Health Log [7 Jan 2010]

It's been awhile since I update this.

In short, I went for another ENT appointment over the holidays.
An older doctor did another scope,
told me my voice box was badly swollen,
my sinus still obstructed,
continued to prescribe me Omeprezolle (which I deemed useless),
and added an anti-cold medication
to hopefully ease the irritation caused by the mucus.

I was then referred to a Speech Therapist and Gastrologist.

Today I went for my first session with the Speech Therapist.
And to be honest, I was skeptical.

But the session opened my eyes
to the professionalism of a Speech Therapist.

She first showed me photos of what were taken
when the scope was done on me 3 weeks ago,
explained to me the parts that were swollen,
its possible causes and problems,
and showed me the movement of my throat when I speak.

She then asked me to speak into a microphone,
recording sounds she asked me to make.

She told me I had a what they would called
a lou-feng aka husky aka "sexy" voice.

This shows that my throat does not fully close when it should be,
hence my body try to compensate by reacting negatively,
contracting the throat muscles, trying to close that "gap",
creating much tension.

She gave me a list of To-Dos and Not-To-Dos,
and then taught me a few voice exercises to correct the problem.

She told me that I needed at least 5 sessions to correct this problem,
that is if I am hardworking enough to do the exercises faithfully every day.

She gave me hope all over again.

I can't wait to see the gastro specialist,
and get to the root of the problem.

I really pray that this episode ends in 2010.

Period.