Has any gbs patient used communication cards? Did they help?

    • November 11, 2019 at 5:24 am

      My step father is currently in icu with a tracheotomy and has recently come off ventilator, he can only just moved his head, nothing else. He seems depressed and we are wanting to lift his spirits. We think if he could communicate then this would help. Do communication cards help? What other methods for lifting spirits of someone feeling defeated and down?

    • November 11, 2019 at 2:50 pm

      Letter boards worked for me (rows and columns). They tried to get me to use a computer that followed the pupil movement in my eyes and that movement would move a curser across a computer screen to form letters. It worked, but I didn’t like that approach. Then they tried having me use a mouse that sensed my slightest motion, but I didn’t have any movement so it didn’t work. Letter boards worked well for me, but everyone needs patience. I was in the hospital for 4-months with only eye movement. I could see and hear everyone around me and just having people there talking to me helped my spirits. The letter board made 2-way communication possible.

    • November 14, 2019 at 12:08 pm

      Hi Kate, When I was in the hospital with GBS and had a trach so could not talk. I also could not use my arms and only had slight hand and finger movement so the cards worked for a while using blinking, but was not easy at all. The Letter board was the best, but it took a lot of patients on both sides as a lot of times I could not control what letters I stopped on.

      Biggest thing is to be there and try the best you can.. It helps..