Reinventing Joy

So today, is Day 8 of my total vocal rest.  I've managed to go to happy hour and still have fun thanks to my friend's pad and markers! I went to the beach on a whim.  I also started to meditate.  I am quite proud of myself that I was able to accomplish this feat for so long.  It feels longer than 8 days.   I managed to get food poisoning twice this week from bad lettuce at two different restaurants.  What are the odds with that?  I'm supposed to be eating better and I'm avoiding produce like the plague.  Hell, it gave me the plague! Keeping it light and starving!  Not the best way for weight loss at all1  My mom told me that there's a "thing" out there that is tainting the lettuce and killing folks.  That made me feel so much better!  And I'm eating salads like a friggin' rabbit because "thinner is the winner" has been my mantra for quite some time now.  But death by salad is not the way I'm going out of this world. ...

Today is Day 5 of my complete and total vocal rest. Let me rewind a bit for you. On Wednesday, 7/24, I wanted to find out why my voice was getting more hoarse and I wasn't even singing or talking as much.  Ok, I was talking a lot and sang just a little bit.  Ok, a lot.  But I only practiced 1.5 hours for the song I never sang at my mom's retirement party.  Why didn't I sing?!  Because when I got really hoarse, I reached out to my doctor and she told me the steroids prescribed weren't working.  She forbade me from singing at all until she saw me on 7/31.  She also told me to stick to limited talking too.  This was very difficult seeing my family and friends in NJ for a 72 hour period.  And I got more hoarse.  I sounded like Susanne Plechette. On Wednesday, 7/31, my ENT and I looked at my scope of my chords. Which is totally cool to see your chords in action.  However, I saw something that I didn't hope to see.  My swelling...