Hey Tina,
Welcome back! I was probably in the hospital when you were, Oct 25 through the 30th.
My voice was a whisper for 10 days to 2 weeks, and slowly is getting better. My wife said I sounded like Mickey Mouse. It sounded better with the passage if weeks but it gets tired easily with talking more than a few minutes, and I sound like Mickey again if I talk for long. As I test it now after a long day at work, I sound like I have a cold, my voice is coarse, like Clint Eastwood, and I cannot talk loudly. If I get lots of sleep it almost sounds like normal for a while.They said it should get better in the next month or two when I did my telephone followup last week. But it might not or it could take many more months. My swallowing has been up and down with a few mild choking episodes. When my voice is tired my swallowing is worse. My headaches were controlled with Tylenol from day 2. I have very little in the way of headaches now, but I am also tired all the time. I have no energy left, and it hits me like a wall if I do too much.
We each have different issues, we are all different and we will heal differently.
Most important; my horrible throat pain is gone. Now, all I have to do is finish climbing Mount Everest to recover the rest of the way.
I have not seen Dr. Fukushima since the hospital ( I was there a total of 5 days due to the severe dizziness and vision issues) because they only see folks back if there are problems. I guess that's the way he does it.
I am hopeful you will improve, the brain is complicated and takes a lot longer to heal than other tissues in the body. After all, we just went through brain surgery! Even if the hole he makes is small, the brain still has to be pushed around...
Best wishes, Tina, keep us informed!
The end of 7 weeks of recovery brings me closer to normal, but still weak. Work is still difficult since it involves so much talking. My voice is also gaining strength, most days sounds normal, so long as it isn't stressed by too much talking. My sense of taste improves daily but eating is not satisfying yet. Things don't taste bad but also don't taste right. Weight gain is steady, about 10 pounds up since surgery. Yesterday I felt a headache in the left occipital area, and some mild pain in the left throat towards the ear. I was a bit alarmed, since these were both new since my decompression.. A call to Dr. F's office was re-assuring: I was told barometric pressure change with the weather can cause this. They told me that twinges of my old pain can recur. This was nothing like the old pain. Not a tenth of that, just worrisome. It seems to have gone away today. I'd hate to have it come back so soon after MVD. All the minor issues aside, I am still pleased to be essentially free of my old pain, contemplating the future. I didn't have one 2 months ago...
Hey I also had head and ear pain yesterday! I tried to go back to work last week and working as a professional in a call center for a drug research company it didn’t go very well so I saw a voice specialist and my left vocal cord is still paralyzed. So I’m frustrated that I still have just a faint voice and wear out easily talking. I haven’t let dr. Fuki know yet. They recommended a procedure to thicken the vocal cord to help my voice to be stronger. I just wanted to see if you had any tone to your voice? Mine is just like I came home, maybe a slight better but not much.
Mine has slowly improved and is a lot better than when I left the hospital. It's still not quite normal, and if I talk for long it tires out, but this is getting better as time goes on as well. I have to clear my throat a lot, it's sort or thick and gravelly and when tired it's high pitched and weak sounding. You might talk with Lori at Dr. Fukushima's office and let them know what is going on.
I know I need to talk to them, but it’s so hard to communicate to him and her. I tell them what’s going on and they treat me like its nothing and I’m high maintenance or something. They tell me to go back to work and I tell them I can’t because I’m a phone consultant. I didn’t know my voice would be like this for this long and it’s so aggravating to me. I’m young 33 years old with 2 kids and its so hard sometimes communicating. Thanks so much for listening to me whine. I just wish lorie would be a little more understanding of my situation.
My job tires out my voice even if it it starts out almost normal. Today I talked to only 3 people for a total of about 45 minutes and even now more than 8 hours later it's still hoarse. I went back to work short hours 12 days and 14 days postop. Big mistake ... You might ask your primary care MD for help regarding your work.