However, there was one bit of "excitement." I went back to the hospital again this week with the same problem as I did around Thanksgiving. That's right, folks. I am once again taking a vow of silence. *sigh*
I noticed it a little last week that my voice was getting a little strained but it really hit me this week.
I expected that I would, once again, have to get a laryngoscopy (look at me! fancy words!). What I DIDN'T expect was the new camera thing. Last time it was a metal stick (about the size of a straw) that they stuck down my throat. This time the lady brought over a thing that had, like, a black plastic... string a little bigger than a spaghetti noodle. I thought, "Nice. They camera is thinner this time. Maybe it won't hurt as much." Then he said something about my nose while I was distracted watching the lady plug in the cool looking new camera.
Wait... what about my nose?
Oh, you want to stick the CAMERA up my NOSE so it can go into my throat. Greeeeaaaat. Cuz having a sore throat and allergies doesn't suck enough, you gotta muck around with my NOSE now, too. Thank you.
Here's a nice picture of what they did to my head.
(photo from link)
I like how the kids is just sitting there with this calm look on his face. I'm pretty sure I was making some a less than attractive faces while that thing was in my nose.
It was awkward, but, on reflection, much less gaggy/painful than the stick camera. Word to the wise, though: don't try to swallow. It isn't as gaggy, but it makes things move in your nose and your throat and is just altogether CREEPY FEELING.
I had decided to go to the hospital before it got so bad that I can't talk (like at Thanksgiving). Didn't quite work out that way. He still told me to rest my voice. I tried to get him to define "rest" more. I asked him about teaching and he said, "Teaching no rest voice. Rest voice." Then he sent me off to the pharmacy to get some more meds in individually wrapped packets.
How nice. The pharmacist even gave me a free vitamin C drink. Oh, yay! I still haven't tried it yet...
I was really, really pissed that this happened again. I don't even KNOW what I can do differently! I FOCUSED to make sure to speak in a normal register (not to high, not too low), practiced breathing exercises from my brief stint in voice lessons, either didn't sing or sang alto when I was at church, and drank lots, and LOTS of water. What else am I supposed to do? I kind of tried to ask the doctor about it... but I think I was lucky enough to figure out what he wanted me to do let alone have a conversations about how to prevent this.
I asked about an English speaking ears, nose, throat doctor on the discussion board for Relief Society (the women at church) and I'm hoping someone will be able to tell me someplace I can go to talk to someone about what I should do about this. It should not keep coming back like this.
From what I can tell based on my quick internet "research," it is a combination of speaking, air pollution, and quite possibly just the bodily shock of being in a different country that are causing this crappy situation.
I'll keep you posted if I find out anything more. I am just grateful that, even though I am having communication issues with my doctor, I have been blessed to find a doctor who is good with the laryngoscope and able to get me helpful meds.
The weekend wasn't a complete bust, in spite of the vow of silence. After the hospital and "talking" with the Mom about my situation, I met up with Kendra at the mall to see "Tangled" or, as it is called here, 라푼젤 (Rapunzel).
While we waited for Tara to show up, we decided to check out the game room. That's where I saw THE coolest stuffed animal EVER.
That's right, people. It's a smiling piece of toast. How much COOLER could that GET!? I personally have no idea. After searching our bags for change, we tried it out a few times. Took, I think, three tries for us to figure out exactly what we were supposed to do in order to get the toy. We went back after the movie (which was AWESOME, by the way) to try again. Kendra was better at it, so I let her play, but I wanted the toast.
Kendra drew quite the crowd. At first it was this one couple. We thought they wanted to play, but when we stepped out of the way to let them play, they left. Then they came back when we started up again.
Kendra was getting SO VERY CLOSE!! You had to move the arm to the side just right so the string would go between the little hand, then bring it forward just enough so it went inside the hand but not too far back or the little razors won't cut the string. We got an even bigger crowd of middle school girls who watched the crazy Migooksaram (American) while she tried to win the toast.
We spent about 8,000 won before I told her that we should stop. I still want to find that toast, though, and BUY IT. TOAST PILLOW!!!
We consoled ourselves in delicious Cold Stone Ice Cream. Yum. I had the Apple Pie.
Tara also showed us this giant bookstore we hadn't seen before. It was pretty cool. We checked out the foreign books (YES) and looked at the "Mistery Fiction." Haha... "mistery..."
They also had some interesting choices for the Junior section. Our favorite was "Don Quijote de la Mancha." Not exactly a "junior" book.
Tara loved "Tangled" a lot. She even posed in front of the poster for us.
And that, folks, was my weekend. Hopefully I find an ENT who speaks English and figure all this stuff out. In the mean time, I plan on still having a little fun.
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