Bleeding Vocal Cords (Part 2). Post Operative Care.

We all know that whichever health problems we have, the best way to conquer them is, first of all, to prevent it. However, if it already happened, the second best way to deal with it is non-surgically, if possible.

The third apparent way is to embark on a surgical procedure. However, the latter is much more dangerous than the other two options. Look at the case of Julie Andrews; after undergoing a botched vocal surgery in 1997, she lost her ability to sing forever and never regained her real singing voice ever since. Joan Rivers, not too long ago, went to a prestigious New York hospital to the outpatient ward to remove a simple polyp and, as a result, she never came out of the operation room.  And lastly, there is Sam Smith, who luckily came out of the O.R, but with no ability to speak for quite a few weeks. The rest remains to be seen.

I wish him all the best and a full recovery of his vocal injury. However, with the best scenario, what is going to change after the vocal surgery? Hopefully, the vocal cords will be repaired and the bleeding will stop, but for how long though? In other words, the “instrument” is going to be fixed, but what about the “player”? Let’s suppose that the most famous pianist, Liberace, would try to extract the sound from his pink Grand Piano, hammering at it. What would happen to that famous Grand Piano he was transporting, along with him, everywhere he was touring? Let’s presume that it happened and the famous pianist found a famous piano repair specialist. Liberace paid him enough money to fix his favorite Grand Piano.

Now what? Poor Liberace is still continually hammering the aforementioned Grand Piano. So take a wild guess… What happens next? It is very easy to guess: His famous pink Grand Piano will be ruined one more time again.

If you are still wondering why this is the answer… Because NOTHING had changed! The instrument was fixed, but the player is still hammering… So, if any singer who has undergone a vocal surgery will still continue singing in the same manner (as he did before), no doubts, the problem will reoccur and might get even worse the second time around.  Look at John Mayer. He removed one polyp than regained two. Then removed two and regained more.

And lastly, look at Adele’s case. After bleeding polyp surgery and five months of silence after the fact, she luckily regained most of her voice.

But when (right before embarking on the performance at the Grammy Awards in 2012) she was asked by the interviewer, who happened to be CNN’s newscaster, Anderson Cooper, “Do you think that it could happen to you ever again? “ Without any hesitation, Adele replied, ABSOLUTELY!

Naturally, the interviewer asked, “why”? Adele replied, with absolute certainty “If I decide to go on a 200-date world tour, it would happen again." With that said, being smart and aware that nothing had changed with respect to her vocal technique whatsoever, she then totally knew that the initial voice problem would occur over and over again.

We all know that she never went on any tour after her vocal surgery. As a matter of fact, I know that she wanted to take a five-year break right after that occurrence. The whole ordeal scared her out of her wits, understandably so. Since she had the understanding that her vocal application and technique of doing it before the vocal injury has not been altered in any shape or form, she clearly was aware that the new vocal injury most likely will still occur, and possibly multiple times.

The moral of it is: there is no change, without change.

If the vocal application and vocal technique are not modified in such a way that the vocal cords and the whole vocal anatomy become released from the pressure of the sound, the vocal injury will, no doubt, take place. If you are interested to find out more details on Non-Surgical voice repair and postoperative care, please give Diana Yampolsky a call for a free consultation on any of the voice issues or vocal problems you or your loved one(s) might have.

416-857-8741
www.vocalscience.com
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