Foolish Games

Speechless

It's been an interesting week or so. In my last entry I mentioned how I was sick. I had Wednesday off work, but worked on Thursday and Friday - not feeling 100% but slightly better than Wednesday. By Saturday I was feeling almost normal, except for a slight cough. So, it wasn't enough to stop me snowboarding. It was fun, but there wasn't enough time. I managed to avoid any serious injury, though given another hour or two I quite possibly could have remedied that.

Well, instead of an injury my throat took a turn for the worse and I was hoarse, with my voice sounding like gravel, by the time we boarded the bus home. Despite this, I managed to talk virtually all the way through the 2.5 hour trip back to Canberra. Silly you say? Well, perhaps, but it would have been a dreadfully boring trip otherwise, so it was worth it… even if I was to know what was to come. For, not surprisingly, I woke up on Sunday unable to speak above a whisper (or a croaking word or two if I took a big effort).

I saw the doctor on Monday afternoon, and she said that I had laryngitis (inflamed voice box), which in almost all cases is caused by a viral infection (which would be the cold I had, which is still lingering in my system today). The remedy? Don't talk too much. She also said that the average time for things to improve was 48 hours. Well, this is my fourth day now without speech, so I must have really aggravated it with all my talking on Saturday huh?

At any rate, I guess I've pretty much done what I would have, like:
- Lunch out on Sunday with 10 others
- Dinner out on Sunday with 5 others
- Dinner out on Monday with 10 others
- Work on half of Monday, and all of Tuesday and Wednesday

I must say that it has been an interesting experience. Occasionally it has been frustrating, but on the whole it's been quite good, and even fun.

Some events:
- I handed the phone to one of my friends to answer, and she decided to be funny and answered it with "Hello, Son's secretary speaking". After asking who it was she found out that it was my dad and responded with "Sorry Uncle…" Of course I was laughing =)

- Having to buy lunch today and yesterday, I had to write down what I wanted on a post-it and hand it over the counter. Really bizarre experience (then again, the whole scenario is rather unique to me).

- Trying to mime things in order to socialise during the meals I had with others. If all else failed I could always resort to my trusty pen and paper =P

- Peoples' first reactions to finding out that I've lost my voice. Has ranged from laughter to pity (or both). Personally I find the situation rather amusing.

The frustrations:
- Not being able to order food as I normally would (verbally).

- Not being able to tell my parents why I can't speak to them. My housemate explained to them, so I hope they understand, but I think they kept thinking that I was just not available to speak or something, rather than being unable to.

- Having more difficulty defending myself from peoples' comments/jokes.

- Having more difficulty making jokes… though at the same time have been new opportunities for jokes too, or an improved effect of any jokes made.

- Not being able to clarify things at work, so just have to wait 'til I can speak where it's not urgent.

- Not being able to say things like "thank you", so instead I've had to mouth/whisper these little courtesies, or even bowing/nodding the head.

Some observations:
- People have been nicer to me. I guess people feel pity, or compassion. I feel that some think I'm suffering more than I am. I sound very sick, but for the most part I feel alright (apart from some coughing, which seems worse when I'm trying to sleep).

- It has helped reaffirm in me the need to listen, and to think before you speak. I realise that sometimes the words that come out of my mouth can be a bit abrasive. By not speaking these things there hasn't been the same amount of "verbal jousting" that I occasionally have with certain people.

- I tend to talk less in group situations anyway (though I'm probably more talkative than I used to be), but not really being able to talk made me more aware how conversations can be about people competing to be heard. Some people get more attention than others, and some people seek more attention than others (and these two ideas aren't necessarily equivalent to each other).

- At times I have felt a little left out during the social gatherings, because I can't input whatever comes to mind, but have to limit to what is really worth writing.

- Interactions have generally been more… gentle. I don't know if I can fully describe it, but being able to only whisper I think makes people speak a little softer, and I guess it's the whole thing with people being more considerate/compassionate, and perhaps avoiding any verbal jousting that may otherwise occur.

- Some people have a big need to give advice - whether to drink lots of water, or honey, or whatever. Sometimes this can be a little annoying… probably when it's overdone and patronising.

On the whole I've actually found the experience quite refreshing, and I'm thinking that I should speak less frequently, even when my voice returns.

posted by Son @ 18:40