When our youngest daughter was born we were concerned about her squeaky voice. We asked the doctors, a couple of different pediatricians as we moved from Tx to Wi. Every time we asked about it, we got the same answer, “nothing is wrong, she just needs to grow into it.”
Then at her 4 year check up earlier this year, our family doctor said, “well her pronunciation is a little less than I would like. Let’s schedule a few speech therapy sessions.” At the first speech therapy session the therapist made some interesting statements and requested that we see a ENT. After a few days we saw the ENT and the speech therapist concerns were confirmed.
She had a completely paralyzed right vocal cord, and it was causing some polyps on the left side. The paralyzed vocal cord is what caused her muffled or squeaky voice, and the polyps make pronunciation of words difficult. The doctor said with some therapy we can make the 1 cord strong enough to make up for the problem, and maybe over time (long time — maybe years) the paralyzed side could gain some strength.
After 6 weeks of therapy the ENT reevaluated my daughter and was concerned not much progress had been made. Some improvement, but not the desired strengthening of the good vocal cord. So we rescheduled out another 6 weeks. During that 6 week period my daughter was only able to see the therapist 2 times due to issues arising on both sides of the fence, the therapist and our family happenings (birth of a third child).
So the other day, my daughter and I ventured into the ENT’s office. After a brief wait and discussion, he wanted to scope her throat again. She was a trooper and did all the things he asked while having a tub and camera stuck through her nose and down into her throat. When he got done, he asked if he could go look at his charts and if I minded waiting. Of course, I said no problem and waiting patiently for a few moments.
When he came back, he said, “I had to go look at my chart, because I wanted to make sure I looked at the correct vocal cord. The right one was the paralyzed cord, and I had hoped over years it would be corrected. The vocal cord has full function and is working as if there had never been any damage at all! In addition, there are no polyps on either cord!
He also said he was amazed at the quality of her voice, and that no more visits with him or therapy required! Praise God! Not only that, but many people have been mentioning how much better her voice sounds. I personally believe she was healed, because of her recent passion to worship God in singing on Sundays and around the house all week. She loves to worship and sing, and I believe God honored that passion with a full restoration.
The doctor did say that there was no medical reason for the improvement!
