Froggy-- Still, 3 months later?

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
L

LindaVA

Hi everyone,
I had MVR repair in March. Totally uneventful, back to work in a month. Everything smooth sailing with the heart. However, my voice is another issue! The first month, my throat was sore. The second month, I felt like I had phelgm in the back of my throat so I kept clearing it. Now, in the 3rd month, my voice is going going GONE! I went to my internist who thought possibly allergies. There is no way this is allergies. The more I read, the more I see the potential for vocal cord issues with the intubation.

However, can hoarseness really present three months later? There is no other explanation. I'm not a smoker, chest xrays normal, no swollen glands, no trouble swallowing, no indigestion. My throat has been bothering me in varying forms since the surgery, so to me, thats' surely the causative link. Going to an ENT doctor in a few weeks.

Anyone else? I'm an attorney and I teach classes and this is impacting my job (okay, y'all can save the lawyer bashing jokes-- I know, I know, a quiet lawyer is probably a good thing!).

Its really embarrassing. My voice fails on me, sounds raspy, then goes back to normal, all in the course of a minute. Its inconsistent, scratchy and very annoying == is it permanent????
Thanks
Lin
 
Linda - So sorry to hear about this! Ugggh, this must be hard for you.

I wouldn't say that the hoarseness "presented" 3 months later, it seems that it is part of a progression from whatever made your throat sore in the very beginning. I never had throat issues so no advice from here, sorry.

I sympathize with you on the "go in to fix one thing and break another" front though. My thumb on my left hand doesn't work any more and hasn't since the surgery. I'm still seeing Dr's about it but it is likely nerve damage from IV's or whatever happens during surgery. It stinks to have something totally unrelated be harmed as a result of the surgery.

If I were you I think I'd head to the ENT specialist. Perhaps someone here has had a similar experience.

I hope this is resolved for you soon,
Ruth
 
Linda,

Are you on any new medications since your surgery that could be causing a problem? When I first started an Ace Inhibitor my doctor gave me Lisinopril and it took me months to figure out it was causing problems. I developed a dry cough and had a horrible time with sudden coughing fits and coughing at night. I couldn't have an extended conversation with anyone at work without breaking into a coughing fit. I finally figured it out when I talked to someone who had something similar occur and she told me to go back to my doctor.
 
Linda it's time to consult a throat specialist. It does sound as though you've experienced vocal cord damage.
 
Froggy, too

Froggy, too

I too had voice problems but also had the dry cough from the amioderone. About a week after finishing the meds, the cough started to subside. About the same time, my lack of voice started to get better as well. This was at about 6 weeks out from surgery.

Though my cough is gone now, I still have what I call a weak voice at times still. I have been thinking that it will just take time to completely get better. But sounds like you should see an ENT.

Good luck!

Lisa
 
My son had PVR and had a hoarse voice for 4-5 weeks afterwards. It has gradually gotten better. Not sure if it is 100% yet, as it is possible we are now used to his "post-op" voice; however, it has definitely improved. I know he was frustrated when people would say, "Do you want a cough drop" as he didn't actually feel like his was sore. Good that you will see the ENT soon. Good luck!
 
I agree with the others. One wonders if during the intubation, that a vocal cord was injured in some way. Of course, there are many other causes, but I agree the way to find out is to have a ENT evaluation.
 
You might want to see a good ENT. You could have damage to your vocal chords and/or your windpipe. There is a nerve in the windpipe that can suffer damage from the vent. Not to scare you but my son developed growths, one on his vocal chord and another on his windpipe, after being on a vent; the latter was missed by an ENT during a scope exam. The hidden growth exacerbated and clearly manifested itself after four months in a life-threatening event. It was emergently surgically removed. His gravely voice completely disappeared after the windpipe growth was removed.
 
Well, I can't get into to see the ENT for another week and am getting concerned. Now I seem to be developing breathing issues as well-- the only way I can describe it is sort of asthma like?? I have been able to exercise no problem, but when I stop I find it hard to catch my breath. Its almost like I'm having a panic attack. And now between the voice and the breathing, issue, I'm getting really scared that maybe its not some type of intubation issue but whether I have some lung scar tissue or something from the operation.

