Photo: Caleb Jordan (Matt's Physical Therapist)
Matt's POV
'When do we start?' Caleb smiled softly, "Next month. Your doctor wants you to relax your throat and not talk so that it can heal before your therapy." I nodded. After a little bit of talking, Caleb left and I was alone in the room.
A Month Later
Honestly, this past month has been very frustrating. Just because I can't talk and it's so hard not to. It's been very hard trying to have conversations with Nick and Chris, not because they didn't want me to not be included in them, but because of this stupid white board. But by the time that I had written out what I wanted to say, Nick and Chris already moved on from that part of the conversation and onto a new topic, and whenever they started arguing, I couldn't interrupt them to try to break up the arguement. Not just conversations, but trying to make YouTube videos we're hard due to me not being able to talk.
I glanced up from my phone when I seen Nick walk into the kitchen. "Hey Matt!" I waved, "When is your therapy?" I typed out my answer on my noted app and used siri to read it back to him. I didn't have my white board, it was in my room, and whenever I didn't have it, I started using siri. "Not until 2pm, but I need to leave early so I make it at a reasonable time. What are you and Chris going to do?" Nick listened to siri reading back my response. "Probably just hang out at the house and when you get back, we'll do whatever we agree on." I nodded. I seen Nick smile softly and then he walked over and stood beside me. "Hey, I know that not being able to talk has been a struggle for you, but I'm glad you're okay from that wreck." I smiled and stood up. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him, I felt him wrap his arms around my waist and we stayed in the hug for a minute before pulling away. "Love you Matt!" I smiled and typed out I love you too.
Slowly, 1:30pm rolled around and it was time for me to leave for my therapy. I waved bye to Nick and Chris, and walked out the door to the car. I arrived at the hospital and walked to the enterance, walking over to the counter to sign in. After a few minutes, they called my name and walked into a room that almost looked like a studio, it had a sound room connected in the back. The walls were a light blue color, with toys in one corner for kids, mircophones in another corner and small round table in the center of the room. Caleb smiled at me and gestured me to sit down across from him. "Hi Matt, how are you feeling?" I made a so-so gesture with my hand and he nodded.
Caleb's POV
"I can understand that. But it looks like you are doing good." He nodded and looked away. I glanced at the scar on his throat from the glass. It healed nicely, it was barely noticeable now. "How is your TBI?" After the wreck, the doctor looked further into Matt's concussion and graded it, TBI: Traumatic Brain Injury. Luckily, his is not as severe as it could be. He typed put his message in his notes and after a moment, siri read it back to me. "Not bad. I haven't had any seizures, but I passed out one time a few weeks ago and scared Chris badly." I nodded, "That's not terrible. Especially since it's been a month. So, today we're going to start off slow. We're going to do some vocal exercises, but first I need to hear where your voice is at. I assume you haven't spoken at all, so I want you to start small and say something like 'hi' 'bye' or your name." He nodded and took a deep breath. He slowly opened his mouth and then closed it, he sighed, frustrated with himself "Slowly Matt. It's okay." He took another deep breath, he slowly tried again. "Hi Caleb." His voice was hoarse and slightly scratchy from not speaking, but for the most part he was okay. I smiled softly and said hi, "Let's start slow, let's have a short conversation. How has your day been?" He smiled softly, "It's been good."
I nodded, "Good. When's your birthday?" He gave me a confused look, but went with the question. "August 1st." He hoarseness was slightly better. "What's your morning routine?" He looked even more confused, I chuckled softly, "I'm asking for more details, so that you talk more and work your vocal cords. After your sentence, I'm going to do an exercise with you." He nodded, and looked down at his hands. He took a slow, shaky breath. "I woke up, brushed my teeth, took a shower and then went down stairs and waited for my brothers to wake up." I nodded and smiled. "Good job. Your voice wasn't too hoarse that time. So I want you to close your eyes and hum with the back of your throat It's a small exercise that will help your throat." He nodded and did what I instructed. I walked him through a few more vocal exercises and soon time was up for the day.
"Okay, that's the end of your first therapy. I will see you next week." He nodded and thanked me. We both stood from the table and I glanced over in time to see Matt's eyes roll to the back of his head and he started falling backwards. "Matt!" I rushed over to him and caught him just before he hit the ground. I wrapped one arm around his waist and placed my other arm under his arm, easing him down on the floor. I watched as his head lolled to the side. I checked his pulse, slow but not too slow, then placed my hand on his chest to feel his heart. Also slow, but not too slow. I reached out to the table and grabbed my pager and paged a nurse over to us.
