check-up results

I had a check up with the surgeon today. For the most part things are going well. My biggest concern continues to be my voice, but they are pretty confident that it will fully recover. The problem seems to be just that the nerve that controls the muscles around the voice box was irritated during surgery and is not fully able to control all the muscles yet. So one muscle in particular is not working very well. The other muscles in my neck are trying to make up for it, but not doing a very good job. The biggest problem with my voice right now is my range. I still can't use inflection when I'm reading to the kids, or when I sing to them I can't hit the higher notes that I used to be able to hit. When I do try to hit those upper ranges, my whole neck tightens up. Apparently that's the other muscles trying to compensate for the one muscle that's not working. They still insist that with time, that muscle will work again. I have another check up in a month, and if my voice is still a problem, he will look into it further then. In the meantime, I'm supposed to not strain my voice. I'm supposed to speak in monotones. Bleah.

The other issue is that my skin right around the incision seems to have adhered to the muscle underneath. So when I swallow I can feel all the skin in my neck move. he said that that is because I have no fat in my neck. Should be a good thing right? Well, because there is no fat, there was no barrier between the skin and the muscle, and that gave the skin a chance to attach to the muscle. So, at my next appointment, if it is still a problem there is a procedure they can do to detach it. If I understand correctly, they would have to open the incision back up and do something, I'm not clear on what exactly they would do. But it would be an in-office procedure under local anesthetic. Doesn't sound like fun though.

Nothing much to report on RAGBRAI, our entry was received on time, so now we wait until May 1st to find out if we are selected to be official riders. I'll update then!