When my father had broken several vertebrae in his neck, he was in a halo collar to stabilize his neck. With the swelling of the fracture site, he lost the ability to swallow and speak. So, we purchased a small 8x14 inch white board and some dry erase markers. He had been unable to speak or communicate for several days before that, and his first words were based on a conversation the doctors had about his medication they had 2 days earlier. It was incredibly frustrating for him not to communicate.
Though he succumbed to his injuries, he was able to communicate with us and that made a tremendous difference in his care and our well-being. The other thing I can suggest is that if your grandmother does have swelling from the injury and the inflammation does press on the nerves. What we did the day before he died was get a remote controlled power strip. It allowed him to turn on and off the suction pump that would help him clear his throat. Before that he was completely dependent on us, doing his suction. The human body makes 2-3 gallons of saliva/mucus a day. If you can swallow it, it can go until the lungs and can cause pneumonia.
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When my father had broken several vertebrae in his neck, he was in a halo collar to stabilize his neck. With the swelling of the fracture site, he lost the ability to swallow and speak. So, we purchased a small 8x14 inch white board and some dry erase markers. He had been unable to speak or communicate for several days before that, and his first words were based on a conversation the doctors had about his medication they had 2 days earlier. It was incredibly frustrating for him not to communicate.
Though he succumbed to his injuries, he was able to communicate with us and that made a tremendous difference in his care and our well-being. The other thing I can suggest is that if your grandmother does have swelling from the injury and the inflammation does press on the nerves. What we did the day before he died was get a remote controlled power strip. It allowed him to turn on and off the suction pump that would help him clear his throat. Before that he was completely dependent on us, doing his suction. The human body makes 2-3 gallons of saliva/mucus a day. If you can swallow it, it can go until the lungs and can cause pneumonia.