🌸 April Update #2 - Surgery Update! 🌸

A bit of a late update because I'm still recovering, but I'm out of surgery and have been home since yesterday evening! It took me a bit longer to get out of anesthesia yesterday compared to last time, and I also had to stay at the hospital longer than the previous surgery for two main reasons:

1.) Post-op sucked wayyy more. Since they used a laser instead of a blade this time, my throat felt way more stingy and raw, like a burning sore throat. Last time the discomfort was there but manageable. This time I woke up in pain and could barely get through the first few minutes until they increased my meds. My nurse could tell how bad it was and said I looked absolutely miserable when I woke up :<

2.) I stopped eating way earlier than my actual fasting cutoff because I was so nervous and nauseous the day before the procedure, and that ended up making recovery even harder. It made it harder for the nurse to find my veins on my hand before the surgery since I was dehydrated, and then when I woke up, I was weak, dizzy, and anything I tried to eat or drink made me feel like I was going to vomit. The oral meds I got when I was more awake only made it worse. I kept feeling shaky, lightheaded, and sick for hours. I couldn’t even sit upright without my head spinning. 😭 But thankfully I eventually stabilized after a few hours and was able to go home that evening. It wasn’t fun though. Learn from me and don’t skip meals or water from anxiety before surgery, even if you don’t feel like eating or drinking.

This surgery was way more involved and precise than my first one. They used a CO₂ laser this time to make a clean incision on both sides of my vocal folds, which is different than the blade they used to just scrape off the top layer during my first surgery (which left remnants behind and turned into this whole situation).

After making the laser cuts, they lifted a flap of the damaged tissue on both sides so they could look underneath and check for anything deeper that could interfere with future healing. Thankfully, there is no deeper damage! Once they confirmed the deeper layers of my folds were healthy, they went ahead and fully cut off the thickened/damaged top layers of tissue on both sides that had the leftover keratin, the bump, and the saucer-like dip that was messing up my healing and range this whole time. As a result, unlike last time, there are no remnants, no residue, and no irregularities left behind. This time, I’ll be growing brand new, healthy epithelial layers (this is the top-most layer on vocal folds)! This will be my first time having a fully clean, unrestricted foundation for healing. 🫡

Now it's only forward from here in terms of recovery.

I’m on minimal vocal rest as everything settles and regrows. I have a post-op appointment with my voice doctor on May 12th so he can check on how my folds are healing and how the tissue is regenerating. If everything goes well, this should finally be the last step in my long, messy, stressful vocal recovery journey. No more setbacks or wheezy voice or super deep tone or anything else. Just new folds, new layers, and a chance to finally use my full voice again!

Thank you to everyone who’s stayed patient and supportive throughout this process. I haven’t been able to record, stream, or post content like I used to since this whole thing began almost two years ago, and the fact that so many of you still check in on me, send love, and believe in my return means more to me than I can explain. I can’t wait to get back to creating. I can’t wait to see what my voice and new vocal capabilities sound like once I'm fully healed and can use all the new techniques and training I’ve worked so hard on with my speech therapists. And I can’t wait to come back stronger than ever!

I love you all. Thank you for being here. I’ll see you soon. 🩷