Au Revoir, Pierre Le Polyp!!

Well, I must say that 4 weeks without singing or humming was a pretty challenging feat. In fact, I didn't think it would be as hard as it was, but it was!

The surgery to remove the polyp from my vocal cord, affectionately known as Pierre Le Polyp, was on the morning of July 26th. I was confident that the procedure would be successful but still worried at the outside chance that something, anything, could go wrong! Nothing did.

Dr. van der Woerd at St. Joe's in Hamilton did a fabulous job and everything went swimmingly. As this picture shows....all gone!

Taken during surgery

The recovery included 1 week of no talking, laughing or coughing. If I was to regain complete use of my voice I would need to be very diligent for the first week and then follow the medical guidelines for vocal recovery over the next 3 weeks. This meant a slow and gradual return to normal voice usage. I needed to introduce speaking in increments of 5 minutes per hour each day for the 2nd week. The 3rd week would consist of restrictions around volume and overall control of my voice, while week 4 would be full talking.

The whole time, however, would mean no singing or humming of any kind. It was the little things that proved to be the hardest. Like hearing a song in the car and wanting to sing along. Nope!! Getting an idea for a song lyric and wanting to try it out. Nope! Or just wanting to do that which I've found comfort in doing since I could remember. Nope! I heeded the advice of the experts and I kept my singing voice silent until Monday, August 28, when the doctor gave me the all clear!

I must admit, I got a little emotional. When I got home I did a few exercises and warmed up my old friends in the throat and then sang a gentle version of 'Fly High', a song I'd written 5 years ago during cancer treatments. It seemed an appropriate choice as a 'first' song because just the previous week my oncologist had said the magic words, "Cancer Free"!!

Wow! What a month.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to check up on me and wish me well. And especially to my awesome wife, Jackie, who made sure I was being well taken care of and given the best chance at recovery.

So, it's time to get back to the stage. I'll be taking my time to start but I've got a few things lined up already.

I'll be at Merk Snack Bar on Sept. 21st. Then back to our THC Sunday Fundays at the Canadiana starting on Sept. 24.

Keep an eye out on the website for all other upcoming dates. There are a few new things that'll be happening along with some new venues. In the meantime, I will never take what I do for granted. I'm thrilled to be back and to have a voice that still carries a tune.

Hope to see you out there somewhere, sometime. Peace