7-Months post-SLAD/R Surgery

It’s been 7 months since my SLAD/R surgery; I’ve been a slacker with updating this blog.   

My voice is not perfect but it is so much better than it had been.  There is no doubt about it, when I am tired, my voice is horrible and when I do not sleep well, I pay for it with a raspy sounding voice the next day. 

I still use my voice amplifier when teaching, I get tired and after 2-3 hours of lecture and talking, honestly, without the voice amplifier, my voice is soft and weak.  So with the voice amplifier I am able to talk softer and my voice is projected farther into the room.  I do not use this unit at home or anywhere other than in the classroom. 

I also do not use a straw anymore because I need it, though I do use it because I prefer drinking fluids this way.  I can gulp down a glass of water just fine and choking is not a problem. 

My husband told me the other day that I have to get rid of the giant container of “Thick It” I have in the pantry.  I am not sure why I kept it.  I got about 40 individual packets from the hospital and I doubt I used anything from the extra large container I bought,  I did not mind the taste of the stuff when I “had to” drink it, as it tasted like cereal, but now the thought of using it is certainly disgusting! 

I have thought about my trek with Spasmodic Dysphonia over the years, I did not wake up one morning and decide to have the SLAD/R surgery.  In the 20+ years after diagnosis, I tried many alternative things.  I tried herbs, essential oils, vitamins, acupuncture, acupressure, vegetarian lifestyle, juicing, wheat grass, eliminating foods (food allergies), T3 (Thyroid) doses, see alternative care doctors, and I am sure there are many other things here that I am not listing.  While these things may have helped me be healthier, they did not eliminate the SD!  Through the years I used Botox and was so glad when I heard about the SLAD/R surgery, for me I felt as though it was an answer to my prayers! 

Each of us have a different road to get here.  When I read about the surgery, then started looking at the quality of my life as it was, it was just a no brainer, I was going to do what it would take to get this surgery.