My husband had his right vocal cord removed followed by rads and chemo. 4 1/2 years out of treatment. There has been talk about reconstruction possibilities. Last fall they injected a temporary substance and it slighty improved his voice. The plan was to inject a more pernament substance this next month. I have been opposed to this all along, it could make it hard to dectect any future recurrances. Also, we found out that he would not be able to have any other treatments down the road. Our voice doctor has been in contact with another doctor who would take skin from inside of his mouth and move it to where the vocal cord should be.

My question is, has anyone with similiar circumstances been offered options for improving their voice. He did step down from his job as senior Pastor last year but his voice is still acceptable with a mic but not perfect. He was actually asked to do the funeral of a long-time friend of 34 years today and did an exceptional job.

Hi Terri! Im happy to hear your husband is doing well. I read every single post thats been put on this forum. Ive been doing that for 7 years as admin and 2 1/2 more years since I first joined OCF. In all that time I can not think of any other patient who has discussed this situation.

I would be very apprehensive if it were me making that type of decision! Is this being done at a CCC? I would suggest before making any type of change like this to get at the very least a second opinion at a CCC. If you can take your husband for a third opinion I would suggest doing it.

To me, it sounds a overly risky especially if his voice is already pretty good. My biggest concern is if a recurrence happened and not being able to be treated all due to improving his voice. Also not being able to get a thorough check up would make me pretty nervous.

I would wait until after getting more opinions before making this decision. I guess you and your husband will have to together weigh everything out and see if the benefit outweighs the risk. You may also want to throw in that he has not yet hit his 5 year cancer free milestone which is when the odds for recurrence drop significantly.

Please keep us posted about this! Im sure other members/patients will one day get this same type of offer and need help deciding. Thank you and best wishes!!!