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YOUR HEALTH: Singing after throat cancer

He feared he wouldn't be able to talk let alone sing

SAN DIEGO — More than 12,000 new cases of vocal cord cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States.

Treating that type of cancer can be tricky because the vocal cords are, of course, vital to making sound.

Rich Geiler has been singing his whole life and it meant so much to him.

"Music has always been such a release, and such a pleasure."

But when doctors found a tumor on one of his vocal cords, Rich thought he might have to give it all up.

"Having sung or been in music for 50 years, that's a big thing to not do again."

Early warning signs of vocal cord cancer include voice changes, a sore throat, trouble breathing or swallowing, lumps in the neck, and coughing up blood.

The cancerous tumor had to go, but doctors didn't know how surgery would affect Rich's voice.

"We prepared him that it could range from no voice whatsoever to a functional voice," explained UC San Diego speech-language pathologist Erin Walsh.

It was a tough reality for Rich.

"So, I was faced with the idea that I could be, I don't know, I might not have a voice."

Surgeons had to carefully cut out the tumor with a technique to minimize scar formation, stiffness, and voice changes while preserving as much of the vocal cord as possible.

"The vocal cords are what produce voice, and voice really is a vibratory function of the body," said surgeon Dr. Philip Weissbrod.

Before and after the procedure, Rich worked with speech-language pathologists who specialize in music training to help him regain his voice. 

The collaborative effort between surgeons and speech pathologists had him singing again in four weeks.

"And now he's singing music that he didn't 20 years ago," said Walsh.

And Rich is now breathing easier.

"So, big, big improvement and kind of surprising."

And he doesn't have to give up what he loves most.

It can sometimes be difficult to detect cancer of the throat because many of the symptoms are so common.

Doctors say this treatment is as effective as radiation therapy in treating early vocal cord cancers. 

And following surgery there are no additional side effects.

The benefit is that you preserve all the healthy tissue not involved with cancer and do not have the same issues with swallowing that you can see in patients who have had radiation.

If this story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Jim Mertens at jim.mertens@wqad.com or Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com.

 

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