No Interview on 7-7
I was asked by several different people why I didn’t talk on WIBC radio this week. I told them that there was just too much happening in the world for me to even fit in the normal Tuesday morning time slot. Blessed boss of WIBC Tom Sevarino lost his battle with cancer. The “gloved one” Michael Jackson’s memorial service planned in California had all of the police and media in a tizzy. How could a small town gal with a rare disorder that is unknown by even much of the medical community compete with that? LOL. Nah, the radio producer even was kind enough to call to apologize, but I totally understand. News was happening.
It was funny, because one of my friends tweeted me fearing that she had missed the time slot of the report. She usually is driving into work at that time and finds the topics we discuss interesting. It has been eye-opening to see how very many people are familiar with Eastside Ellen’s foreign accent syndrome story. They all tell me that it is fascinating, which it is. I’ve run into people at the grocery store, church, the bank and recently the hospital who ask if I am Eastide Ellen. All of them smile!! Yes! They are also so kind as to show true empathy. These people are not just listening into a report, but are identifying with it. What would they do if this happened to them? That’s part of what I love about growing up and living in central Indiana; people really care about their neighbors.
At this point I am unsure as to whether I will continue to report at WIBC on Tuesday mornings. Perhaps the story is no longer newsworthy. I don’t know how programming decisions are made. All I do know is that I am going through something that is so very rare that even mainstream medical doctors don’t know how to handle it. There is an opportunity for pioneering medical research to be made, and I am the kind of person that will share it all. I totally believe that God remains in control of every detail. I trust that there is an ultimate good that will be realized as a result of this trial and the events that are happening even now. I derive great joy in knowing that there are people who are standing beside me in both “good thoughts” and prayers, who are as perplexed as I am. and who are as fascinated and dumbfounded as even the local medical community. We may not know the answers yet, but it is comforting to know that Hoosiers join together in an attempt to help each other.
It is for just such a reason that being on WIBC 93.1 FM “the News and Talk of Indiana” has been a great source of comfort, inspiration, intrigue and humor in a time that otherwise could threaten to undo a person. I am so very proud to call myself a Hoosier — albeit one that sounds like some kind of foreigner. I am still a farmer’s daughter, even though my voice may stand out a bit more when calling in the cows : D
Reconnecting
I have been enjoying one of the great benefits of social media lately. That is, reconnecting. I have rediscovered old high school classmates and neighbors. Once I find one, then they have a couple more that they have to suggest and the “friends” list grows.
This demonstrates to me not only the power of today’s social media and the world wide web, but also how much of an impact just one person can have. As my friends list continues to grow I am not out to place additional names on some list for the sake of numbers. Rather, I am amazed at the number of people who have touched my life or shared my life with me in some way.
It is not just the world wide web that connects us… No… it was far before computers were even invented that we were connected. God the Father intended for us to go out into the world and share our lives with one another. We make an impact where we are and with whom we are surrounded. That is why I like to think of myself as a “Walmart Missionary”… I will use the opportunity of standing in a shopping line to say hello to a total stranger and share a piece of life with them. Oh how marvelous it is when we are talking about the joys of living and walking in the ways of the Lord!
What’s That Sound?
While at a local Sams Club this last week, I heard some woman talking almost identically to my foreign accented voice. “What is that sound?” I knew that accent, yet I was not speaking, so I had to find out more about this. I sought out the source and came upon a woman who appeared to be in her seventies that was speaking with anyone around as she tried to locate a particular item in the store.
I went up to offer a suggestion on where she might look and offered to walk her there. As we walked, I decided to be brave enough to ask the question that I get asked so often since this foreign accent came upon me. “Where are you from?”
She said that she had been born in Chezlovakia, raised in Germany and spoke a total of five different languages. That is why she sounded familiar to me. It was not one particular accent that I was detecting, but several. Then the funny thing happened, she asked me where I was from. Then came the disbelief that I had not travelled outside of the areas closest to the United States. She was intrigues by the aspects of Foreign Accent Syndrome. She said that she heard accents of some of the languages she spoke in my speech. But when I sang for her and I had my true Hoosier, all-American “real” voice, she had an open mouth of astonishment. Ha! the amazement continues.
We talked a bit about perception of others of our accents. Why is it that we Americans try to place a person’s speech into a cubbyhole by assuming that a person is from a certain area? I discussed with this lady named Marguerite, that I believe it is because we strive to relate with other people. When we hear a different sound… I think there is a part of us trying to figure out why that difference exists. When a person speaks shouldn’t they sound “normal” like us? If they do not, then it must mean they are from somewhere else, right? That must mean that they are a “foreigner”.
As this week has ticked by I am now at my seventh week with this foreign voice. I am a bit discouraged by the fact that I still sound “different,” because I miss my “real” voice. It makes me sad to realize that when my Sweetheart husband of nearly 25 years calls me on the phone during the day, I get to hear the same voice of the man I fell in love with all those years ago. However, when I return the conversation, he is hearing the tone and sounds of a voice that he has only heard for seven weeks.
Regardless, it was not because of my voice that we fell in love and have stayed together all these years. It is despite the unforseen calamities and trials, that our loving relationship endures. It is as we place our trust in the fact that God remains in control, even and especially when we are not in control, that is what keeps us pressing on.
Not the Report I Was Hoping to Hear
I was very excited about the EEG test that I had a couple of weeks ago. The technician had wired me up to the machine to record brainwaves as I performed the requested tasks. However, the lady surprised me by having me sing “You are my Sunshine” followed immediately by speaking the words. I was excited to learn that she did this because of my demonstration before the testing began.
