Striking a Language Between Us

On Tuesday, my grandmother had a minor stroke. She is currently in ICU in a Denver hospital, and we hope she will get to come home soon. She can't walk, can't even hold a pen, and has lost her speech capability. Actually, she "talks" but because she lost swallowing reflexes, she can't make speech. I still don't know the medical explanation, but this past Tuesday night, I finally understood what they meant by losing speech capability. I called the hospital room, and my uncle put Grandma on the phone. She talked nonstop with great energy, but her tongue could form no words. All I heard were mutterings, high and low tones and sounds uttered without any coherence. She clearly knew what she wanted to say, but the words could not be transmitted through her physically.

I talked to her about all sorts of things, and hoped that she will not want to say anything requiring me to respond. Still, she tried and tried. I couldn't find anything -- not in the inflections, not in the intonations, not in the pauses -- nothing to help me understand what she was willing me to comprehend.

Our conversation was interrupted by the doctor who entered the room to give Grandma some tests. Thankfully, too. I'm not quite sure I could have found the right language, neither English, neither Vietnamese, to communicate with her.