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?
You could have a look here:
http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/text-to-speech-apps-for-ipad
hugs
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 ;D
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.
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.
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 ;D
I also had some app but didn't use it. Paper and pencil was easier.
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
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.
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.