It was with great anticipation that I went to see Dr. John Scott, my neurologist for my follow up appointment on Wednesday. I could hardly wait to hear what the EEG scribblings would show. I bet that there would be irrefutable evidence that my speech area was located in a different part of the brain than that which I used to sing. And since I can since in my “regular” voice, I thought that meant that I would be able to fully recover my normal, unaccented voice.
However, my excitement turned to disappointment when I didn’t get such a report. “Your EEG is normal,” came the report. Although that is good news in regard to connectivity of brainwaves and such, it didn’t help shed light on what is actually going on with me.
When I put the doctor on the spot with, “Well, if I just came to you with these symptoms and I had never even mentioned Foreign Accent Syndrome, what would you do with me?”
Dr. Scott told me that there simply isn’t an easy way to figure out what is going on with me. He said that in this local hospital network there simply aren’t specialists who deal with speech and how one might suddenly be stricken with a foreign accent. The closest related doctors that he could think of deal more with dementia than speech. There are also doctors who handle speech problems as it relates to psychologically based maladies, but I don’t really fit into that category either.
The bottom line of our follow up appointment is that Dr. Scott was entertaining the idea that it might be Foreign Accent Syndrome, but we are unsure of where to go from here. What testing or studies should be done. Dr. Jack Ryalls, of University of Central Florida is an expert on Foreign Accent Syndrome. My neurologist asked me to have Dr. Ryalls email him with suggestions for tests and then he will consider those recommendations and schedule them accordingly if possible. For example a functional MRI has been known to show which areas of the brain are affected, but there may not be the proper imaging tools located around here.
It is looking more and more like I am going to be dependent on some sort of a School of Medicine to launch an investigation, or include me in a study of some kind, because there doesn’t appear to be anything around here like me. Truly, I am feeling very foreign now, not just in accent, but in the idea that people just don’t know what to do with me or this problem.
There are very many people who say that I have a beautiful sounding accent. They all are intrigued by the very idea that I have this affliction. It truly is bizarre, however what to do about it? That is the question. All in all, I didn’t get the report that I was hoping for.
That is why I continue to scour the internet for more information on what may explain this. I am amassing quite a lot of documentation, but not getting to the answers yet. There is so little known about such a rarity. Still, I press on. . . there are others who are looking for the same answers out there. Still there are others who don’t know who to turn to for help. I, at least, have a group of doctors who are legitimately trying to get to the source of the problem.s
WIBC Interview for June 30th
Today’s interview with Terri Stacey and Big Joe Stayzniak on WIBC 93.1 FM can be heard at the following link. 
However, before you listen let me explain one thing. Earlier in the morning show, Joe and Terri were talking about a bit of a mystery that is happening at the radio station. Newsman Joe Ullery noted having found two french fries lying there at the station. Previously, there were found two fingernails (of the press-on variety) that had a FRENCH manicure. I found it funny that Joe Ullery has almost made a shrine of the fingernails because they make him feel happy. Why does Joe keep “noticing these things but not disturb the scene”? So it was my bright idea to mention a possible solution to the mystery. LOL
Summary: refer jokingly to the French Connection mystery at the radio station, excited to see neurologist tomorrow for EEG results, singing is fine but speaking is accented, different parts of the brain? Speech therapy scheduled to start in two weeks. When you dream do you speak with your accented voice? Working on words to make it better. Is the accent getting better or not? One step at a time. Happy July 4th everyone! Have a “Bangin’ Time”!
How Do You Say It?
The weekend was full of activities, and a lot of it was spent with family and friends of family that I had not seen in years. All these relatives and friends were at two different big celebrations held over in both Michigan and Northern Indiana.
All but one set of relatives have never heard me speaking with the foreign accent that had suddenly came upon me on May 12th.
So imagine for a moment if you were me; how would you handle the attempted explanation of the inevitable questions “what happened to your voice?” “Why are you talking that way,” and from the less familiar relatives and friends “where are you from?”
There is no easy way to explain it. There is a rare disorder called Foreign Accent Syndrome and it causes me to speak with a foreign accent. I did manage to tell groups at a time while we sat together after eating. Although that helped cut down on the number of repeated explanations, I still became very tired of explaining something that is so hard to explain.
It all boils down to the fact that we don’t know exactly why it happened, or if I will get my regular voice back. However, in the meantime we are pressing on with investigations and tests to try to gain a better scientific understanding of how the brain works in relation to speech.
Still, it is fascinating and the listeners dropped their jaws when I sang a little bit for them in my regular voice. Then we had a good conversation about our bodies being fearfully and wonderfully made. What about attitude? We talked about how we don’t gain anything by worrying or fretting about something that we do not have any control over. Then I was able to talk about my faith in knowing that God remains in control of it all. That is how I truthfully am able to do as well emotionally as I have been.
I explained that I can have “joy” even in the midst of a trial. While I may not be “happy” about it, I can have times of laughter with others as we note the funny pronunciations of American English. Some mispronunciations make a normal saying sound even more funny. We can laugh together! I have been told by many people that it is the laughter that allows them to ask me more questions without feeling uncomfortable about it.
That brings me back to the conversation with them about what to say when I am asked so many times a day, “Where are you from?” I always answer, “where do you think? I seriously would like to know, because we are taking a poll.” Most people then apologize and express they are afraid to guess wrong. I tell them they cannot guess wrong, and that I will explain it after they guess. Then the people are more at ease and will play the game.
Here is how the poll is going this week:
1) English/Australian
2) Swedish
3) French
4) Some form of Slovick
5) And this week I have been getting repeated “South African” and even a specific “Rhodesia” and 6) one Portuguese.
Although there hasn’t been a clear winner as to which accent I am speaking, it is clear that it is a foreign one. The easiest way to describe it is the sound of a foreign born European coming to the United States and trying to speak English.