Day 16 - “voiceless”
Day 16 - “voiceless”
“Oh, my aching heart”. Day 1 of a life without the love and counsel of my beautiful witty and sage Marjel. Rest easy Mum and I know you continue to be by my side as I paddle these now slightly more stormy waters.
Our visit to the ENT specialist was postponed yesterday and one always questions “why”?. As it turns out for very good reason. I was able to support and influence the ongoing care of my mother through phone and video communication using my remaining voice I have had since the vocal cord was paralysed as a consequence of the cancer nodes in my chest. So today we had early radiation and then an appointment with ENT today. They re - Examined my vocal cords using telescope down my nose and offered me a temporary injection filler into the paralysed vocal cord as an interim procedure until my therapy is finished. What a fascinating procedure and won’t bore you with details apart from a very sharp needle through the front of my throat.
Immediate consequence . Complete voice rest for 48 hours. Imagine if I had been faced with that choice yesterday.
It has been a struggle today ( as I am sure most of you can imagine with motor- mouth Grahame) to avoid the reflex process of speaking.
Renene burst into tears when I had to do the voice tests for the Doctor after the injection having not heard more than a croaky whisper for over two months. We are excited to see what overall effect this procedure will have and will be worth the two days virtual silence to be able to talk and grieve and celebrate with my family over the next weeks without a voice impediment.
The ENT surgeon does not believe the paralysis will resolve so we may have to consider a more formal surgical procedure.
Our neighbour in KeriKeri suggested to Renene some “ duck tape” to stop me talking for two days . Something like “ the boy with tape On his face”
https://youtu.be/73lsIXzBar0
This was Renene solution
“Oh, my aching heart”. Day 1 of a life without the love and counsel of my beautiful witty and sage Marjel. Rest easy Mum and I know you continue to be by my side as I paddle these now slightly more stormy waters.
Our visit to the ENT specialist was postponed yesterday and one always questions “why”?. As it turns out for very good reason. I was able to support and influence the ongoing care of my mother through phone and video communication using my remaining voice I have had since the vocal cord was paralysed as a consequence of the cancer nodes in my chest. So today we had early radiation and then an appointment with ENT today. They re - Examined my vocal cords using telescope down my nose and offered me a temporary injection filler into the paralysed vocal cord as an interim procedure until my therapy is finished. What a fascinating procedure and won’t bore you with details apart from a very sharp needle through the front of my throat.
Immediate consequence . Complete voice rest for 48 hours. Imagine if I had been faced with that choice yesterday.
It has been a struggle today ( as I am sure most of you can imagine with motor- mouth Grahame) to avoid the reflex process of speaking.
Renene burst into tears when I had to do the voice tests for the Doctor after the injection having not heard more than a croaky whisper for over two months. We are excited to see what overall effect this procedure will have and will be worth the two days virtual silence to be able to talk and grieve and celebrate with my family over the next weeks without a voice impediment.
The ENT surgeon does not believe the paralysis will resolve so we may have to consider a more formal surgical procedure.
Our neighbour in KeriKeri suggested to Renene some “ duck tape” to stop me talking for two days . Something like “ the boy with tape On his face”
https://youtu.be/73lsIXzBar0
This was Renene solution
| A” different type” of “duck-tape” |
Routine radiation tomorrow and a appointment with radiation specialist. Getting into the swing of things now and approaching “ half-way stage”.
Looking forward to daughter Courtney and partner Lewis arriving Friday.
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