Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak!
My speech problems continue for another day. Last night as Gail left the bedroom to use the facilities, I meant to ask her if she wanted me to turn on the bedside lamp. What I said was…
“Would you like me to turn the… the… the… the…”
I pointed at the lamp and Gail said, “No.” Thank goodness, or else I’d probably STILL be saying the word “the.”
So far, I’m noticing that the problems fall into a couple different realms.
1. When I talk casually, I’ll start to say a word — but begin it with the wrong syllable. For instance, instead of saying, “It’s getting dark outside…” I’ll say, “It’s getting nark….” and then I freeze up, close my eyes, concentrate on what I want to say… and then say it.
2. Also when speaking casually, I’ll run words together until it’s all garbled. I sound like Popeye. When this happens, I have to close my eyes, take a deep breath, and say the words I want to say with definite breaks between each word.
3. When under pressure to say something, I tend to just freeze up. It would be FINE if I just stayed silent, but I start making babbling noises with the “aaaaah” and the “errrrrrr” and the “uuuuhhhhh” and I sound like a moron. When this happens now, I force myself to shut up, then say “I’m trying to think of the right word.”
So, what to do? Well, other than being breathy and hoarse, I’m not really having trouble with volume (hypophonia). It just seems like I’ve picked up a stutter (neurogenic stutter) in my old age.
Gail says we can make a little extra money by taking me on tour to do Popeye impressions. She LOVES me!
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