My goodness, what a trek! And there’s another procedure on the way. Dr. Sataloff tells me i’m not vibrating. My left vocal fold is slightly lower than the right one. That’s correctable by injecting adapose tissue into the fold. So on October 7th I’m scheduled to visit Lankenau Hospital for that procedure. Of course, I’ll find myself again on total vocal rest but I don’t know how long this time will be my forced silence but I’m hopeful as to the outcome.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned my acid reflux issues. Some of my reading has indicated that the leukoplakia and carcinomas on my vocal folds could be a result of the acid in my esophagus. And I’ve tried to fight GERD with all the tricks known to the medical profession: Medicine, restricted diet, head-elevating bed wedge, limits on the timing of ingestion and alkaline water. The acid persists, despite all these things. Then I got lucky and got a very nasty upper respiratory infection.

I know how counter-intuitive that sounds but hear me out. It was nasty. I had a bad cough and wheezed like crazy. So, I made an appointment with my primary care physician. Got prednisone, antibiotics and an order for the chest x-ray. That’s where I got lucky. Nice lady at Delaware Imaging processed my prescription and set up my x-ray. We spoke afterward and I shared the belief that GERD caused how I sounded. She volunteered information on Linx procedure. She had the Linx procedure performed and it ENDED HER ACID REFLUX. Well, on 10/16 I’ve got an appointment with a surgeon to investigate it’s advisability for me.

Well, with a little luck, both the cause and the result of my many surgeries will be behind me. I’m seeking prayers and good wishes for such an outcome.