Dear List,
I am trying not to panic. Last Saturday I began to feel "unwell." When I
woke up Sunday am I was sick-snotty, coughing, and VERY hoarse. This happens
to me every year about this time when they spray defoliant on the cotton that
grows everywhere down here. I spent the day resting, steaming, drinking,
taking humibid (which I take everyday anyway) and not using my voice. I was
some better Monday, but still didn't have much voice. I felt awful Tuesday,
and did not sing-in fact I totally faked a huge choir rehearsal of
Beethoven's 9th Symphony that I am supposed to sing in Saturday night. Today
I went to the local ENT because even though I sound pretty normal speaking,
singing is very difficult. I still don't feel good. This old doc, who used
the naked eye & mirror method of viewing my cords said that he saw "grains of
sand" on my cords, like I might be getting over nodules or possibly scar
tissue from the vocal cord polyp surgery I had 2 years ago. I am trying to
tell myself that the irritation is because I am sick and not something else.
Last Friday I sang better than I ever have-free, easy high notes, no feeling
of tension, etc, then got sick the next day.
Do "sick-people" cords look like this? I have a call in to the Vanderbilt
Voice Center, where I had my surgery, but they haven't called me back and
they're 2 hours away from here. Needless to say I am NOT singing the
Beethoven, and canceled a small recital I was to sing in on Friday morning.
Am I just sick? Is it possible to sing really high and really well without
breaks or skips and still have a lesion?
I got a shot of cortisone, and he told me if things didn't "settle down soon"
to call him back. I don;'t really trust this guy but he is all I have here.
It may take days or weeks to get an appointment at Vandy, so if anyone has
any words of wisdom I am anxiously waiting to read them!
Leslie
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