Friday, August 8, 2014

The Puberty Stage


It’s been 9 weeks since my SLAD/R surgery.   

I’ve been hesitant to record anything or even write about my progress because I am going through the changing voice stage, a “puberty” type of change.  One hour my voice is high, the next hour it is deep, then it goes soft,  and then it is froggy sounding at some point.   

After having a good voice for so many weeks I’ve noticed that I have gotten very casual with my voice.  I forget that I do not have the capability at this point to produce much volume so I try and it just sounds awful (to me).  It is not a voice where there are spasms like I had pre-SLAD/R surgery, it is just a raspy or froggy sounding voice.  I haven’t liked this phase!  I find it strange how we get used to something so quickly, like my new voice, or adapting to having SD and dealing with it, and now I expect my voice to be perfect every single day.  It is not perfect. 

My best sound is still with my voice amplifier (microphone) that I use with teaching.  By using this I can talk really quiet and the sound is amplified and my voice is very smooth.  I do not use it at home though and when I leave campus I leave the amplifier.  

When I leave work, I will call out to people in the parking lot to say good-bye and they cannot hear me, my voice just cannot get any volume yet. 

On a good note, it is really nice to be able to sing in church.  I have only mouthed the words for years and now I really sing the songs.  I cannot sing any high notes and sound more like an alto, that’s okay though, it is so nice to sing!! 

I often take sips of water without a straw, I am fine doing this but it is still easy to choke so I use a straw for most of what I drink. 
 

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