Has anyone had issues singing during treatments?

Just a wild guess - I had similar symptoms - since chemo attacks the nervous system harshly (as in neuropathy, numbness and tingling) it makes sense that it might be interfering with your nerves in your ear and thus your hearing. It also may be impacting nerves in your throat and can be messing with control of your vocal cords. In my case, now 22 months post-chemo, I still have to eat much slower than I used to.

For what it's worth, I also had some non-severe issues with muscular coordination, balance, vision and a slowness in brain speed. I did PT to help with these, but I still experience some symptoms to a lesser degree.

Last - sing anyway! It's good for your soul!

My hearing didn’t change… cause I could hear every wrong note coming out of me and was dumbfounded and scared and embarrassed lol….it felt tight and exhausted so the nerve thing makes sense. Ugh…. Hopefully every other week will still work! It sounds like I am following in your footsteps! Definitely have chemo brain. Already! Can’t imagine getting worse when I wasn’t great to begin with! I am afraid that if my voice is shot I would quit singing. Its my passion and how I serve the Lord and a gift. If I lose it I will be more devastated than when heard about cancer! So I am gonna pray hard about it! Thank you! I’m glad you’re almost healed from it! What kind of therapy did you have to do?

Well, at 70, my singing voice has seen better days and it wasn't exactly great to begin with.

My only "therapy" is to keep singing on my own when I can and to choose not to be embarrassed by it. The more I sing, the better it gets...

Be patient with yourself as you go through chemo. I read where it takes between 1-2 months to recover for every month of chemo you've had. Somethings, for some people can take longer.

Keep on singing as best as you can and be patient.

Yes sir! I will definitely try to be patient… I will be devastated if I lose my voice. I will be praying hard that I get to keep that part of my life. ❤️ Thank you for your kind words of encouragement and advice.

God bless you!

As a fellow musician, I can completely understand your devastation at losing your pitch and singing voice, @myjiggers1. Chemo is a systemic medication that attacks the fast replenishing cells, like blood cells, hair, nails, mucus, etc. Perhaps, the vocal cords also fit into this category.

I'm glad to hear that your issue isn't ototoxicity affecting your hearing. I am confident that if you can hear the wrong notes or imperfect pitches, your brain and ears will signal to your voice to correct it. You may have to work harder to get the right pitch, however. I also wonder if your vocal cords have been weakened by chemo, maybe you should be kind to your voice and not try for the same volume and number of hours of singing like you're used to. Hopefully, you can build that muscle again after chemo.

I'm tagging @hopeful33250 @jprust @hamila who may have experiences or tips to offer.

Myjiggers, have you considered consulting a speech language pathologist? When will you finish with chemo?

Hi Colleen! I have not thought about getting a speech person…I have so many things that I am trying to juggle right now… but will def keep it in mind if the voice leaves for a long period of time. I seem to be able to sing about 4 days after the onset of chemo. I think its the OX. Definitely hits all my glands. When I eat or deink anything that would make me salivate normally it causes a hit of pain and feels like I blew up a balloon wrong! I have had 1 full treatment of FOLFOX and didn’t get past the OX and boost of F without a breathing episode so they stopped everything. I have 12 rounds in all…. So we shall see how we do!