Has a doctor ever told you something that left you completely speechless? #redditstories #shorts — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Has a doctor ever told you something
2. 0:01that left you completely speechless? For
3. 0:02most of my life, I have been the loud
4. 0:04one. Ask anybody who knows me. I was the
5. 0:05kid who got moved to the front of the
6. 0:06classroom so the teacher could keep an
7. 0:08eye on me. The uncle who gives the
8. 0:0920-minute wedding toast nobody asked
9. 0:10for. The dad doing full play-by-play
10. 0:12commentary from the bleachers at my
11. 0:14son's little league games. My wife Dana
12. 0:15likes to say I've never had a thought I
13. 0:17didn't announce. Talking wasn't just
14. 0:18something I did. It was pretty much who
15. 0:20I was. So when things started changing,
16. 0:21I didn't want to admit it. It began
17. 0:23small. After coaching Miles' baseball
18. 0:24practice, my voice would come out rough
19. 0:26like I'd been at a concert all night. I
20. 0:27figured I was just getting older. Then
21. 0:29people on the phone started asking if I
22. 0:30had a cold when I didn't. My voice began
23. 0:32cracking in the middle of ordinary
24. 0:33sentences. This weird little drop like a
25. 0:35teenager going through it all over again
26. 0:37at 43. I'd clear my throat constantly. I
27. 0:39kept a water bottle everywhere I went.
28. 0:40And every week it seemed like I had to
29. 0:42work a little harder just to be heard
30. 0:43across the dinner table. Dana noticed
31. 0:44before I ever said a word about it.
32. 0:46She'd give me this look whenever my
33. 0:47voice gave out mid-story. And
34. 0:48conversations at our house started
35. 0:50ending with her saying quietly, "Just
36. 0:51rest your voice, honey." Then came the
37. 0:53championship game. Miles hit a double in
38. 0:54the last inning, and I cheered so hard
39. 0:56that something just quit. For two full
40. 0:58days, nothing came out but air. When my
41. 0:59voice finally came back, it came back
42. 1:01wrong. Thinner, rougher, like a copy of
43. 1:02a copy. That night Dana put her hand on
44. 1:04mine and said, "You're making an
45. 1:05appointment tomorrow. I'm not asking."
46. 1:07So, there I was. My regular doctor, Dr.
47. 1:09Patel, asked me a bunch of questions,
48. 1:11looked at my throat, listened to me talk
49. 1:12for a while, and then got very quiet in
50. 1:14a way I did not enjoy. He said he wanted
51. 1:16me to see a specialist, an ear, nose,
52. 1:18and throat doctor. And I don't know if
53. 1:19you've ever been referred to a
54. 1:20specialist, but there's this specific
55. 1:22feeling that comes with it. Because in
56. 1:23my experience, nobody sends you to a
57. 1:24specialist to tell you everything's
58. 1:26fine. The appointment was two weeks out.
59. 1:28I spent those two weeks doing the one
60. 1:29thing you should never do, which is
61. 1:30lying awake at 2:00 a.m. Searching my
62. 1:32symptoms while Dana slept next to me.
63. 1:34Scrolling through worst-case scenarios
64. 1:35with my heart pounding in the dark. I
65. 1:37didn't tell Dana what I was reading. I
66. 1:38just closed the phone when she stirred,
67. 1:40stared at the ceiling, and practiced
68. 1:41saying Miles' name in my head like I was
69. 1:43trying to memorize the sound of my own
70. 1:44voice while I still had it. By the time
71. 1:46the day came, I had barely slept. The
72. 1:47specialist, Dr. Monroe, was calm and
73. 1:49kind, which somehow made it scarier. He
74. 1:51sprayed something in my nose that numbed
75. 1:52the back of my throat, and then he fed a
76. 1:54tiny camera in to look at my vocal cords
77. 1:55while I sat there making long e sounds
78. 1:58and trying to pretend this was all
79. 1:59completely normal. I could actually see
80. 2:00them on the monitor. These two little
81. 2:02bands of tissue that had been doing all
82. 2:03my talking for 43 years. All the toasts,
83. 2:05all the bleacher commentary, all the
84. 2:07terrible singing in the car that Miles
85. 2:09pretends to hate. When it was over, Dr.
86. 2:10Monroe stepped out to review everything
87. 2:12and I sat in that little room staring at
88. 2:14a poster of a throat diagram listening
89. 2:15to my own heartbeat. When he came back
90. 2:17in, he had that serious expression
91. 2:19doctors always seem to have when they
92. 2:20know you're not going to like what
93. 2:21they're about to say. He pulled up a
94. 2:23chair, set the folder down and said,
95. 2:24"Well, I have your results." I could
96. 2:26already feel my stomach sinking. He
97. 2:28explained everything carefully. He
98. 2:29talked about my vocal cords, about a
99. 2:30condition that develops slowly, about
100. 2:32what might have caused it, what
101. 2:33treatment could do, what therapy could
102. 2:35slow down, and what over time it
103. 2:36couldn't. He was patient. He let me ask
104. 2:38questions and then he folded his hands,
105. 2:39looked me straight in the eyes and said,
106. 2:41"I'm sorry to tell you this, but
107. 2:42gradually over the next few years you're
108. 2:43going to lose your voice." I sat there
109. 2:45in silence for a few seconds trying to
110. 2:47take it all in. The loud kid, the toast
111. 2:48guy, the bleacher dad. Finally, I looked
112. 2:50back at him, gave a slow nod and said,
113. 2:51"Well, doc, congratulations. For the
114. 2:53first time in my life I'm speechless."