Monday, May 12, 2008

Good News on the Voice

This morning I saw an otolaryngologist about my vocal/swallowing issues.  Part of her exam is to send a scope down your throat, through your nose.  It was terrible. 

Anyway, the good news is that I don’t have throat cancer! (Not that I thought I did, but she seemed pretty happy about it.) She also said that I don’t have vocal paralysis. I figured I did have something like that. She said that the top muscles of the larynx are really tight, and when I speak I tighten them even more which restricts the voice.  She referred me to a speech therapist that might me able to help.   There is no pill or shot for this; it is a matter of learning to relax those muscles and learning to speak again.  I see her on May 27.  Also I’m going back next week for a swallowing test, which I am absolutely dreading.

Bottom line is that despite the unpleasantness, it was an encouraging visit.

1 comment:

Dan Hilton said...

Congrats, David! Great news about the voice and hopefully being able to get it back with some speech therapy.