🍀 March Update #2 🍀

I had my March 10th appointment, and both my doctor and speech therapist confirmed that I have very limited options at this point. Unfortunately, a vocal rest or even a steroid injection would only help inflammation and wouldn’t fix the more physical issues like the cup/saucer formation and the keratin buildup.

It’s now 100% confirmed that I’ll be having another surgery. I just have to wait for the call this week to get it scheduled, but it looks like I may have to end up calling myself like last time :<

My doctor also agreed to use the laser for this surgery! However, he did mention that if things change before or during the surgery and he feels that a blade would be more effective, he’ll switch to that instead.

I also want to reassure everyone that getting this second surgery does not mean I have to recover for another 6 months.

The recovery process from my first surgery involved healing from the initial inflammation and rebuilding my vocal strength. Since most of the range of my vocal folds had been essentially out of commission for 13 months before that surgery (August 2023 to September 2024), suddenly being able to use them again made my voice feel strained, awkward, and unstable, and it also cut out a lot of my vocal range.

The past six months since my first surgery have been all about regaining that control and stamina that I lost, and I made tons of progress. I’d estimate that I’ve regained about 80% of my voice, and there have been some spurts and days where I could practice singing and voice acting with zero issue. I just didn't get the okay from my doctor to return to recording yet because he didn't feel like I wasn't recovered enough to safely use my voice for long recordings.

I also kept hitting a wall recently in regards to my full range. I couldn’t quite push past that final hurdle to reach my full low notes and mid notes, and my voice is also still currently at a lower pitch/more mature sounding pitch than my natural voice is and I wasn’t sure why. But of course now we know it's the keratin and cup/saucer causing that issue.

The goal of this second surgery is to remove the keratin on one side, smooth out the bump on the other, and even out my vocal folds so that the cup saucer formation doesn't exist anymore and both my folds are even. After this, my main focus will be on resting and healing.

I already did all the tough work in the recovery of my first surgery. The issue now is just that the current stuff is blocking my folds from their full function if that makes sense? That's why I have periods of my voice being completely fine before it goes back to being off. But because of this, my second surgery recovery will be wayyy easier. I'll have to go on 100% vocal rest for a week, then go back to my normal exercises I was doing. So while this second surgery isn’t the news I was hoping for, the good news is that once this is done, I’ll be able to fully move forward with my voice recovery and recover way sooner as long as there isn't complications or anything!

How I heal the first 4 weeks after surgery and what my doctor says at the post op appointment after will determine how soon I should expect to return to recording, so I'll be able to give you guys a better timeline then.

Thank you all for your support and patience. I’ll keep you updated as soon as my surgery is scheduled! 🩷