My dad was sweet enough to take me to the hospital and be there with me while I was prepped and taken in for surgery. Whitney had a very important class that he had to attend and he was there to greet me when I came out of surgery- along with my daddy! The vocal cords are like a 'V'. The left and right meet each other in the middle when you talk, swallow, etc. My left vocal cord was paralyzed and was not moving very minimally. The right vocal cord was overcompensating and doing the job of two, therefore causing a lot of pain due to fatigue in the vocal cords. An implant was put by the left vocal cord to medialize it into a talking position. The ENT advised that unless I am a marathon runner I won't notice the less airflow I will have, well- I am not much of a runner so I was okay with that. Now my right vocal cord will be doing its intended job of meeting the left vocal cord in the middle. I was very nervous for surgery but with the priesthood blessing and fasting from family I knew I could get through this. I was put under anesthesia and once the surgeon had the larynx exposed they brought me out of anesthesia so I could be awake while they inserted the implant.
The reason behind this? Well...in order to make sure they moved the left vocal cord over enough I had to talk while they inserted the different sizes of implant. This way they would make sure that it was moved over enough, but not too much as they would be able to tell when I spoke. After they inserted the correct implant they put me back asleep and stitched me up. I was in the hospital overnight and on vocal rest of 48 hours. I am talking now and I am a little quiet and hoarse as should be expected but hope that within a week or two I will be back to sounding normal again. I know some of you may be wondering...'Do I remember being awake.' Yes, I do, but I was very 'happy' and things were a little hazy. I remember looking up at the surgeon and nurse with their masks on and that is about it. It was very hard to swallow at first, but it has improved a lot within the past few days. It feels so much different to even talk, I don't feel like I am straining just to speak. It is wonderful!! :)
4 comments:
Hey,
You are in the best of company and like Pres. Kimball, you can say that you fell among "cut throats."
Looks like it hurt but hope you are doing better. What caused the problem with the one cord?
Bob
Take a look at mine and Whit's blog. I go into a lot more detail as to the cause of the vocal cord paralysis. It is kind of a long post though :)
So a couple of years ago Justin had a cold that "settled in his vocal cords" (or at least that's what the ent said. He had his throat scoped a couple of times and luckily after resting it for a couple of weeks it slowly came back. I guess that since it happened once it's more likely to happen again. Kinda strange!
YIKES, I know I'm so late in this whole thing but hope your recovery went well!
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