| Posted by john s. beeman ® , Jun 05,2001,08:35 | Archive |
I had my surgery at UCLA on June 13, 2000 by Dr. Berke and Dr. Blumin. I certainly wish I had better news to report. While I am spasm free, I do not have a sufficient voice to work. I have been off work since Oct. 2000. I tried to work immediately after the surgery, but learned quickly (after 3 months) that a lawyer(trial lawyer at that) without a voice was pretty ineffective and very frustrated. It was as emotionally frustrating as the 2+ years I spent searching for a proper diagnosis for my AD-SD.
It appears as if I am not the only [male] patient who had surgery in 2000 and who has experienced difficulty with complete recovery. I know that when I investigated having this surgery I was told that the success rate was 95% and that all patients had recovered their voices, but one patient had also experienced the spasms again. Perhaps these former statistics have changed.
I often wonder if some aspect of the surgery was changed in 2000 which might account for the difficulty being experienced by myself and a few others.
I saw Dr. Berke and Dr. Blumin in early March. They felt that my left cord was reinnervated, but the right was only functioning at 25% (an "educated guess"). Options under consideration are collagen injections and/or thyroplasty. The collagen injections are to help my "incomplete glottal closure".
It had been my hope that the surgery would allow me to return to a normal life without the botox injections every 3 months. So far, this plan has not materialized. For now, I intend to wait a few more months before taking any action.
Anyone contemplating this surgery should now appreciate this risk. I'm not saying I would have done anything differently, but the current outcome sure was a surprise. John
--modified by john s. beeman at Tue, Jun 05, 2001, 13:20:16
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| Replies to this message |
| Re : One Year Anniversary -UCLA Surgery --- john s. beeman | |||
| Posted by Sherry Overholt ® , Jun 05,2001,13:41 | Top of Thread | Archive | |
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| Re : One Year Anniversary -UCLA Surgery --- john s. beeman | |||
| Posted by John Brenner ® (john Brenner,John Brenner), Jun 05,2001,16:02 | Top of Thread | Archive | |
I have not researched the surgery myself much as I am a long ways from making that kind of decision. From what I have read on the BB, it sounds like women have better success with the surgery.
I wonder what kind of updated statistics that Dr. Burke has as his 95% success rate feels inflated. Hard to believe that the only people that have not had success with the surgery would have posted to the BB.
It seems similiar to the laser eye surgery. If that had a 95% success rate, would certainly want to know what happened to the other 5%. Did they lose their sight? Would hope that if losing your voice was a possible outcome that Dr. Burke is disclosing that information.
I am sure that you and others would take the chance to recover your normal voice, but how many would take the risk if you could lose your voice like you and Jeff had?
By the way, thanks for your many responses to mine and others questions. You give short straightforward answers about your experience.
Hopefully sharing your experience helps you while you cope with recovery.
Prayers are with you for a complete recovery.
John
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