Thursday, August 1, 2013

Pity Party...

Today, an older gent came into the Store. I croaked out a greeting and helped him find what he was looking for.
He sounded exactly like I do.
I joked about it a little bit. He assumed that I simply have laryngitis.

"You will get better", he says. "But I won't. I am always going to sound like this, this is as good as my voice ever gets. My vocal cords are damaged. I breathed caustic battery acid fumes!"

So I told him, that's what's wrong with my voice, battery acid fumes. He asked how long, and when I said today makes three weeks, he shook his head and said that it doesn't look good.

Of course, he isn't a doctor. Just a random old fellow who just happened to walk into the store and happened to sound exactly like I do... for the same reason I do.

What if this IS the best my voice ever gets?
I don't even know how to think about that. Or if I even need to think about it.
Is it borrowing trouble to think about a future of almost no voice?

Most people cannot hear me unless I "shout".  I can barely be understood on the telephone. If the voice is 'better', I can carry on a soft conversation for a few minutes, but the voice gets "used up" really quickly.

Do I/ Should I think of suing the company? What is a voice worth?

I still have no appointment with an ENT, though I called the patient advocate and croaked out a reminder. I don't want this going on indefinitely.

Edited: ENT specialist apt is Tuesday afternoon.


1 comment:

MOM said...

maybe the 'older gent' was sent by God to tell you something...I mean what are the odds of someone coming in like that. Love you!!!