Vocal cord paralysis

Thanks for your diligence in keeping us all connected. <br />
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My daughter had one vocal cord cut out. She can still talk but can't control the volume of her voice. Her airway is tiny since they took out her trach. They have to use a size 5 ET tube on her. She just made the decision to have part of her other vocal cord cut out to give make it easier to breath.<br />
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I'm so sorry to hear of your daughter's problems.  Do doctors know the cause of the problem?  I hope that the surgery is helpful to her and decreases the breathing problems.

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 />

She has been through a lot for a young person.  I wish her well.

Thank you!<br />
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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. The reason why my left vocal cord is paralyzed is unknown. I appear to have a mild case of Parkinson's and while speech problems are common with Parkinson's, paralyzed vocal cords are not typical. So the mystery remains:) My vocal cord surgery was performed 2 years ago at Cleveland Clinic. They put a silastic implant in the paralyzed cord so that it would close up with the other cord. My speech, swallowing problems cleared up very nicely. There was a 4 week period of time before everything settled down and then I began speech therapy which I continue with once or twice a year. I always thought I had sleep apnea because I would wake up at night gasping, however, sleep studies did not prove that diagnosis. After the implant was put in the vocal cord that problem disappeared (very good news). I have some heart problems as well: aortic insufficiency, diastolic dysfunction and a left bundle branch block so I have a fair amount of "left-sided" problems. I've talked with neurologists who don't think these "lefties" are related, but I'm not really convinced. I recently began a new symptom, left-sided drooling, while drooling is common to Parkinson's folks, the left sided thing makes me wonder. I'm not sure if any of this info is helpful in your situation, however, keep in touch and I hope that your vocal cord surgery goes as well as mine. Best wishes and welcome to Mayo Connect!

@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?