I'm BACK!

For all those who may be interested, I am back from the hospital and have had the insertion of a GoreTextm strip into my vocal fold. While I cannot claim to have had my silky voice quality fully restored I do now at least have some ability to vocalise and feel fortunate that the breathing issues and the aspiration of food issues that were previously present seem to have been eliminated by the procedure.

I suspect that I will require some speech therapy to ensure that the voice is restored as fully as possible to what it was before my various operations however apart from the occasional croaking sound I am back!

Meanwhile as operations go this was one of the most unusual.

My anesthetist was a charming female doctor who could not have been more friendly and helpful. She explained in full what was likely to happen even in the event that something went wrong. I was to be given some local anesthetic and some drugs that would relax me, but I would be fully awake during the operation albeit sedated. This was so that the doctor could check how far in the GoreTextm strip needed to be inserted and what effect it was having while being inserted. I would need to respond to verbal commands and say things as requested so that this could all be checked.

Suffice it to say that during the operation my head was covered with something and only my eyes were open, but I felt as though I was alert and was able to respond to the doctors commands. I actually saw him cutting the strip of GoreTextm from a rectangular sheet of the stuff and then felt it going into the vocal fold and then had to make a sound and then some more insertion and then another sound and eventually when it was going in too far we knew because the sound that I produced was more akin to a soprano than anything else. So the GoreTextm was trimmed and the stitching began.

I have to tell you that this is NOT part of the process I was happy to be awake for. Feeling and hearing a needle being pushed through your own flesh is not something I want to experience again. Then again, there was an earlier part of the process in which a drill was used to drill through some cartilage and this while not painful in any way was, to say the least disconcerting to listen to.

Anyway, operation over and in the recovery room found myself being attended to by a nurse from Finland who remarked on my name and I was able to tell her (first time I could actually vocalise) about the relationship between he Finno-Ugri languages and how we actually have some words in common.

Eventually back to my room and then came the visitors.

I was of course delighted to see them and even more delighted to be able to actually speak with them. Meanwhile my neck area was swollen to the extent that it looked as though I had a goiter on my right hand side and of course as the local wore off there was the normal pain you would associate with the aftermath of an operation.

The next morning the doctor arrived and did a brief examination, told me that the steri-strips would peel off on their own accord over time and the stitches would dissolve in around five days time and that after about two weeks he wanted to see me again and if there were no problems then at the end of around three weeks I would back to being as normal as I was likely to be.

Following this interview the nursing staff made out the discharge papers, gave me my antibiotics a script for some Panadine Forte and an ice bag to hold against my neck to help to reduce the swelling.

Will all this it was back to Leanne's hotel room, an exit from there back to the car and then the long drive back to Canberra.

At present I am able to talk again although I am not yet able to move my head too much - especially to the right. I also have found it difficult to eat normally at present as there appears to be some considerable pain near the Adams Apple when I open my mouth and take in food.

Rang the doctor about this and he tells me that this is normal because he had cut a muscle and stitched it back up again and of course the body will require a little time to deal with this damage. So a little more pain for a while as yet, but at least I am assured that what I am feeling is normal and will only be temporary so overall I am now in the "just put up with it" mode.

That's all for the moment. However if anyone wants to chat or to write since I am once again home I am available.