I woke up this morning and said "Good morning honey," as usual, and it came out loud and clear! Mark and I both just had our mouths drop and said "OH MY GOSH!" It was an incredible change from the last nine months. So before Mark left for work I talked and talked and talked. He was doing his best to get me to conserve, but I couldn't help it. I could tell it wasn't 100% just yet, but since this was two days before the Botox was actually supposed to help, it was miraculous!

Mark left for work and I called Lynda and Johnny Bush and shared the good news. They were quite thrilled too and were going to call the doctor and let him know how the voice had come back. Then I called my mother, my sister, my best friend and others to let them know that I could talk again!

I went to work and went to all 150 employees one by one and said, "Listen to me! I am talking to you! I have a voice!" There were many hugs and congratulations and much amazement and happiness. I said something about now being able to do production again (that's doing commercials for the station, which can be a hassle) and someone said "you might want to keep that quiet!" (so I wouldn't have to do it). I said, I will never complain about production again! I will be so happy if I am able to do production once more!

I went on to the radiothon at the children's hospital. We had been there all through the day yesterday and had a very successful day. I had sincerely hoped we would take the total past $100,000 yesterday before we stopped for the day, but we did not. I was afraid that boded ill for the success of the whole thing and hitting our goal of $275,000.

When I began listening to the radiothon this morning, the amounts sounded good, but they were really lagging in the middle of the day. I had many people stroking my ego about how well we would be doing in the afternoon, which was nice, but also scary to have that much responsibility to finish this thing up well.

I should have had more faith. We hit the goal and moved the goal and ended the day with over $310,000. It was incredible. I wish I could have spoken to each and every person that called and told them how much I really appreciated their contribution. This is really a cause I enjoy and feel is worthwhile and I hope that came across on the air.

Last night I went straight from the hospital to Stubb's for the Jerry Jeff and Pat show. Pat was on my show at the hospital, and I don't believe he had every been on my show before. He still hasn't done it at the studio, which would be the ultimate, but it was nice to have him in this situation, too. I introduced both of them at the concert and Pat kissed me flat on the mouth! Oooolala! I told that to Mark this morning and he said "I wish he'd kiss ME on the mouth sometime!" Mark is funny.

Their show was all very good. As tired as I was from the long day, I enjoyed it. I knew my voice was becoming stronger and the intros came pretty easy, but I was still struggling for casual conversation.

And then I wake up and I can speak! Botox is truly a miracle poison!

Tomorrow is mostly a day of rest. I just came home today and collapsed into an almost 3 hour nap. But tomorrow I'll work a few hours in the morning and then I'm getting together with the old roommates since B! is in town and I will be able to talk!

I don't know if it possible to get across to someone how wonderful this change feels. It is going from being aware of every word I say and wondering if it is worth the effort to say it, to being able to talk freely. It has been a long time coming!