Doctor, Doctor, Give Me a Cure

I went back to the doctor yesterday to find out why my voice is still absent. She concluded that it was excess mucus. I was skeptical at first of the diagnosis. But I got handed a handful of samples (I love doctors who do this because they save you SO much money) and got home and used a nose spray called Omnaris. I haven't Googled it yet because I know I'll prolly quit using it if I do because of disclosed side effects. I also got handed a couple months worth of Singulair. Which, if you've seen the commercials, has about a zillion side effects that are scary. But it's to the point now I'm willing to take these drugs to get well enough so I can work. I say, "well enough". I am well enough now, I just don't have a voice and that, my readers, is my job. About 5 minutes after using the nose spray, I had more voice than I've had in two weeks and I was SO excited. It went away again after about 15 minutes, but it was enough to convince me that the doctor knew what she was talking about. And she didn't seem concerned at all that it had been so long. And she didn't scope my throat which made me happy. She was concerned about the noises in my chest which led to a breathing test called Spirometry which I passed. Passed meaning I have normal lung function. The noises are my left over sick and I'm productively coughing all that up on a daily basis. Yum.

My oldest brother, who has been a police officer since he was 21 (he's 47 now) gave me the best piece of advice that anyone has ever given me, as far as being a dispatcher. "Doesn't matter if you know what you are doing or not as long as you SOUND like you know what you're doing." Meaning, when all hell breaks loose for my officers, what they need to hear over the radio is calm and in control. I attribute my successful dispatching career to this one piece of advice and when someone new comes in, I ALWAYS share that with them as well. Like most professionals in communications, it matters how I sound over the radio. Of course, having sound coming out at all helps tremendously.

So all of my training, all of my 20 years experience, all of the schools I've been to... none of that matters when you don't have a voice. I am just so very thankful that I have such a support system at work. I may never call in sick again, but for now I can rest assured that my job is not going any where. Even though it may be because everyone is tired of covering my shift, they tell me to get better soon and that they miss me. But I'm okay with that. Makes a girl feel needed. :-)