On the list of things I never expected to happen to me, permanently damaging my vocal cords was pretty much at the top. Honestly, I didn’t even know that was possible. I’m not a smoker, I don’t sing for a living… I mean, really. What is this?
But here we are.
Unfortunately, I’m a talker. I like to interact with other people. I enjoy catching up on my friends’ lives via the telephone. I love asking lots of questions. I like chatting while cleaning and cooking and doing menial work tasks. And while it’s not that I can’t talk on the phone at all now, I have to limit it. Like, a lot. And that’s really hard on my emotional state and my friendships. Sucky.
I’m also not supposed to talk from room to room, which we do all the time in my family since the first floor of my house is mostly open. I shouldn’t shout upstairs to say, “DINNER IS READY!” (I did buy a cheap megaphone for that, and using it is one of the few perks of this situation because WHAT IS BETTER THAN YELLING AT PEOPLE WITH A MEGAPHONE?).
I am not supposed to raise my voice over my barking dogs to tell them to be quiet. (It’s not like they would listen anyway, right?)
I shouldn’t be coaching novice swimmers. Or any swimmers. Or trying to talk to people in loud environments, like pools. Even talking to people outdoors can be stressful on the voice.
I shouldn’t have a conversation in a noisy environment or with someone who isn’t right next to me.
I shouldn’t raise my voice to be heard by a waiter to reach a drive-through speaker.
It’s all very inconvenient, and I’m taking this moment to whine about it.
Sometimes when I do talk to people, my voice sounds reasonably good to them. It may feel like I am speaking through a wet cloth or a throat full of cotton, but other people think it sounds kind of okay. Other times, it’s gravelly and rough, and people steer clear because they think I’m sick. And then I have to explain, except nobody else has heard of a normal person having vocal cord damage either. So they have questions, and then I HAVE TO TALK MORE TO EXPLAIN IT. Sigh.
When I first started attending vocal therapy, my therapist told me that she never wants to try to change people’s personalities. But because I’m me, the regular exercises she had weren’t enough, and here I am, left to alter my personality while I wait for the one laryngologist in the area to find an empty spot in her schedule (the appointment I have on the books is in 8 months!). Since the calluses on my vocal cords are growing into the cords as well as on them, that makes mine a more complicated case than many, OF COURSE. So, I need a specialist who is prepared for laser surgery and complicated situations instead of my regular ENT scraping around with some knives (her PA’s words, kind of). So, for now, I need to be patient and keep trying to baby my larynx as much as possible. In fact, I need to do a better job of it than I have been doing, because I’m good for a little while, and then I’m like LOOKIT, I AM ALL BETTER, except I am not.
It sounds crazy, but there you go. There’s a lot of Chamomile tea in my future.
I’ve been looking at type-to-voice apps (there aren’t very many of those). I have been trying to determine if it is even worth attempting to use them because it’s pretty tough to type as fast as I would normally talk in a typical conversation.
And then, because this is my life, I sprained a finger.
It’s pretty minor, but I was encouraged to get it checked out. I went to an orthopedic urgent care, and the doctor recommended that I buddy tape my fingers to provide stability during healing. I said, “Hmm, this is going to be a problem for work. I do a lot of typing.”
And the poor, sweet, unknowing doctor said, “Oh, maybe you could get a talk-to-text program!’
Me: …
Me: …
Me: Okay.
I didn’t even want to stress my vocal cords explaining the irony.
Then I went home and untaped my fingers to work. I’m doing okay.
In other news, since I’m not talking on the phone as much, I’m getting a lot more reading in and a lot more work done. So, there is that. Bright side.
I love author Denise Grover Swank, and her Rose Gardner books are awesome! But I’ve read all of those, and I had not read anything from Denise’s Harper Adams series. I bought the first book back in January of 2024, but I never read it because I had some kind of chip on my shoulder about how this new series couldn’t be as good as the old series or some stupid thing.
Well, now that I’m all about the reading, I checked out the first one in that series and absolutely loved it! I even messaged Denise on Facebook to tell her how much I enjoyed it, and she chatted with me for a while because she was WAITING AT THE ER VET SINCE HER DOG ATE SUNSCREEN (the dog is fine now). I told her about my cat eating ibuprofen for $2,000+, and we had a little bonding moment. She’s got four dogs, so you know she’s a good egg.
Anyway. I highly recommend these books if you are into light reading and cozy mysteries.
My new Backyard Training Games Challenge is starting off well. There’s still time to join! Visit this link for more info if you think you might want to have a fun time with dog people this summer!
Have a great week!
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hearts to bright sides...❤️🧡💛💚💙🩵💜❤️
So sorry about your voice. Hope to see improvement soon. Happy to see you are making light of it all. ❤️