Thank you!

I'm Jan from Alabama. I had Dr. Berke's SLAD Surgery on June 12th, 2001. I regained my voice after a recovery period of 3 months and 2 weeks. The volume came little by little each day!

I am one of the more fortunate ones and a Woman. I feel very blessed and fortunate to have had such success with my surgery and my new voice. I am still talking great and hope and pray my good voice will continue, however none of us know the long term effects of this surgery even though I understand some folks who have had this surgery are now as far recovered as 7 years or more and the surgery is still a success for some. I don't understand the mystery of this operation not working well for men, except I've heard that men have larger Laryngites and for some reason this effects the success for men. My heart goes out to all of you who the surgery has not been a success for yet. I sure hope they will soon discover a way to better help the men affected by SD. I have a lot of faith in Dr. Berke and Dr. Blumin and I believe if anyone can find the answer to this problem they Can & Will. However, we all must be brave and let others know about any experience or outcome we have regarding any type treatments and or surgeries concerning Spasmodic Dysphonia. So I commend you and John and others who are dedicated to openly sharing your experiences. My prayer for all this SD is that One day soon there would be a cure for this dreadful disorder and frustrating voice condition.

I also wanted to let you know I have severe acid reflux and have taken medication for years to control this problem and it remains a problem. I also try to stay away from spicy foods, watch what I eat, have the head of my bed up on two concrete blocks and sleep on two pillows to keep the acid from coming into my throat. I take Nexium 40mg now and it seems to be right for me. I use to take Preversid 30 mg twice a day or Prilosec 20 mg. All of which help, but the Nexium seems to work better for me with the fact that I watch what I eat and am very cautious of what I eat 3 or 4 hours prior to bedtime.

I hope this helps and if I can be of further assistance to you or anyone, please do not hesitate to contact me personally via email.

Regarding the mid-2000 timeframe? Doesn't seem that unusual to me, considering what was going on at the time and what we've all learned since.

Remember there was daily publicity/testimonials from patients on this BB("SLAD Week-Reports") from about June, 1999 until into 2001? Those reports generated a high-demand to get the surgery and alot of people, both male and female, had it during that time-frame. More females, as more females have SD. Patients were documenting (on the BB) very satisfactory results (some called it a *miracle*) and people who were tired of Botox or their bad voices were literally going to UCLA in droves then because it seemed like THE "cure."

I remember two males who had the SLAD during that timeframe who posted successful results on the BB and we've never heard from them since. Probably because it worked well for them and they didn't post much anyway. I bet if it wasn't working, they would be back here.

My memory, during that timeframe also, is that you were posting the *Top Ten Hints* for having the surgery done at UCLA, as soon as you returned home from UCLA. Your advice was very helpful and alot of SLAD patients appreciated the hints for staying at the Tiverton and swallowing-tips and all the things that helped a SLAD patient. That became support for subsequent SLAD patients and they added to your tips.

As we got well into 2001, it became evident that the surgery wasn't working for you and Jeff (as you two had posted regularly and openly with "progress" or lack thereof) so people started to become a bit more skeptical, because they were now seeing the risks more clearly. Into 2001, the SLAD didn't look so much like a "cure" but a "choice, with risks."

So, it might not be just that narrow timeframe but possibly other considerations, such as what was going on with the BB (and the deluge of SLAD patients at UCLA) at that time and the fact that you and Jeff have always been very open about your results. You two are very good writers but I imagine there are others out there who may have had the SLAD in a different timeframe but they don't feel like posting, either about success or failure because they're not writers.

Both Dr. Berke in Arizona and Dr. Blumin in Miami acknowledged that the male laryngeal anatomy (muscles and cartilege) is more difficult to work with than the female structure. There are distinct physical differences. Females don't have an Adam's apple, per se, and the male laryngeal muscles are larger. The surgery is only 9 years old so they learn from each case (as any doc should); and, with males being in an SD minority, they have fewer male patients to learn from.

Also, as a laryngeal surgical patient myself (RLN), I've learned something since my voice began to fail recently - 6 years after surgery. It's been an eye-opener. I've learned that, as a woman, because I don't have vocal spasms, people still tell me I sound OK although I'm gasping for breath and getting headaches trying to talk and I sound terrible compared to before. People seem to forget that I used to have a professional career and that I can't even talk over running water these days. Everything's relative.

I've learned that my expectations for my own voice (such as in my former career when I used to make presentations in front of large crowds, run multi-million dollar projects and talk 7 hrs a day) are way higher than those of the people around me. Seems, being a woman, some people don't expect much of me. If I can manage enough noise to make two phone calls in a day, the implication is that I can talk. Wrong. It's annoying sometimes when people say..."you sound OK" because all that means is that I don't have spasms and they can hear me for two sentences. Doesn't solve my problem though, of not being able to work or talk over any noise or vocalize while gasping for air, etc.

Seems expectations are different for men. So, besides the differences in laryngeal anatomy, I think patient expectations (and those of family/friends/co-workers, the public, etc.) coming out of surgery might be that a male patient be able to return to more of a "normal" (original) voice to resume a career. With women having softer voices (usually) to begin with, it's different. I lost my career twice, so am becoming quite philosophical about some of these issues and differences. Just my personal theories.

I always enjoy your perspective on the BB and respect both you and Jeff because of your openness, constancy and willingness to move on. As you know, we could all be bitter but that doesn't help any of us with the next 50 years! LOL. I don't think the docs did anything wrong in my case. Even though my voice is currently non-functional (with little hope for improvement according to my experienced docs and my own research and intuition), it was better for a few years and I managed to go back to work for a short time. It's the SD I blame but I still have to deal with it. Just doing the best I can.

Happy Thanksgiving.