On November 20th, I went to the NYU Voice Center in Manhattan to be evaluated by Dr. Milan Amin, the director of the center. It was a very positive experience. Dr. Amin (he's Indian) was very thorough and took a lot of time to answer all of my questions. In addition to a thorough "work up," he performed a Flexible Fiberoptic Laryngoscopy. Flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopy is the most common type of examination used to visualize the areas of the throat and voice box. The exam utilizes a thin flexible endoscope containing fiberoptic cable that can be manipulated to examine areas not normally seen by traditional examination techniques. (I copied this from the website.) Put simply, he stuck a tube in my nose and was able to take a video of my throat. Then, he showed me the whole thing and "freeze framed" a few of the key pictures.
Bottom line, right away, he noticed a cyst on my left vocal chord and a lot of swelling in my throat. First and foremost, the cyst is NOT cancerous and does not otherwise pose a threat to my overall health. However, it does get in the way of my voice functioning properly and is definitely the cause of my hoarseness/raspiness and my diminished range. He said that it is very possible that it has been there for a long, long time (see my earlier post). But all of my recent overuse has put a lot of strain on my voice.
He perscribed two therapies: first, Prilosec to reduce swelling in my throat (though this confuses me, since I have no gastro-intestinal issues). The second was vocal therapy with Dr. Kathy Lazarus, also at the NYU Voice Center.
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