Ross Kaminsky, host of The Ross Kaminsky Show on Denver's Talk Radio 630 KHOW, had vocal surgery with Dr. David Opperman.
He calls Dr. Opperman a "complete magician" and says he might have saved his career.
Listen to this audio clip of the show as Kaminsky and Dr. Opperman discuss what caused Kaminsky's issues, how common this particular situation can be, how to prevent vocal injury, and when to go see an ENT specialist.
On the show, Kaminsky asked Dr. Opperman what happened to him. Dr. Opperman says Kaminsky was "a victim of the rat race." We all use our voices so much now, and vocal cord injury is becoming more common.
Dr. Opperman has tips for professionals. For example, if you know you will have a long phone call, make sure you rest your voice beforehand.
Dr. Opperman says if you are hoarse more than two weeks, you should get that checked out. You can start with your primary care physician. If they aren't able to treat it, see an ENT specialist.
He says, "If the hoarseness persists past a couple of weeks, we need to take a look at the vocal cords with a camera."
While using the camera, Dr. Opperman discovered Kaminsky had a deviated septum that he didn't even know about. He likely could have had a playground injury when he was young and didn't realize it. He has only been able to breathe out of one side of his nose his whole life, so he didn't know the difference! Dr. Opperman was able to fix that as well, so Kaminsky can breathe now better than ever.
Kaminsky says, "If you're hoarse, your primary care doctor can't figure it out, and you're not sick, go to Dave. Dave might have saved my career."
Dave, of course, is Dr. Opperman, or Dr. O. We keep it casual in our office. Come see us if you experience what they talked about.