Have you ever had a Rhinoscopy done? If you are like I was a few weeks ago, you responded to that question with a blank stare and mild concern as to how large a "Rhinoscope" would be... Well I, being now an experienced "rhinoscope-ee" will take the liberty of filling you in on the procedure and experience. See, for me it all started over 4 full years ago when I had a series of unfortunate sinus infections which doctors were unable to fix. Suddenly the infections just disappeared. No explanation, but the doctors were happy about it and sent me on my way. Fast forward to May 2006. I found myself in Nauvoo as a performing missionary, acting in several shows a day and singing from sun up to sun down. I loved it more than you can even begin to imagine! However, unbenounced (yeah, like I could spell that) to me, the singing had created a perfect "smoke screen" for a new sinus infection to form. I assumed that my voice getting tired and harder to control was just normal wear-and-tear and thus took no action against it. Fast forward to now.
I lose my voice a lot now. For some reason, talking is just too much for it! Singing is really a difficult task. I figured that it was the result of wear and tear from Nauvoo and that there was really nothing I could do now. But hey, the medical care here in Thailand is actually quite good and, as compared to ours, extremely cheap! In a lot of ways its much better than ours in my opinion. Far simpler. You call up the doctor the day of, make out an appointment, and ta da! No middle men. You can even talk directly with a specialist without having to go though a doctor first. I could go on with that, but I'd rather not... so back to topic. I figured that while I'm here, I might as well get my throat looked at and see if there is anything that could be done. I called up an ENT and made out an apointment. Which brings us to the Rhinoscope...
After talking with the doctor for a few min. he shrugged and said, "Well, I guess we'll just need to get in there." I didn't quite know what that meant... but I didn't have much time to decide because he stood up and told me to sit in what appeared to be a dentist's chair located behind him. I sat down, and watched in fear as he pulled out a thin metal rod measuring a little less than one foot in length. He snapped the rod onto a long hose (which lead to a monitor) and turned to me saying, "ok... tilt your head back."
Did you know that your nose isn't just a random bump on your face that magically transports air from the outside of your body to your lungs? Apparently, there is more to it than that. I would have never known, if not for the fact that this stupid metal rod ended up traveling up my nose much farther than I thought it actually went. As the doctor guided this thing through my face, he kept telling me what we were seeing on the monitor (oh, I failed to mention the metal rod thing was a camera with a light). I kinda felt stupid as I sat there listening, "Ok, and here is your Schmithinogolifgzij wall... and there is the Schnikeiieskos..." I just sat there wondering if I was supposed to respond to that... or even know what the heck he was talking about... I mean if a doctor were to point out where my heart is on a monitor, that I would be able to connect with! But the different parts of my nose...
Anyway, eventually he let me up out of the chair and explained what the problem was. I've had a chronic sinus infection for the last 3 years which overloaded the muscles controlling my voice (which is why singing is so gosh darn hard now!). Fixable? Yeah. The muscles have been compensating for such a long time that I have to relearn how to sing properly (great...), but with time things could be back to normal!
All in all, it was not an experience that I wish to repeat, but one that wouldn't scare me if I had to. No pain, just very unpleasant! Amazing what we can do today, eh? Yay modern medicine!
I lose my voice a lot now. For some reason, talking is just too much for it! Singing is really a difficult task. I figured that it was the result of wear and tear from Nauvoo and that there was really nothing I could do now. But hey, the medical care here in Thailand is actually quite good and, as compared to ours, extremely cheap! In a lot of ways its much better than ours in my opinion. Far simpler. You call up the doctor the day of, make out an appointment, and ta da! No middle men. You can even talk directly with a specialist without having to go though a doctor first. I could go on with that, but I'd rather not... so back to topic. I figured that while I'm here, I might as well get my throat looked at and see if there is anything that could be done. I called up an ENT and made out an apointment. Which brings us to the Rhinoscope...
After talking with the doctor for a few min. he shrugged and said, "Well, I guess we'll just need to get in there." I didn't quite know what that meant... but I didn't have much time to decide because he stood up and told me to sit in what appeared to be a dentist's chair located behind him. I sat down, and watched in fear as he pulled out a thin metal rod measuring a little less than one foot in length. He snapped the rod onto a long hose (which lead to a monitor) and turned to me saying, "ok... tilt your head back."
Did you know that your nose isn't just a random bump on your face that magically transports air from the outside of your body to your lungs? Apparently, there is more to it than that. I would have never known, if not for the fact that this stupid metal rod ended up traveling up my nose much farther than I thought it actually went. As the doctor guided this thing through my face, he kept telling me what we were seeing on the monitor (oh, I failed to mention the metal rod thing was a camera with a light). I kinda felt stupid as I sat there listening, "Ok, and here is your Schmithinogolifgzij wall... and there is the Schnikeiieskos..." I just sat there wondering if I was supposed to respond to that... or even know what the heck he was talking about... I mean if a doctor were to point out where my heart is on a monitor, that I would be able to connect with! But the different parts of my nose...
Anyway, eventually he let me up out of the chair and explained what the problem was. I've had a chronic sinus infection for the last 3 years which overloaded the muscles controlling my voice (which is why singing is so gosh darn hard now!). Fixable? Yeah. The muscles have been compensating for such a long time that I have to relearn how to sing properly (great...), but with time things could be back to normal!
All in all, it was not an experience that I wish to repeat, but one that wouldn't scare me if I had to. No pain, just very unpleasant! Amazing what we can do today, eh? Yay modern medicine!
1 comments:
Oh, I can tell already - THIS is going to be one of my favorite blogs to read! (As long as you're diligent in your posting, that is! You mentioned how you'd like to be better at journaling...well, here you go!)
I laughed out loud several times in this post. Mainly because I feel like i haven't REALLY heard from you in a couple+ years - so it's good to hear what's going on in your own words. :) Thank you for educating me on the details of a 'rhinoscopy'!
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