Osborne Head and Neck Institute Case Presentation:
This week’s case features a patient you may know: me. I had an experience last weekend that gave me insight into the life of a singer. In medicine, we risk becoming detached from how it feels to be a patient. This is the tale of how I reconnected with that feeling.
Many of you know that I became a laryngologist because of my passion for the voice. This started at a young age, as I studied voice and performed locally. I continued my vocal studies through medical school, where enrollment in the medical school choir led me to discover laryngology. I had to hit the pause button on my voice pursuits during residency (where I also hit the pause button on exercise, eating and sleeping) but resumed singing during fellowship. My fellowship director mandated that fellows join the choir and take voice lessons. All the other fellows dreaded this but I would count down the days to practice with excitement. Voice took a back seat again when I moved to LA to grow my practice and family but last weekend, I was hit with the musical bug and knew I needed to study again.
Click here for Los Angeles, laryngologist, Dr. Reena Gupta, MD’s diagnosis.