By the way, Susan, how did it manifest itself in a life threatning way-- just curious so I can look out for any dangerous symptoms

I guess I'll see next week.
 
Life-threatening event...

Life-threatening event...

I hope this won't frighten you, Linda, but I will relate our experience:

Four months after Levi had been on the vent, his voice still sounding like gravel, and it was about three months after we had seen the first ENT when early in the morning we suddenly heard a high-pitched whistle sound coming from Levi's room. The sound was him trying to breath. The growth that we didn't know about on his windpipe had evidently been growing down but it had flipped up. We don't know how or why. He had been snacking on tortilla chips with us the evening before and we don't know if the chips or the salt could have had anything to do with the timing of the manifestation. We were just glad we were there.

He couldn't speak and he could exhale fine but he could barely inhale. It was terrifying. My husband rushed him to the local ER and I called ahead to tell the ER that they were coming. I will leave out the details of the incompetence of the local ER. But they misdiagnosed Levi with asthma even though some form of oxygen test showed the good exhale and the inhibited inhale and a subsequent x-ray showed the shadow of the growth. They kept him overnight in an emergent status and sent him by ambulance to a much better hospital the next day where an excellent ENT removed the growth.

That ENT was making a study of damage caused by vents to that nerve on the windpipe and he said it was a rare thing to see the growth that grew off that nerve.

(Our son was not quite 14 then. The freak accident that caused him to be on the vent included the severest stage of coma from acquired closed-head traumatic brain injury; and good oxygen was critical in the early stages for optimal recovery. With any post-accident exertion, Levi would become exhausted and confused and we had to pull him out of PE for several months, no doubt from the inhibited oxygen issue. He suddenly began to get much better after the growth was removed. This is a painful memory; I was so angry at that first ENT when we discovered his sloppy mistake. Our son is wonderfully healthy and fine now so all's well that ends well.)

I hope none of this is the case with you; I hope all will be fine with you. Please keep us posted?
 
I didn't have the throat problem, but did have the asthma-like breathing episodes for several months post-op after "over doing it". In fact it still occasionally occurs if I really exert myself and I'm over a year post-op. For example, on the weekend I did a fair bit of heavy gardening in the hot weather. It didn't seem to bother me while I was doing it, but once I sat down I found my heart was really pumping, I was breathing heavily, and struggled to catch my breath. It subsided after resting awhile.

Good luck with the ENT next week.
 
My voice is still not as strong as it originally was. I am certain they did some damage between the vent and the TEE and gosh-knows-what-else they had down there while I was asleep and unable to complain.

There also may be damage done by stomach acid that can leak up past your stomach unchecked during surgery while you are unconscious. There does seem to be an enhanced number of Acid Reflux sufferers after surgery.

Best wishes,
 
Katie brought up new medications. My 7 year old grandson has developed persistant hoarseness over the last several months. He has asthma and the thought now is that it may be a side effect of Advair. It does have me concerned since his voice sounds really stressed. He has had no tests or ENT exam looking for another reason. I think Cole (grandson) and you both need to find out what is really going on.
 
Found the reason for the frogginess!

Found the reason for the frogginess!

Hi, well, I went to the ENT today and it sounds like I have something similar to Susan's son. I have a granuloma, a mass of irritation, not on my voice box, but in my windpipe. I knew my throat never felt right after the surgery. He is not sure if it is from the actual intubation or just irritation from coughing/clearing your throat post surgery-- you know how they tell you to cough all the time, I guess I did it too much!

Unfortunately I have to have outpatient surgery to take this out-- the sooner the better as its below my voicebox, in my windpipe. Thanks Susan, so much for sharing your concerns with me. It pushed me to the ENT and mighthave saved my life.
 
Sorry to hear you have to go through this, but glad you final found out the reason before the situation got much worse. Best wishes on a successful outcome.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top