Background

I am student opera singer who has been studying now for six years. Throughout this time my singing has been up and down, hot and cold, mainly good days - yet a few bad days too. I have done roles, recitals, opera scenes, competitions, auditions (and got work!!) all in good voice. Yet I have also done a lot of these in not so good voice also and it was May 2015 after powering through the final of a competition in London that I made the decision to go and see an ENT specialist.

I went that following week and he confirmed I had a ''polyp''/''small swelling'' on my right vocal cord. Phew! Finally an answer as to why I have been experiencing vocal issues. He suggested speech therapy (been there done that got the t-shirt), but said the best and easiest way round this was a quick little operation, ''shave'' off the swelling, within six weeks you're good to go! That sounded simple, and we arranged to go private and have the op on 11/08/15.

Between then and the operation, the consultant was happy for me to continue singing. I performed my end of year recital, and performed a role with a well-established opera company. To me, my voice was on good form and has been since that day in May. Strange, one may think, but apparently stress is a huge factor and due to finally knowing the answer to my problems I believe my body and voice just relaxed.

This blog is an account of my recovery period, from the first speech therapy session, the surgery itself and the 6 weeks of vocal rehabilitation. I decided to write this as I hope it may be of interest to fellow singers going through similar problems.

Hope you enjoy reading!

Mezzo Girl x