Well, had the surgery last week. The CT scan I had did end up revealing other significant problems, but the surgery went very well.

To say there is a difference would be an understatement.

Basically, it seems I had been trying to sing all these years on about half of my sinus capacity. All the bad feelings and sensations were in the throat, and so all the "searching for an answer" had been in that area....but no one could ever find anything. Had more than one person suggest that my issues stemmed more from my gray matter than my throat (can't say I blame them - after you think you've exhausted the physical possibilities, it is a reasonable option. But I knew better ). Can only assume that because the air couldn't get where it needed to go efficiently that it caused pressure elsewhere.

Not doing much singing yet, but even just lightly testing the waters its obvious there is a huge change. I did a "test" a couple of days ago - yelled and shouted for 20 seconds. 2 weeks ago, that would have been enough to mess things up for the evening, and not be able to sing well till the next day. However, I didn't feel one, single, solitary sensation in my throat - and the doc says what I feel now is just the beginning - "just wait till all the swelling goes down".

Best side benefit? When I wake up, I no longer look at the clock in hopes that I've got another hour before I have to get up. My body and brain feel awake and they have energy. I don't feel like I'm dragging around the proverbial 20 lb. weight as I go through my day. When I open my eyes in the morning, I'm ready to get up. Getting more air, more easily. Much more restful sleep.

Its been 27 years since I first heard my father tell me, after a performance, "You sounded hoarse". Still remember the day I decided it was time to give up hopes of a profession. When I tried to get back into singing again in 2007 I got a great teacher, had some good roles in small opera companies, but each performance was a fight for control ("Aida" performances were the single exception - still don't know how that went well), in which there would be some pretty good moments and some poor moments that punctuated singing which was "so far from what my ability should be."

I had humorous visions of myself at age 80, saying, "You know, maybe if you try doing ___, it will help..." But I knew I could never quit, because when Jack Palance held up that 1 finger in "City Slickers", I already knew how that applied to me.

Also liking the Oxycodone I got for "pain"

Congrats on a successful surgery! Sinus surgery can be miserable I'm told. And off topic a bit but your Jack Palance remark reminded me of when he got the Oscar, he went into his one-armed pushups onstage. That ain't easy for anyone!

This is promising Mark. I am very happy happy for you!

Chessman
Be careful because Oxycodone it the number one abused street drug with young addicts.