I went to see Dr. Asdell for my 3-week post-op visit. The nurses said the swelling has continued to go down, which was nice to hear (although once again, I'm not fully convinced by their report!). Dr. Asdell said my bite was improving, thanks to the bands. So he wants me to continue wearing them for another week. He said that maybe next week he'll consider repositioning the bands elsewhere in my mouth for further improvement. Because I want the best care possible, I'm not going to complain about this. I don't want to take any short cuts and regret those decisions later!
Dr. Asdell also asked me about my voice. Now I have noticed a slight improvement, but it's still not 100% back to normal. He said he was puzzled by it - he told me that he's dealt with hundreds of patients and I'm the only one to have been marred by a high-pitched voice. That's not exactly reassuring, but he told me to try doing some vocal exercises. I'll give it a try because I don't want to have to go to physical therapy just to restore my "old" voice. I promised him I wasn't toking on any helium as part of my pain management, and he chuckled. We both suspect the voice change is due to the intubation. But really, I'm less concerned about what caused this to happen in the first place, and more focused on my recovery. So later today I'll look online to see what kinds of "vocal exercises" I should be doing. Thank goodness for this blog so that no one has to suffer from hearing me toot my broken horn! :0)
Pie in a Glass
15 years ago
11 comments:
I'll ask Mike about any techniques that he knows of. He does this with his students all the time I think :)
Sweet, Amanda!!! I totally forgot Mike is a singing guru! Please let me know what he thinks I should do to get my voice back!!
:0)
M
When I went to work for a bit yesterday, they all said my voice still sounded a lower than before. I think its getting better, but my doctor told me that it was from intubation and that it takes a while to heal. I'll be interested to see how the voice exercises go!
I'm sure that it will return to normal as it heals, I think your friend has a good idea with the vocal coach. He should be able to give you some execises to use. Sounds like everything is healing well.
Mo-Mo.
When I was a Drill instructor my vocal cords would go through a some pretty brutal punishment during boot camp and leadership academy times. (yes, I was a drill instructor in the Navy ROTC hard to image right?) Anyway my commander actually had a stupid simple thing to help me from not destroying my vocal cords after a lovely 13 hour day of issuing commands. Lemons. I kept a raw lemon with me at all times that I would cut in half and drink the juice.
This may be a horrible idea for your since yours is suffering from an injury (so it sounds) and mine was from strain, although it helped quite a bit. Plus it kept my breath lemony fresh all the time.
hey just a passing question as someone who's just had a jaw operation too - the bands: do yours keep snapping? mine snapped on sunday, had to take an hour and a half journey to the hospital, they just snapped again now. what do you reckon? i mean, should i position them myself? probably stupid.. i know. anyway, any help or tips on getting food without having to actually open my mouth the 2mm it allows would be greatly appreciated! thanks
by the way, i had my op last thursday and my orthodontist is on holiday just to put you in the picture.
sorry. im rambling.. anyway. yes.
also, glad to hear things are going well! (aside from the voice lol) good luck with everything
Nate - you're right, I'm having a hard time imagining you as a Drill Instructor! Hmm...lemons. Okay, I'll give it the good 'ole college try!
Sarah - congrats on being almost a week post-op!! That's great. I've actually not had any issues with my bands breaking. I do remember my OS telling me to be very careful whenever I replaced my bands. He told me to make sure I put the new bands exactly where he placed them. (He's trying to get my bite perfectly aligned - the swelling pushed my lower jaw slightly off center.)
I also have SO many zip 'n squeeze bags that I don't use. Do you want them? If so, send me an email so we can figure out how I can send them to you. My email address is mverges@iusb.edu.
:0)
M
Sarah,
Did they give you a big syringe at the hospital? That worked the best for me by far. The catheter that was attaached to it was okay for really liquidy stuff but I took that part off once I could handle things like applesauce and blended chunky soups. Those syringes are great since they don't get clogged and you can just squirt almost anything through them. I didn't have much luck with the Zip N Squeeze bags either so I have ton leftover too. I hope your recovery is going well!
Michelle-
Maybe the lemon will help. You can always make lemonade while you're at it! You know what they say, when life gives you lemons...
good luck on the vocal exercises!
Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti DO!! ;D
Post a Comment