Hi guys,
Wow.
What a turbulent month it has been since I last wrote this blog.
First, the good stuff. After really getting into the swing of auditioning regularly using Voices.com, I got my first job!
It was for a corporate read, something that I literally had no understanding of. But sometimes confidence can suffice and I was thrilled that they accepted my work (with a five-star review, no less) ! My vocal booth needed a little work as it was starting to lean worryingly to the left (making it an outlier in terms of the British public, at least), but everything was starting to go in the right direction in terms of short-listings and progress towards my two reels with the amazing Peter Warnock.
But of course, it is always when things seem to be going swimmingly that the shark music starts, and before I knew it I found myself in the jaws of something completely new.
I contracted Covid 19 towards the end of February (i'm pretty sure I picked it up on the way to a Covid test for an extras job, ironically!). The first and last time I had Covid was around the same time the year before, and it left me with crippling tinnitus that never went away but fortunately I was able to habituate and carry on with life. “It can't do any worse,” I thought. Here's my advice. Never talk like that when you have Covid. That wretched virus seems to have ears!
About two days after finally testing negative I found my voice to be much hoarser than usual, and experienced a loss of range towards the higher end of my voice and more “vocal fry” (a kind of crispiness) towards the lower end. As well as this I was experiencing what is known as globus sensation (the feeling of a lump in the throat when swallowing) as well as post-nasal drip and a constant need to clear my throat. Preliminary examinations gave me a suspected diagnosis of LPR (Laryngopharyngeal Reflux). Based on my lifestyle over the years of being in a touring punk band, I had had far more than my fair share of rubbish, high-acid foods late at night as well as excessive, uuuuhm... “experience” with cannabis and tobacco. LPR is when stomach acid rises up from the stomach and has a little party in your esophagus and larynx, and can hurt the vocal cords badly. You can have LPR for years before experiencing symptoms, and once you do experience them the damage has been done. Solutions to LPR involve lifestyle and dietary changes, changes which I put into practice immediately. It meant waving goodbye to tomatoes, onions, garlic, cheese, chocolate..
All kinds of lovely things. And smoking, a not so lovely thing that I am happy to be rid of. But most devastating was the news that I wouldn't be able to work on voice overs. Just as I'd got my first paycheck!
I tried to get an endoscopy but had frustrating experiences with the NHS and a private physician. Eventually I was recommended a brilliant ENT called Dr. Fishman,
who saw me and scoped me the same day. What the scope revealed was so important. I did not have LPR! No, what the scope showed
instead was that my right vocal cord was effectively on its side, while the left one had been compensating and doing the work, as you can see from the picture on the right. Essentially, Covid had knackered one of my vocal cords! The sly, foul mongoose...
The solutions are vocal therapy. So I am now about to embark on a several months long period of therapy with Dr. Ruth Epstein. I will keep you all updated about that.
But the GOOD NEWS! The doctors have given me the all-clear to go back to auditioning and working, with the proviso that I stop as soon as my voice starts to get tired (usually towards the evening if i've been speaking a lot). So my world went from being open to being closed to being open again – all in the space of a month!
I haven't stepped back into the booth yet, though I only got the endoscopy yesterday. Therapy begins Friday, so perhaps I will try one or two auditions before then. Gently, gently...
Thanks again for reading and keeping up with this incredible journey :)
Lots of love
George
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