A few months ago, Mommy was contacted through the tracheostomy.com message board. He had read Mommy's postings about how much my vocalization increased by trying out the Shikani-French speaking valve vs. the "gold standard" Passy-Muir speaking valve that most children are given. I had never tolerated the Passy-Muir and it provided lots of frustration for me and my parents when we kept being told that the best way to measure my ability to get my trach removal was my being able to wear it. Mommy had joined a trach list serv and saw a posting from someone about the Shikani-French speaking valve and she set off on a mission to obtain one. She had no idea how hard that was going to be and it took several months and many phone calls before it finally showed up. But when it did - what a difference! Unfortunately, just days later I lost it at the doctor's office and the whole process had to start again to get a new one.
So when Mommy was contacted a few months ago and was told that there was going to be a new website created to make it easier for people to order the valves going forward Mommy was thrilled. They asked if they could use my vidoes on YouTube wearing the valve along with a testimonial from Mommy on the website. Although I am now capping and don't wear the valve anymore, Mommy attributes the valve to me "finding my voice" so she said yes.
The site has now launched and although there is a little glitch seeing the videos you can see my picture on the web site with some of Mommy's comments! Check me out!
Peyton Nicole Smith
Congrats on your big debut sweet girl!! Great videos!
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