The voice saga continues...

On Wednesday I went to see Debbie Phyland, voice expert, again. Last time I saw her she took video of my vocal cords in action and told me my nodules are gone. Since then, about three weeks ago, I have continued to lose my voice any time I go out or have a late night or eat a rich dinner or do anything that bears the slightest resemblance to having a normal life. Grrr...

She looked at the video again to make sure she was definitely right and I didn't have nodules. She confirmed that there was a little bit of swelling there, but no nodules. Good news. But, the anti-reflux medication was supposed to make a big difference, and it hasn't. This perplexed her. She told me to keep taking the medication and do simple vocal exercises like brrrr and mmmm 6 times a day and I should see some improvement. Hmmmm... I'm getting so sick of people saying "this will fix everything" and then it doesn't! But, I will try with the exercises and see how I go. It's going to be tricky over Christmas, but i'll try. She also wanted me to have a day of complete vocal rest. This means going to bed, waking up and not speaking at all (or whispering) for a whole day, then going to bed again. So it's effectively about 36 hours of silence. Try it - it's not easy!!! There's no way I will be able to do this before Christmas time, I will try for early Jan. Dammit!! I wanted an instant cure!! Not exercises and days of silence! One pill to fix the whole problem. I should have known that was too easy!!!