"I can't sing their praises enough"

I wasn’t swallowing and that was a bit of a shock. I was swallowing but it was going down to my lungs and not my tummy. I was due to go home and it was found that everything was going down to my lungs, not my tummy. That was the x-ray. I was glad it was found out then because I could have been been sent home facing more trouble such as chest infections. I got a lot of chest infections before I went into hospital.

They stuck a NG up my nose and down my throat. The most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. I was like that for five weeks, nearly six weeks. It come out ten times and had to get put back in again. It kept falling out. I dreaded it. They decided to put a bridle in and it was extremely painful. One thing I didn’t like was the feed, it has a bad reaction in my tummy, it caused diarrhoea.

All of the nurses were very good. Sophie was one, she was brilliant and Jeetha was brilliant as well. Naomi was another one. The nurses were fantastic.

I was using EMST and the towel exercises to strengthen the swallow. It was no problem, I probably overdone it a few times. I wanted to get rid of the NG.

It was all new and it was building my confidence in swallowing. One exercise I found difficult was sticking your tongue out and swallowing. Even my visitors tried it and they all failed as well.

The speech therapists were good, I couldn’t fault them. I called them my angels. I just done what I was told.

Getting the NG out was absolute heaven. I woke up and the feed was all over me, it didn’t have to go back in again because I’d progressed. I felt like dancing around the ward.

My voice was not very good, was like a whisper and it improved. I was instructed on how to clear my throat and make sure that I was able to talk properly. The voice started getting stronger. To see the voice improvement was good as I was whispering all the time. My family noticed the difference in speech.

It would have been good to see speech therapy at the weekends too.

I can’t sing praises enough for the whole treatment and the care I received from everyone.