It is both a benefit and a curse - hope your voice is all “back to normal” now…

At first it was a simple matter of having something stuck in my throat. so I hacked it up. It being a perfectly formed model of the inside of my larynx, in dried mucus. It was while I was trying to say, “What the f—!” that I learned I couldn’t speak.

So I hopped on a bus and took it to a hospital clinic. There I was examined by a doctor. Who told me, “It’s viral, there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.”

Ruined my Christmas that year.

Good news? It lasted only a month.

Anyway, I lost my voice for a good two months solid, not much more than a whisper (interestingly enough that occured mostly after the actual infection was gone). For the next three months or so anything above a normal sound level failed to produce noise, and for another 6-8 months anything at what one would call a yell (say, trying to holler at someone quite a ways from you or trying to sing loud) would also produce no noise.

It was funny to try and sing, it sounded like someone was playing my voice through a speaker being unplugged and plugged back in every few seconds.

Actually I got used to it pretty quickly and didn’t really think about it much. For most of that time I was stuck at home anyway, by the time I could make it out into the world from time to time I could speak in a low voice and most people commented (if they were to say anything) on my pasty white complextion anyway.

Still to this day I sometimes make no sound if I try to holler as loud as I can.

I had laryngitis briefly after one of my surgeries, because the laryngeal nerves had been shocked all to heck. They bounced back pretty quickly, but I’m sure I drove my poor husband crazy until I could talk again. Notes on a clipboard just don’t cut it for real conversations!

Hope your voice returns soon!