In Sickness And In Health...

Hey all. Sorry it has been such a long time since I last wrote something here. Life has just been... well... busy, like life tends to do from time to time.

How have you all been? Seriously... I'd love to know. I never know who reads my little rants and raves in my small corner of the internet. I don't claim to have any wonderful insights that people would line up to read and I certainly break the rule of "sharing too much" to the point that people probably shy away. Still, it always amazes me the little notes or comments I get from people... many of which I had no idea ever visit here.

So what's new with me? I've been sick... really sick. I'm on my third week of various "cruds". At first I had the flu. Followed immediately by a cold.

The amazing thing is that I had a wedding to sing at right in the middle of those two. I worried that I wouldn't have a voice, but God somehow saw it fit for me to be able to sing for literally about a 72 hour period.

Its usually the case that I push the limits of what my body wants to do when I am sick. I usually try to downplay being sick and stay active in events. Even this past weekend, I was to play a coffee shop gig with my friend Paul and I was certain that I'd pull through for that one as well. My body had different plans. I played the show, but I had no voice to sing with... so I simply played "guitar monkey" while Paul did all the singing.

What was my body's answer to me pushing it so hard these past several weeks? A throat and sinus infection. Barely any voice, fevers, chills, shakes, night sweats, headaches, joint pains... Its been a miserable last week. So much so that I finally caved in and asked my wife to schedule an appointment with the doctor (I dislike going to doctor's offices).

He put me on some horse pills to fight the infection. Coupled with that is a nice concoction of cold and sinus medicine, pain killers and sleep aids... this of course leaves me in a medicated state. I know what you're thinking and yes, the doctor DID tell me to take these things.

I feel better today than I did two days ago, but I'm certainly not back to 100%... not even 80% yet...

Since I rarely go to doctors, I took the opportunity to talk with my doctor (who by the way is the same age as me... its really kind of strange) about an ongoing complication I've had. For the past several years, my voice has tended to give out with little to no warning. It doesn't go away completely, it just loses some of its range and makes it difficult to sing. It will usually be the case that I can make it through a rehearsal for a service, but by the time the service starts my voice is so warn out that I can't sing what I was just able to 30 minutes before. I also often find my voice scratchy or cracking while I'm talking. I've worried about this for some time, but just haven't done anything about it.

The doctor told me that it could be one of three things: acid reflux, allergies or nodules on my vocal cords. Acid reflux and allergies can be treated with medication. Nodules often require vocal rest at the least and surgery (with weeks to months of vocal rest) at the worst. If surgery is needed, there is the possibility of not being able to sing or having a completely different sound to your voice.

He referred me to an ENT specialist. The scheduler called them right then and there to set up an appointment (which I was expecting to be weeks out, knowing how medical schedules are)... my appointment is TOMORROW.

I don't want to be a hypochondriac, but I'm certainly nervous about what they will tell me.

I'd appreciate prayers over this matter.

Something else I should mention... I'll be participating in this year's Worship Summit here in Cedar Rapids. I'll be playing guitar for a couple of the groups through the weekend and teaching break out sessions during the day on Saturday. The biggest news for me in regards to the Summit, is that I will be the keynote speaker for Friday night!! I was involved in working with a few national artists for the keynote spot on Friday, but it seems that God had other plans. I kept having this thought of a particular topic going through my head. I asked my friend Paul what he thought and before I knew what I had done, I was the speaker. *grin* Seriously though, I'm looking forward to it!!

I strongly recommend you looking into the conference if you are in the Cedar Rapids area. Its going to be a good one this year!!

Thanks for letting me bend your ear... I'll try to be more "up to date" here as I learn more about my throat and my head climbs out from beneath the fog of medication.

In Him,
Jim