was said after surgery 

Something else to consider is activating Email on your phone. I don't text but there were other people I kept up to date by email. Should you have problems accessing Susan's at the hotel, let us know. So many people go through that hotel that once in a while the IP address gets caught in a ban. We try to watch out for it but sometimes it happens.

[ShadowCharms]

Unfortunately, my handwriting is practically unreadable. I also have a problem where as I write, I start to write less and less legibly until I can't even read what I wrote. For some reason, I grip the pen harder and harder as I try to keep writing and my handwriting gets worse. It's always been like this. I've just been lucky to be able to use computers to get around it.

[Dena]

You aren't relaxing when you write. One thing I did was to write out questions for Dr Haben or the staff in advance so when I saw them, they only needed to review my questions. Until I earned my blue gown, I recycled one note, I need to go to the bathroom. They put enough fluid in me that it took several trips to get it all out. Then because they were measuring my fluid output, I needed them to check the collection container pretty often. Sipping on cold water helps a bunch but you need to get rid of all that water somehow. Also don't forget to ask for popsicles. I didn't know about them so you can have my share 

[Katie]

I also had some app but didn't use it. Paper and pencil was easier.

[Deborah]

If you have the latest IOS then text to speech is built in.  And it works well.  You just have to turn it on.

Settings-General-Accessibility-Speech-"Turn on Speak Selection"

Adjust the speech sped as desired.  Then after typing something you just highlight it and select the speak option.


Sapere Aude

[ShadowCharms]

I found an app called Voice Dream Writer. Based on Dena's advice about needing a pad to write on combined with my difficulty writing, I went out and bought an older model iPad Mini. I installed Voice Dream Writer on it, and turned the font size way up. It looks like with this app, I can type messages in really big letters and then have it read them out loud if I need it to. It's a little bit like a notebook and a speaking assistant rolled into one tool. As far as I can tell, I can write out parts of predictable conversations (like when I'm ordering food I order often), then pause between fragments of text in order to respond to the other person as they talk. I don't know if that's going to work in practice, but it seems like a good place to start.

Dena, did you find that you needed help going to the bathroom early on? I had that problem with FFS, but I was assuming that since I'm allowed to go to the hotel after surgery, I might be in good enough shape that I could shamble into the bathroom myself.

[Dena]

Before surgery they put you in a yellow gown. After surgery, you are not to leave bed without a nurse as long as you have the yellow gown. At some point they will take you for a walk and if you are steady on your feet, they will give you your freedom with a blue gown. Anybody wandering around in a yellow gown without a nurse will be stopped and questioned.

I have a history of inter ear infection that last about 2 days and clear up without treatment. I can get extremely dizzy when I get one so what they gave me in the hospital didn't slow me down much. I only needed to be a bit more careful because of it.

After surgery, something they used on me prevented me from relaxing my bladder muscles to pee. It took a little over half an hour for it to wear off to the point were I could go. After that, I drove the nurses up the wall until they gave me my blue gown because I had so much fluid to get rid of.