“why is this website so dead?” OR “what’s wrong with your voice?”

[this blog post has a follow-up.  after reading it, you can read the update here.]

if you’re looking over this website and notice that most of the posts are not recent, you might wonder if it is still active; what’s going on?

well, in june 2015, following an illness, i developed a dramatic vocal problem.  my voice was very hoarse, which made it difficult to sing or even to speak.  as time went by, this subsided, but did not go far away.  frequently, my voice would sound ragged or rough.  this decreased my ability to sing to my full potential.  my voice would crack when i didn’t want it to.  i was unable to hit certain notes with the precision and power i was used to.  as you might guess, this has been very frustrating and demoralizing.

my primary care doctor at the time referred me to an ear, nose, and throat doctor (ENT).  unfortunately, this particular ENT was extremely rude and insulting.  he also told me that there was no physical damage on my vocal cords, no nodules or polyps.  at the time, i thought this was good news, but it turned out to be incorrect.

at the beginning of 2016, i started seeing a new primary care doctor, and i told him about my voice problem.  despite my efforts to treat my voice in various ways, including various vocal exercises, i still became hoarse easily.  after some difficulties in locating a different ENT who would accept my current insurance, eventually i was referred to a new ENT who turned out to be very knowledgeable and helpful.

this new ENT discovered what she called a “node” on my vocal cord.  she did not recommend surgery, but referred me to a speech therapist in her clinic.

last week, i finally had my first appointment with the speech therapist.  she took some videos of my vocal cords and showed me what’s going on.  i do not have the well-known “vocal fold nodules” condition, which is caused by wear and tear (and consists of two symmetrical bumps).

what i have she called a granuloma (though my online research says that’s a misuse of the term).  anyway, it’s a single bump on one side and at a different point from where nodules usually develop gradually, over time.  this was caused by a single trauma, when i was sick in june of last year.

the good news is that this is not a permanent condition.  with proper treatment, this will go away; the bump will shrink.

i’m so glad to finally know what i’ve got and what to do about it.  it will still take time to heal this, but i’m now headed in the right direction.

so, if you’re looking around this website and wondering why there has been so little posting lately, well, there’s the reason:  i was reluctant to make new recordings or to heavily promote my music when my voice was “not itself”, and i wondered if it ever would be again.  now that i know what i know now, i’m optimistic about moving forward.

[this blog post has a follow-up.  you can read the update here.]