My Mom spoke to me, told me I was safe, showed me pictures of our family and simply let me know that I wasn't alone and I had nothing to fear. I did eventually get transferred from Queens Hospital to the Rehab of the Pacific. Therapists worked with me to allow me to become more mobile, even though I had yet to utter a single word.
I did manage to prop my feet up on anyone who would let me and/or sit on anyone who was unfortunate enough to be standing near me or behind me when my legs began to tire. Which should be embarrassing but really, its pretty typical of me. Apparently I felt that I was ready to have the neck brace removed. Of course, it was difficult to express my desire to be free of the cumbersome brace, seeing as I wasn't ready to speak yet. I tried to pull it over my head, I tried to pull the brace off completely by unlatching the sides ( they got smart and taped me into the brace), yet through all of my antics I didn't pull at the tracheostomy or my feeding tube - yay me. I think the doctors were trying to get me to speak by leaving the cervical collar on as long as they did, they had yet to figure out that I have a huge stubborn streak. Somehow, without talking, and with a small amount of stalking my doctor, I did manage to let them know that my neck did not hurt and they finally took the brace off - hooray!
