slow progress is still progress [vocal recovery part 4]

this is the fourth post about my journey of vocal recovery.  read the story from the beginning.

my vocal challenges continue.  i am improving, but very slowly.  as i have discussed in my previous posts, my voice encountered serious issues in june of 2015, following an illness.  it took me a while to find some people who could actually tell me what the problem was and what to do about it.

using the device in the featured picture, they can take video of my vocal cords in action.  there was a bump on one of my vocal cords, probably caused by the illness.  my vocal cords are thinning, due to aging, and so, have to work harder to produce sounds.  thus, the bump was not having a chance to heal.

in december, they injected my vocal cords with a gel-like substance to “plump them up”.  this eased some of the strain, and THE BUMP HAS NOW GONE AWAY!  this is really good news.

the other news is that this has not solved the problem.  my voice still wears out easily, and hoarseness is a common thing for me.

for months, i have been doing vocal exercises, and now that the bump is gone, my speech therapist has added some exercises using “loud voice” techniques.  the goal is to build up my vocal cords naturally, sort of like a “workout” for my voice.  🙂

i will probably also have another injection.  it was difficult for me to feel any improvement from the first one, but both the speech therapist and the ENT feel that it has made a positive difference in the way i sound.  doing the loud voice workout following the new injection may help to strengthen my weak voice.

i continue to move forward.  any progress is good, even if it is very slow.  the human voice is a fragile thing.

as i said previously, i believe creating music and sharing it with others is paramount for me.

since my last post, i have sung in public twice.  the first was “a night of fun with kendall brown and friends”, which featured me and four others all playing funny, upbeat, light-hearted songs.  the second was a “songwriter in the round” showcase, hosted by heather little.  i have not yet taken on a full-length gig by myself, but i’m still looking forward to doing that again.

my next appearance will be at the holistic festival on june 25.  i would love to see you there.

more news is here, in this update.