I am still searching for a voice. Stopped by the head/neck guys to see if they would want to see me yet, but they don't see a person until they are having trouble with laryngitis for at least a month. Since my job as a college professor requires some speech (actually, 90 percent of the time, I am supposed to be talking), this has had a great impact on my job and interactions with my colleagues and students.
With all of the cancer treatment for my particular brand of adenoid cystic carcinoma, I have been pretty lucky to not have experienced trouble with my voice before. Not figuring I am experiencing any now - probably just a virus (according to what every health professional has told me so far).
A fellow oral cancer patient is quoted in a research article I read recently about their loss of voice during treatment:
"Ok, I'm not Oscar Wilde or Moss Hart, but to have a riposte or a description or a question sitting there on my lips waiting to be shot into conversational melee and not be able to shoot it is crippling..." (Crossley ML. 'Let me explain': narrative emplotment and one patient's experience of oral cancer. Soc Sci Med. 2003 Feb;56(3):439-48) Shooting blanks here myself - maybe time or the family practice doc I see tomorrow will help things move along.
What did the big bad wolf eat so his voice would be smooth and not scare Little Red Riding Hood? Chalk? Just my luck, our university no longer uses chalkboards (grin!).
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3 comments:
Hi Teresa,
I've had to take a leave from teaching MAT courses due to hoarseness. After two years of various doctors' remedies, an ENT scoped my vocal cords and found one paralyzed. Turned out that a tracheal ACC tumor had invaded the left recurrent laryngeal nerve. Luckily, the tumor came out, along with the left lung, and I'm doing fine. I still can't teach, but I'm trying some guest lecturing.
Your hoarseness is probably something simple, but I'd recommend the scope. It only takes a couple of minutes.
Best wishes
Thanks so much for your comment, Jack. Glad you are back in the running for guest lecturing (what is your area of research, in case I can help get you a gig?). If things aren't better by morning after my first prednisone pills today, a-scoping I will go. Right now, the challenge is to not say a word. Wishing you continued health!
Prednisone? Welcome to the club! I get to cut out another pill today, putting me down to only 40 mg a day. Five more days then I hold at 20 while traveling, I think.
I hope it helps. No voice sucks even for every day stuff. More so when it's your work.
Your parrot colored yarn came yesterday. I've got to finish my hat so I can start yours and see how it looks!
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