Cool new game!

Marissa is always taking off her speaking valve (PMV). Not quite sure why she feels the need to do it so often, but it is very aggravating for us. I know it is harder for her to breathe through but I think it is more of an attention grabbing habit than anything. The other day she was plucking it off every 30 seconds like normal. Out of pure exasperation I took her by the shoulders, looked her in the eyes and calmly said "Marissa, put your PMV on" knowing full well she was not going to obey my command. Well, this little booger took her thumb and plugged her trach with it! She has done this before many times but never in relation to us talking about her PMV. She obviously knows that the PMV gives her a voice and knew that I wanted to hear her voice, so she did what I asked. She started jabbering away and left her thumb in her trach for about 30 seconds, breathing in and out of her mouth and nose the whole time. The PMV is a one way valve that allows her to breathe in through her trach and closes when she breathes out, forcing the air up through her vocal chords and out her mouth. When she plugs her trach herself she is breathing 100% in and out of her mouth around the trach tube. So now we play the "put your PMV on" game quite often. We captured a little of her new game on video. I apologize for the quality of the video and the silly woman making noises in the background, but it was the only way to keep her attention. Notice the PMV (purple thing) hanging from her tank top strap! That's our silly girl!!