Loss of voice after lung surgery

I had the same surgery Jan 31. I was told not to worry that it was just from the tube. I finally was referred to an ENT doctor who diagnosed a paralyzed vocal cord. During surgery a nerve was most probably injured. I still have a very high pitch, low volume voice. Do you choke on liquids? That is one of the signs of paralyzed cord. I

Thanks for your comments.
I gagged for several days - to get blood out of my lungs. I sounded like a crow.
Fortunately, on the 5th day I got back 80% of my voice. Still not normal but way better and I can talk on the phone.

Hi @vic83, if I did the calculations correctly, it's been 2 weeks since your video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for lung cancer. How is your voice? How is recovery going?

Hi Colleen. Thanks for asking. Yes, my voice started to come back after 4 days. World beware! It is just a little bit raspy now.
My first VAT surgery was easy, this one is not. I have a variety of pains including nerve pain so have started Gabapentin. Today is the first day I could drive (13 days from surgery). Trying to get out there and walk - walking, the number one cure for all diseases.

Vic,
How are you feeling? Haven't seen you posting in a bit. Hope all is well and you are recovering nicely 😊

Bunnie

Hi Bunnie
Thanks for asking. This VAT surgery is rougher than the first. I got my voice back after 5 days, but I have a lot of nerve pain and am on Gabapentin. It can take up to 6 months for the nerve pain to go away. Although I no longer take Tylenol or Ibuprofen for pain relief and just support the nerve pain I have. But it is wearing. I still have some limitation of movement with arm. I also have a bump under breast which they think is a Seroma and they have prescribed antibiotics for it in case there is an infectious component. I am a little nervous of that because 12 years ago I had C-diff from Amoxicillin. I am taking a different antibiotic which has low risk for C-diff so hope I don't have an added issue.
I am walking in the morning...so nice to be outside...but now we have air quality issue!!! Too cold in the winter to walk outside and now air quality issue in the summer???? Not the way to go.

Vic,
Hopefully that nerve pain resolves sooner than later. So nice you're able to get out and walk, it's sooo steamy here...it just sucks the air right out of you. I'd rather walk in fall and even winter as we have very few really really cold days here. Be well!
Bunnie

Where are you? I am in Minnesota now but lived ten years in southwest Florida. There it was too hot to walk most of the year and I only walked in the winter months. Important to belong to an air-conditioned gym. If air conditioner was not working, that was considered a major emergency. Even the Gulf water gets too warm to enjoy swimming in the summer.

I'm about 30 minutes east of Nashville. Even though TN is mountainous to the east and flat to the west middle TN is like a basin...the humidity just settles down in there and is just smothering to me. I'll take cool crisp air any day!

I am so happy to have found this thread! I had lung surgery back in September. 2 surgeries back to back and I was intubated both times….. my voice has came back some but I’m super depressed because I was a singer before…. I can’t sing, I can’t spend the whole day talking it sucks! I am vocal therapy and it seems to work a little. I’m so nervous that I’ll never get it back