Hopeful, I'm tagging @starlight @sirkalab on this discussion. They wrote about osteophytes a while back and may have some experiences to share with you. More recently @dand @jimjudym4 @jennybell have talked about paralyzed vocal cords and I hope they'll chime in.

She had a thyroidectomy d/t congenital hypothyroidism and a tsh in the 800's. She had complications from the surgery that caused both vocal cord to be paralyzed shut. They had to trach her to give her an airway. We had tried having them injected with no success. Then she had a phrenic nerve graft which helped a little. She chose to have one surgically removed to get the trach out. This all started when she was 15. She had her trach for five years.<br />

I do not know anything about your cervical situation but I do have a paralyzed left vocal cord; damaged during my heart surgery last August. Right now I have a temporary block/filler in my throat but will be getting a permanent plastic piece put in when this temporary stuff wears away (about 6 to 10 months). I am very interested to know how invasive is this permanent surgery, how long for healing and how much does it effect your breathing and voice? Thank you for any info you can share.

@jbell22 Hi: I was looking over your comment of last month and I was wondering if you had been able to get any more info on the surgery to repair your vocal cord. You had asked how invasive the surgery is and I realized that I had not answered that part of your comment. The surgery is done under local anesthetic without general anesthesia so you are numb but awake throughout the procedure. The time went quite quickly and there was a lot of activity in the OR which helped time pass quite quickly. Have you already selected a surgeon and a hospital? I would be interested in knowing how the process is going with your temporary filler. Keep in touch and best wishes. Teresa

Hi Teresa, thank you for the info. 🙂 The temporary filler is okay, I have some difficulties with my breath intake but that in part could be due to my heart condition. My voice is quite good with the filler just gets a bit rough when I talk too much. The temporary filler will last 6 months to a year and I think it might be wearing out a bit now as I am slightly more breathless (it has been 4 months). I think the permanent plastic piece will be a good thing though it worries me a bit but it is good to hear what you have to say. My surgeon is Dr. Morzaria and it will likely be at the Jim Patterson Surgery Center in Surrey, BC. Do you ever worry about the plastic piece shifting?

@jbell22, It was good getting some more info about your "filler." Prior to my surgery I had an injection but it was only supposed to last a few months, but it was a "tester" to make sure that the surgery would produce the results I needed, so my experience might be different than yours. When I had my surgery, I had a silastic implant (which is probably different than the plastic piece that you are discussing) so I hesitate to make any comparisons to your situation. After two years, however, it still seems to be working so I'm glad for that. You will probably have the vocal cord checked on a somewhat regular basis after the surgery so the doctor will have a good idea of how things are working for you. Have you had any speech therapy? That is a good way to keep your vocal cords in good working condition, however, speech therapy will probably be suggested after the surgery has healed some.

I understand that it is hard to know what symptoms are related to what condition. I also have heart problems and I'm never sure if my symptoms are related to cardiac issues or some other issue! Once again, best wishes and keep in touch! Teresa

I noticed that all these comments are a few years old so I am unsure anyone will respond ,but here goes. I have a paralyzed left vocal cord. It became paralyzed a few weeks after I had heart surgery for a PDA. I was told that it was the scar tissue from my surgery that did this. After a couple years my voice was restored for a few years. Then I caught an upper respiratory infection that caused laryngitis. Of course this didn't go away. Had the vocal cord checked and was told the virus affected the vocal cord because it was weak, and it has been this way for a few years. Would love to find a doctor for this, does anyone know of a clinic or doctor that they would reccommend.I live in NC around the Asheville area. I don't mind a bit of a drive,but was hoping that I could find someone within a couple hours,maybe? Appreciate any help.

Thank you so very much for your quick reply. I have just now started this journey, so no I have not. But at least now I do have a direction to go in also I have a very good family physician that I was going to speak with about his recommendations that he may have. I will also check out this link.

Thank you for the input. I did go that route, unfortunately it didn't work. Was hoping though.