Vocal Paralysis - Thyroplasty

 One thing I found when I started talking after heart surgery was that I had no voice- literally. I could barely make a sound, and when I did- it was not the prettiest. After speaking to the surgeon he advised that it may sometimes take the voice a little while to come back because of the breathing tube. Also, the laryngeal nerve wraps around the heart and when damaged it can cause vocal cord paralysis. The biggest cause though was figured to be the breathing tube, especially since coming out of anesthesia I was pulling so hard on the tube.

After about 2 and a half months of no voice response I went to see an ENT in Phoenix who advised me that my left vocal cord was paralyzed and was not moving, and probably wouldn't again. This was very upsetting to me and I remember that day still. My Aunt Jana took me to my appointment and after learning the news we went out for ice cream- doesn't ice cream just make everything so much better?!

After much prayer, priesthood blessings and fasting, my voice came back around the end of June. I was thrilled.

So flash forward to over a year later - November 2006. I ended up getting very sick for about 3 weeks, I had laryngitis, viral infection and strep throat. After I recovered from that my voice was gone again, not as severely as the first time, but is was very hoarse, and weak. For the next year I would have a very hard time carrying on long conversations. If I were to speak too much I would end up feeling like a had strep throat for about a week. Lots of throat lozenges and trying to get through each day. At the time I also worked at University of Phoenix where my job was on the phone as a financial advisor. So this was very difficult as most of the day meant 2-4 hours on the phone with students.
I started to go to an ENT around February 2007- a different one that lived closer to me- and he told me the problem was acid reflux and so for a month I was on medication for this, which didn't help anyway. The doctor increased the dosage of medication and after two months I decided to stop taking the medication and look for another route.

I found a Speech pathologist around August 2007 and after several months of therapy, there was still no change in the vocal cord and the pain.

Vocal cords are shaped like a 'V'. Each side of the vocal cord meets in the middle when you speak, swallow, etc. My left vocal cord was not even moving and so the right side was overcompensating and instead of going to the "middle" it was moving clear over to the left vocal cord. This caused much stress and pain when I would talk too much because the right vocal cord was basically doing the job of two. When I first had the paralysis in 2005 it was bad enough that when I would swallow water I would choke it back up because my vocal cords were not closing and it would go down my wind pipe. My ENT advised that since it has been about 3 years and the left vocal cord had not improved, it most likely would not. The best thing for me from all options, I decided, was thyroplasty.

Simply put- an implant is put by the left vocal cord to medialize it. My left vocal cord has been moved to a talking position. The ENT advised that unless I am a marathon runner I won't notice the less airflow I will have, well- I am not much of a runner so I was okay with that. Now my right vocal cord will be doing its intended job of meeting the left vocal cord in the middle. I was very nervous for surgery but with the priesthood blessing and fasting from family I knew I could get through this. I was put under anesthesia and once the surgeon had the larynx exposed they brought me out of anesthesia so I could be awake while they inserted the implant. The reason behind this? Well...in order to make sure they moved the left vocal cord over enough I had to talk while they inserted the different sizes of implant. This way they would make sure that it was moved over enough, but not too much as they would be able to tell when I spoke. After they inserted the correct implant they put me back asleep and stitched me up. I was in the hospital overnight and on vocal rest of 48 hours.
When I woke from the surgery, the nurse decided to wait until I could signify the level of pain. So when I was fully alert, the pain set in. It brought me to instant sobs, and my dad stood there and I tried to tell him how much pain I was in, yet I couldn't speak (literally couldn't due to the surgery recovery), and the sobbing was inflicting more pain. The nurse came in and gave me pain meds yet it seemed to only take away a sliver of the pain.

The surgery was performed in February 2008, almost three years after the paralysis. They were years with a lot of pain, and I have forgotten how much pain I was consistently in. There are residual effects of the paralysis, and my voice is not like it used to be prior, nor will it ever be. Also, there is a lot of pain that returns when I do speak too much. In all things, there is so much gratitude for the ability to speak, and there are times when I know I take the gift of having my voice back for granted. Those 3 years were difficult and painful. I will post another day on some experiences with the paralysis and being a mute, and directly relate it to using the gift of speech for saying kind things to others.