Dysphonia, Dysphagia, and the Dys- Between

A Terrifying Observation

At the end of a flexible nasoendoscopy, a procedure in which a small camera was passed through my left nostril, the right one having proved less pliant, there were a few conclusions, though none of particular concern.

The procedure examined my throat and voice box for a simple reason: since I commenced four weeks of radiotherapy for prostate cancer in September 2024, I had lost my natural voice. It had been reduced to a hoarseness, carrying a semblance of weariness and tiredness that might suggest I was gravely ill.

In general, I am fine. The voice that comes and goes does not reflect that impression, and yet a consultant on another stream of the multidisciplinary team that handles my clinical issues and healthcare outcomes has been on my case since January 2025.

Questioning the Cause

While I had surmised that the change in my voice was a long-term side effect of the radiotherapy, she disputed this. Even if I, as a man, were kicked in the testicles, with the usual prospect of momentarily losing my voice, and I had indeed been through the equivalent by way of radiotherapy, the effect should not last as long as it has in my case.

I even dared to question how she, as a female, would know about this uniquely male anatomy.

Then, at my biannual consultation just over a week ago, the consultant took the initiative on the matters I had been reticent to pursue, and scheduled sessions with other specialists in the very fields she had been seeking answers in. My hospital visit yesterday was to see an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) specialist, or should I say an otolaryngologist.

Into the Consulting Room

Before meeting the consultant, I filled in three pages of tick boxes, affirmatives or negatives, to provide a general overview of what needed assessing. I was then called into a consulting room to sit in an abridged version of a dentist's chair.

On what was my third hospital visit in eight days, I could be forgiven for feeling some trepidation, whilst remaining hopeful that nothing untoward would be found.

Understanding Dysphonia

The condition under review is called dysphonia, a medical term for any voice disorder that makes your voice sound hoarse, raspy, breathy, or strained. This is in addition to sexual dysfunction, an obvious side effect of the radiotherapy, and dysphagia, another condition that may have been exacerbated by radiotherapy but has existed for longer, for which I had an oesophagogastroduodenoscopy in May.

In layman's terms, my vocal cords were considered quite thin, not closing properly when I talk, and carrying a slight tremor. It was watching the video playback, while we discussed the prognosis, that left me a little terrified. The movement of my vocal cords looked like the wings of a bat about to take off from a perch. You mean that was happening inside me?

The Prognosis

A contributory factor to my snoring was that my palate is unusually low, though nothing was attributed to that condition beyond the raspiness in my voice, which is probably caused by acid reflux that does not occur all that often.

We agreed there was little else to do, unless I initiated a follow-up because my voice had noticeably worsened, or unless I wanted the filler injection known as vocal fold injection augmentation, not an endearing prospect from what I have read about it.

Exploring the Prefix Dys-

Meanwhile, the original consultant has already scheduled an appointment to discuss the results, and I am learning more about the prefix dys-, which might refer to any of the following kinds of situations.

Bad / Ill: working in a harmful or poor way.

• Dysfunction: impaired or unhealthy functioning (e.g. family dysfunction)
• Dyspepsia: bad digestion
• Dystopia: a bad or undesirable society
• Dysphoria: a state of unease or dissatisfaction

Difficult / Painful: causing trouble or hurt to do.

• Dyslexia: difficulty reading
• Dysphagia: difficulty swallowing
• Dyspnoea: difficulty breathing
• Dysmenorrhoea: painful menstruation

Abnormal / Impaired: moving away from the normal state or standard.

• Dysplasia: abnormal development of cells or tissue
• Dyskinesia: abnormal or impaired movement
• Dysarthria: impaired speech articulation
• Dysgraphia: impaired writing ability

A Gemini Notebook AI Podcast on this blog

In the cradle of hearing right

The cradle as the source

In a moment of self-reflection, listening to the encouragement, teaching, and exhortation of a message this morning, I found an interesting insight from the cradle case blog that I wrote yesterday that gave me a sense of where I should seek to draw strength and who I should be listening to.

Alright, the ear tip eventually arrived and one thing I had failed to do until now was to put the foam cover over the ear tip before attaching it to the earpiece. It is all properly done now, as the manufacturer intended and instructed.

Blog: Never despise the cradle

In life, we need to know where the source of our strength is, despite the lessons learnt from life and adversity, the examples from mentors and parents, and the support of my partner and my friends, all of which are invaluable along with the apparent stoicism one seems to have, the ultimate source of strength and sustenance for me is from God, by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit that dwells in me.

Knowing how to do

Yet, it takes knowledge and awareness to know this in the first place, then wisdom and understanding to draw fully from that strength. The Bible is full of comfort and assurance of the help and succour from God, and we still find it difficult to avail ourselves of this unlimited resource that is already available.

We are like earpieces left separate from the cradle case with a built-in battery to keep us charged up. The cradle case of the embrace of God when placed right has the terminals of the earpiece snuggly fit to the connectors in the case to equip us through faith to triumph in all things.

Then again, I appreciate that the earpiece is also a listening device before it is a speaking device it has a microphone, it is hooked to the ear lobe with an ear tip that goes in the ear. So much so, that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Hearing right for the fight

What and who you choose to hear easily informs what you begin to say to set your world in the order of what you have spoken into existence. The world around us becomes an ongoing conversation of hearing and speaking, creating order when we speak right and chaos when we are out of alignment, distant from the cradle case, and finding comfort in the distractions that offer ephemeral solutions.

It is for the same reason that though certain conversations seem useful, the content of the conversation in what one has heard has been quite less so. Where conversation loses elements of edification and exhortation, that conduit needs trammelling for you cannot afford for the wrong seeds to be sown in the grounds where a different kind of harvest is expected.

The tendency to criticise with the intention to be effectual comes easily to many who can speak into your life out of affiliation with much consequence on how it can affect you, to which some recent blogs have alluded to on not trying hard enough, not acting as expected, or in the questioning of one’s legitimacy. All these trickle-down influences in snatches of conversation have not been helpful at all.

Blog: Thought Picnic: Battling a dimension of legitimacy

Blog: Thought Picnic: Those who resort to bastardry should answer for their claims

Choosing my own cradle and earpiece

It discounts and disparages whatever you might have been doing to ameliorate things. It is unkindly even if the place from whence it came means well without realising how it does not engender the kind of communication anyone needs when apparently in the doldrums.

This all might seem esoteric, but what have learnt with respect to what I have written here is, that I need to reduce the noise, take the calm, assert the truth, and claim the prize that has already been won.

I return to the lessons and exhortations of old that relay the fundamentals and the first principles of how to tackle thorny issues and circumstances. From within are groanings that cannot be uttered yet laying foundations upon which desires, dreams, ideas, and visions begin to take on tangibility and reality. I am able because I am enabled.